Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 253 › Conversation 253-016

Nixon & Price on West Point commencement speech and Vietnam policy

Wednesday, May 26, 1971 · 3:12 PM–3:15 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.Conversation253-016 on Tape 253 (tape position 00:59:00–01:02:12)StartWednesday, May 26, 1971 at 3:12 PMEndWednesday, May 26, 1971 at 3:15 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 253-016 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with speechwriter Raymond K. Price, Jr. to coordinate preparations for an upcoming West Point commencement address. The President expressed specific concerns regarding how the speech should frame Vietnam policy and distance his administration's position from existing, unsatisfactory drafts. Nixon directed Price to meet with him shortly thereafter to ensure the speech draft better aligned with his personal perspective and strategic vision.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Did you, did Andrews work on the West Point?

Is he there?

Yeah.

I did some work on it last night.

I had sort of a new idea.

And I was wondering, let's see,

I'm over in about 20 minutes.

You come in so that you can sort of get the feel of how I think about it.

And here's, let me tell you my concern.

My concern as a person, not with regard to what is written in the book, but my concern is that what is written in terms of everything else is almost totally

and the next in command policy in Vietnam, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Now, I'm not gonna run away from it.

I will, of course, pay attention to what I think.

I think that Pete should be rather different to that presented at this time.

Again, this has begun to be, in fact, my whole idea, and Pete Peterson, who I love, he had a problem with this,

I just, you know, coming in, his whole theory about it is, you know, they're on the line, you know, they're not going to do anything, you know, it's just, you know, they're not going to do anything, you know, it's just, you know, they're not going to do anything, you know, it's just, you know, they're not going to do anything.

All right, that'll do it.

EOB.

NARA Description

On May 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:12 pm to 3:15 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 253-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 253-16

Date: May 26, 1971
Time: 3:12 pm - 3:15 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 3-134]

Also recorded on May 26, 1971

003-134 3:12 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 3:12 pm to 3:15 pm.
003-135 3:15 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:17 pm.
253-017 3:15 PM · 7 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 3:15 pm and 3:17 pm.
003-136 3:17 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 3:17 pm to 3:18 pm.
253-018 3:17 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:17 pm to 3:18 pm.
003-137 3:18 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:18 pm and 3:30 pm.
253-019 3:18 PM · 3 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 3:18 pm and 3:30 pm.
003-138 3:30 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Leonard Garment talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:30 pm and 3:35 pm.

All 83 conversations from May 26, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 253-016, May 26, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/253-016 (accessed October 12, 2026).