Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 219 › Conversation 219-012

Nixon phone call with Byrnes on Legislative Strategy and Republican Party

Tuesday, October 10, 1972 · 8:52 PM–8:55 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Byrnes, John W.Conversation219-012 on Tape 219StartTuesday, October 10, 1972 at 8:52 PMEndTuesday, October 10, 1972 at 8:55 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 219-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Representative John W. Byrnes to express appreciation for a successful legislative vote and to coordinate strategy for an upcoming meeting with Republican senators. The President directed Byrnes to pressure holdouts to ensure party unity ahead of a critical conference, emphasizing the need for lawmakers to stand firm. They agreed to hold a session on Thursday morning to formalize this legislative push and secure necessary support.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 10, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Byrnes met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 8:52 pm to 8:55 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 219-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 219-12
Date: October 10, 1972
Time: 8:52 pm - 8:55 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with John W. Byrnes.

[See Conversation No. 148-10]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Well, I just wanted to thank you for a great job you did today.

That was a hell of a vote.

And, uh, right.

I'm going to, uh, have in the, uh, senators, uh, you know, the Republican senators at least, Thursday morning at 9 o'clock.

And, uh, you know... Huh?

Oh, I will.

Now, uh, will, uh, you have any guidance as to what we ought to do?

Tell him to let us know and I'll have him there at 9 o'clock and work him over.

Tell him that this is a matter of the people that are going to be in that conference.

They better damn well stand up.

Yeah, you can do that, can't you?

Yeah, I see.

It's what you've got.

He's pushing hard over there.

He ought to be able to get 35, 40 volts, I think.

All right.

I got the message.

And we'll let it cool today, and then 9 o'clock Thursday morning, I'll put her into the fire.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Also recorded on October 10, 1972

148-007 8:44 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:44 pm and 8:46 pm.
219-009 8:44 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:44 pm and 8:46 pm.
148-008 8:46 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills talked on the telephone at Camp David from 8:46 pm to 8:50 pm.
219-010 8:46 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 8:46 pm to 8:50 pm.
148-009 8:50 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:50 pm and 8:52 pm.
219-011 8:50 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:50 pm and 8:52 pm.
148-010 8:52 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Byrnes talked on the telephone at Camp David from 8:52 pm to 8:55 pm.
148-011 9:04 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:04 pm and 9:34 pm.

All 55 conversations from October 10, 1972 →

Nixon phone call with Colson on Republican Party and Congressional relations October 13, 1971 · 4 min
Kissinger & Cook on Vietnam War and Legislative Strategy August 8, 1972 · 2 min
Nixon & Haldeman on Draft extension and Congressional relations September 16, 1971 · 1 min
Nixon & Timmons on Congressional relations and Legislative strategy February 14, 1973 · 5 min
Nixon, Scott & Timmons on Congressional relations and Republican Party December 14, 1972 · 28 min
Nixon phone call with Stennis on Appropriations and Spiro Agnew August 3, 1972 · 2 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 219-012, October 10, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/219-012 (accessed November 9, 2026).