Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 249 › Conversation 249-013

Nixon & Rumsfeld on Central Harlem and Political outreach

Thursday, April 15, 1971 · 3:45 PM–3:48 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rumsfeld, Donald H.Conversation249-013 on Tape 249 (tape position 02:00:44–02:03:43)StartThursday, April 15, 1971 at 3:45 PMEndThursday, April 15, 1971 at 3:48 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 249-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directs Donald Rumsfeld to contact Ted Husky, a community leader from Central Harlem, to cultivate a line of communication regarding local intelligence and feedback. Nixon instructs Rumsfeld to emphasize that the President personally values Husky’s input and wants him to report any significant developments directly. This outreach serves as an effort to gather grassroots political information and maintain a channel for community insights.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yeah.
I wonder if you would call that fellow from Central Harlem, the big guy, the black guy, the big guy.
a great big guy, a big good looking guy, Ted Husky, and telling that you are leaving tomorrow to bench for Durham, and that the president actually called him to tell him that I was giving him a simply sign up for everything he can, and that he should take a replacement because of a particular remark that I wanted to follow up, and if he has any information on anything going on,
that people attend to that I'm going to give it to you.
So you know what I'm telling them.
I'm telling them this is just public.
You're going home with your money.
We're a public conference.
So that I can ask you to circle over to me and say that we're a public conference, or whatever they are, or you have this problem, and I'm going to take a break on that.
You're not going to Turkey because they were handling that in another way, which you don't understand.
I'm going to take a break on that.
But I go here, and the first one I found in the jewelry lab, he was working, my dad was working, and he was returning home.
And any time that he's got a suggestion based on his own travels or his own information, he's likely to look into it a lot, and I appreciate him passing along.
Fair enough.
Okay.
Hi.
Oh, I heard he was.
I heard.
Yeah, he is, yeah.
So he had his powder in his breath.
Yeah, well, I remember his father and brother were there that day.
They were a great team.

NARA Description

On April 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:45 pm to 3:48 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 249-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 249-13

Date: April 15, 1971
Time: 3:45 pm - 3:48 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Donald H. Rumsfeld

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[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 03/28/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[249-013-w001]
[Duration: 16s]

[See Conversation No. 042-046]

******************************************************************************

Also recorded on April 15, 1971

  • 042-045 3:44 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:44 pm.
  • 249-012 3:44 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:44 pm.
  • 042-046 3:45 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld talked on the telephone from 3:45 pm to 3:48 pm.
  • 042-047 3:48 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:48 pm and 4:31 pm.
  • 249-014 3:48 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:48 pm and 4:05 pm.
  • 249-015 3:48 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:48 pm and 4:05 pm.
  • 249-016 4:05 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:05 pm to 4:32 pm.
  • 249-017 4:05 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:05 pm and 4:31 pm.

All 71 conversations from April 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 249-013, April 15, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/249-013 (accessed October 3, 2026).