Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 189 › Conversation 189-009

Nixon phone call with Kaye on Camp David and Briefing books

Wednesday, May 17, 1972 · 10:06 AM–10:15 AM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kaye, Beverly J.Conversation189-009 on Tape 189 (tape position 00:37:05–00:41:24)StartWednesday, May 17, 1972 at 10:06 AMEndWednesday, May 17, 1972 at 10:15 AMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 189-009 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417174453 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Beverly J. Kaye at Camp David to provide administrative instructions regarding the processing of his briefing materials. He requested that she review specific briefing books to transcribe paragraphs he had underlined and include any marginal notes he had added. The primary goal of this task was to create simplified, focused folders for the President's personal use, and Nixon encouraged Kaye to enjoy the amenities of the retreat during her stay.

  • Camp David
  • Briefing books
  • Administrative instructions
  • Clerical support
  • Work assignments

Audio

Download MP3 · 9.3 MB

NARA Description

On May 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Beverly J. Kaye met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:06 am and 10:15 am. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 189-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 189-9

Date: May 17, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:06 and 10:15 am
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President met with Beverly J. Kaye.

     Camp David
         -Kaye's visit
               -Cabin
                    -Maple
         -Arrival
               -Time
               -Transportation
                    -Huey helicopter
                          -Pentagon

     Recording
          -Memorandum to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
          -John D. Ehrlichman
          -Delivery

     Briefing books
           -Underlinings
                -Typing instructions
                      -Purpose
           -Notations
                -Typing instructions

     Kaye's schedule
          -Typing
          -Walks
          -Swimming

Kaye left at an unknown time before 10:15 am.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Have you been here before?
No, sir.
Oh, you have?
I thought you were up here for one of those meetings that we had.
I'm coming to stand by somewhere.
We're here on the August 2nd.
Oh, no.
Are you in, uh, what cabin are you in?
Right up here in Maple.
That's a nice one.
Oh, it's a nice one.
Quietly, did you come up last night?
Yes.
What time?
Mr. Butterfield came up about 8, I guess he arrived about 8.
Drive?
No, he had a little time to cue a helicopter from the Pentagon.
He did?
This is a, uh, this is a tape you can do.
It's a memorandum to all of them.
And I don't need to see it, Mr. Hurley.
We just run it off.
And no hurry on it.
Just put it in there.
Send it down on that airplane or helicopter that's going to see it.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Then another project with energy.
There are two books here, briefing books, which I have looked through.
From time to time, I'll show you, I underline something, you see.
If you'll just go through the books, and where you see that I've underlined in a paragraph, just type the whole paragraph leading to the underlying end, and you don't, and there's, and, and, and, and, and, uh,
So, and then I'll go sit like this.
You can see some places I may want to underline other than that, which is you type the paragraph and nothing around it.
You just want plain papers?
I don't know.
You don't need to have page by page.
You can just get and drop down.
You don't need to put
You see what I mean?
You don't need to put titles or anything else.
I just need the paragraphs.
Not much in some of the books I've read.
You'll have to go through the whole book to see something.
Let's see here.
This one has something.
Just type the whole thing.
Shall I insert them in here for you?
No, no, no.
I just want these pages done, all this done, so that I can have a folder for me, some separate folders at least, so that I know what I have here, some things I want to concentrate on, so that I don't have to take the whole book.
Oh, you don't mean when I put a check mark or something?
I just underlined it.
That's better if I put a mark.
You see what I mean?
Just do it.
If I have written something, sometimes I write something on the side.
If you can make it out, you can put it down at the bottom of the paragraph.
There you go.
No worries.
I don't need it today.
Walk around, see a little of the place.
Take a swim.
All right.
Take care.
Thank you.

Also recorded on May 17, 1972

  • 189-004 9:41 AM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:41 am and 9:44 am.
  • 189-005 9:44 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William M. Lukash met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 9:44 am to 9:46 am.
  • 189-006 9:48 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 9:48 am to 9:51 am.
  • 189-007 9:51 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:51 am and 9:52 am.
  • 189-008 9:52 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 9:52 am to 10:06 am.
  • 189-010 10:15 AM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 10:15 am to 10:32 am.
  • 189-011 10:32 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:32 am and 10:33 am.
  • 189-012 10:33 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Harry S. Dent met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 10:33 am to 10:43 am.

All 65 conversations from May 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 189-009, May 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417174453). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/189-009 (accessed November 2, 2026).