Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 104 › Conversation 104-003

White House tour group on White House history and Cabinet Room

Saturday, July 1, 1972 · 10:40 AM–10:16 AM ET · Cabinet Room

ParticipantsWhite House tour groupConversation104-003 onTape 104StartSaturday, July 1, 1972 at 10:40 AMEndFriday, July 21, 1972 at 10:16 AMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 104-003 ↗

AI Summary

An unidentified guide provides a tour of the Cabinet Room to a group of visitors, detailing the room's historical significance and operational layout. The discussion highlights the seating arrangements for the President, Vice President, and cabinet members, alongside observations about the historical portraits displayed in the room. A significant portion of the tour focuses on correcting public misconceptions regarding the funding of White House upkeep, emphasizing that furnishings are typically acquired through private donations rather than taxpayer dollars.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 110.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 115.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 22.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) ·JSON data · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.

3:20No, you really don't realize, the president is just a breath away from the whole question.
3:26Well, he has questions.
3:30Captain Brown, one of the great decisions to come out of here, you can imagine the war conferences during World War II and all those places.
3:39The western moon was buzzing.
3:41There were no tourists in the White House.
3:43They created a journal like that.
3:44And the place was closed.
3:46And of course they had
3:48You think there's a lot of us around that have military all over the place, shooting machine guns on the roof and everything.
3:54In the case of us, some Nazi group tried to attack us.
3:57Spies or something.
3:59It's always the Eastern World like that.
4:02World War I, World War II.
4:04The President's chair was over in the center.
4:06The biggest one there.
4:08Vice President's right across from you.
4:09You see they have the data handed off to us.
4:13Like this was Secretary Shultz.
4:15He was Secretary of Labor at first.
4:16He left there and came director of the budget.
4:19And then just recently took Mr. Connick's place.
4:21Vice President's chair.
4:24Now they can take these chairs with them if they have $40 they have to pay for them.
4:27Well, I think it's so funny the way, you know, um...
4:34Well, you see, the American people are very conscious of this.
4:40There's one thing about it, all the steel-covered walls, and really kind of things like this.
4:46It's very, Americans are very great people.
4:50They're all worried about their dollar assets.
4:52It's one problem with our country, speaking of my own opinion.
4:56Nine out of ten people come through and think that their taxes pay for all this silk.
5:02You might get five out of those that think,
5:06We must keep this reputation like this, okay, and we'll buy this as long as it's used well, and we must have the presidents on looking at us.
5:14And then you get the other half of that, that just bitterly complained, and when it's not even true to begin with, because the tax money does not go like that, it's all private donations.
5:24And a lot of people come in and stick walls in their hands, rub it all over them, and say, please don't handle the walls.
5:29Why?
5:29I pay for it, you know, which they really don't.
5:33They might pay our salary because we're still in service.
5:36And then they pay for the heat and gas, and they pay the salaries of our custodial people.
5:42But all that was private information.
5:45This is just publicity.
5:47They need to be informed about this.
5:51People, you know, they worry about the taxes, you know, and they don't want the politicians taking everything, you know, and so on.
5:57We always emphasize that it's private donations, because so many people are ignorant of that fact, you know.
6:02And I like the chairs in here.
6:03Now, the table's brand new president, Mrs. Nixon, bought that, and gave it to the White House, and they've used it for several years now.
6:12Yes, the table is here.
6:14Call it back.
6:22The president keeps his favorite portraits in here.
6:32President Eisenhower, Dito Roosevelt, President Wilson.
6:38He's most admired.

NARA Description

a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 104-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 104-3

Date: Unknown between July 1 and July 21, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:40 am, July 1 and 10:16 am, July 21, 1972
Location: Cabinet Room

Unknown people [tour group] met

     Cabinet Room
          -History
               -World War II

     Cabinet
          -Seating arrangements
          -Chairs
                -The President
                -The Vice President
                -George P. Shultz
                     -Offices held
                -Upon departure

     American people
         -National traits
               -Attitude toward wealth
                     -Taxes
         -White House
               -Furnishings
               -Upkeep
         -Concern about taxes

     Cabinet Room table

     Presidential portraits
          -Dwight D. Eisenhower

          -Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt
          -[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson

The tour group left at an unknown time before 10:16 am, July 21, 1972

Also recorded on July 1, 1972

  • 104-001 10:40 AM — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
  • 104-002 10:40 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
  • 104-004 10:40 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
  • 104-005 10:40 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
  • 104-006 10:40 AM — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
  • 104-007 10:40 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
  • 104-014 10:40 AM — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
  • 026-033 11:00 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and U. Alexis Johnson talked on the telephone from 11:00 am to 11:12 am.

All 43 conversations from July 1, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 104-003, July 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/104-003 (accessed September 18, 2026).