Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 204 › Conversation 204-007

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Republican National Convention

Thursday, August 17, 1972 · 11:04 PM–11:43 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation204-007 on Tape 204StartThursday, August 17, 1972 at 11:04 PMEndThursday, August 17, 1972 at 11:43 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 204-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard M. Nixon utilized the recording session at Camp David to rehearse and refine his upcoming acceptance speech for the Republican National Convention. By reviewing portions of the address, Nixon focused on messaging related to social unity, the rejection of discriminatory philosophies, and the goal of building a broad, bipartisan political majority. The exercise allowed the President to polish his oratorical delivery and solidify the ideological framework of his campaign platform.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 33% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Let's pledge ourselves to work for an even greater victory in 1972.
This convention has laid the foundation for that victory.
Fair enough.
I congratulate those.
I thought he was the best.
...recognize that there has been and is unjustified discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, rage, and national origin.
Those who move relentlessly remove the last vestiges of that discrimination.
But the way to end discrimination
Americans don't want to be part of the quarter, period.
They want to be part of America.
Dash has proud self, self-respecting individual citizens.
This nation proudly calls itself the United States of America.
Let us reject any philosophy which would make us a divided society.
And that's period.
I address
Not as a partisan of party.
I'll be sure to put it that way.
Not as a partisan of party.
Six weeks ago our opponents adopted a platform
we Americans believe in together.
Those historic opportunities which come once in a political lifetime, period, have the action to build a new majority in America.
Everyone listening to me tonight, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, young and old, black and white, labor and business, farmers and
We are proud people of different national backgrounds who make up the American people to join our new majority.
Not on the basis of the old politics, but on the basis of the new politics.
or what counts is not the party label you wear in your lapel.
a lifetime.
There he is.

NARA Description

On August 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:04 pm and 11:43 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 204-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 204-7

Date: August 17, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:04 pm and 11:43 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President rehearsed his "Remarks on Accepting the Presidential Nomination of the
Republican National Convention".

[A transcript of the speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, 1972, pp. 787-795.]

The President replayed a portion of his speech at an unknown time between 11:04 pm and 11:43
pm.

Also recorded on August 18, 1972

  • 140-030 10:51 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:51 pm and 11:02 pm.
  • 204-005 10:51 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:51 pm and 11:02 pm.
  • 140-031 11:02 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 11:02 pm to 11:04 pm.
  • 204-006 11:02 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 11:02 pm to 11:04 pm.
  • 140-032 11:04 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:04 pm and 11:43 pm.
  • 140-033 11:04 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:04 pm and 11:43 pm.
  • 204-008 11:04 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:04 pm and 11:43 pm.
  • 204-009 11:04 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Camp David operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 11:04 pm on August 17, 1972 and 12:45 am on August 18, 1972.

All 22 conversations from August 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 204-007, August 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/204-007 (accessed October 11, 2026).