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 · 1 min

ParticipantsWhite House tour groupConversation104-003 on Tape 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

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This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

part A, 3:18

104a.mp3
104b.mp3
104c.mp3

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

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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

No, you really don't realize, the president is just a breath away from the whole question.
Well, he has questions.
Captain 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.
The western moon was buzzing.
There were no tourists in the White House.
They created a journal like that.
And the place was closed.
And of course they had
You think there's a lot of us around that have military all over the place, shooting machine guns on the roof and everything.
In the case of us, some Nazi group tried to attack us.
Spies or something.
It's always the Eastern World like that.
World War I, World War II.
The President's chair was over in the center.
The biggest one there.
Vice President's right across from you.
You see they have the data handed off to us.
Like this was Secretary Shultz.
He was Secretary of Labor at first.
He left there and came director of the budget.
And then just recently took Mr. Connick's place.
Vice President's chair.
Now they can take these chairs with them if they have $40 they have to pay for them.

Also recorded on July 1, 1972

  • 104-001 10:40 AM · 2 min — 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 · 1 min — 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 · 42 sec — 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 · 2 min — 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 · 5 min — 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 · 58 sec — 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 · 18 min — 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 44 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 November 2, 2026).