Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 106 › Conversation 106-002

White House tour group on White House tours and Cabinet Room

Tuesday, September 5, 1972 · 12:00 AM–8:04 AM ET · Cabinet Room · 2 min

ParticipantsWhite House tour groupConversation106-002 on Tape 106StartTuesday, September 5, 1972 at 12:00 AMEndTuesday, September 5, 1972 at 8:04 AMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 106-002 ↗

AI Summary

An unidentified guide leads a White House tour group through the Cabinet Room, offering logistical details about the space and its furnishings. The discussion covers the tradition of outgoing cabinet members purchasing their chairs and the room's secondary function as a waiting area for appointments. The tour concludes with informal observations regarding the room's atmosphere, seating, and climate.

Audio

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

Listen to the full tape segment
106a.mp3
106b.mp3
106c.mp3

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Now, the chairs now, of course, the plot to that, you know, a chair, when a member of the cabinet resigns and he leaves, then all of the other members get together and they purchase his chair for him and he takes it with him.
So that's not taxpayers' expense.
The national security comes in here as well.
Sometimes you're at the appointments waiting in here when things get too jammed.
They'll have them sitting in here, sitting out here.
It's a comfort to hear your religion.
People are smoking in here.
There's a lot of smokers in here.
You know, there's kind of a cold.
There's a band in here.
It's chilling, but it's good.
Yeah.
Right.

NARA Description

On September 5, 1972, a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 8:04 am. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 106-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 106-2

Date: Unknown between September 5 and September 7, 1972
Time: Unknown between 12:00 am, September 5 and 8:04 am, September 7, 1972
Location: Cabinet Room

Unknown people [tour group] met

     [Unintelligible]

     Cabinet Room
          -Chairs
          -National Security Council

The unknown people [tour group] left at an unknown time before 8:04 am, September 7, 1972

Also recorded on September 5, 1972

  • 106-001 12:00 AM · 2 min — Kenneth R. Cole, Jr. and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 8:04 am.
  • 106-011 12:00 AM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 8:04 am.

Cite this conversation

Conversation 106-002, September 5, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/106-002 (accessed October 12, 2026).