Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 258 › Conversation 258-038

Nixon & Hébert on Legislative relations and House Armed Services Committee

Wednesday, June 23, 1971 · 2:39 PM–2:44 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hébert, F. EdwardConversation258-038 on Tape 258 (tape position 00:56:50–01:00:40)StartWednesday, June 23, 1971 at 2:39 PMEndWednesday, June 23, 1971 at 2:44 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 258-038 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with House Armed Services Committee Chairman F. Edward Hébert to express appreciation for his public support during ongoing legislative negotiations. The discussion focused on managing the political challenges posed by the Senate and the imperative of maintaining the security of sensitive government intelligence sources. Nixon emphasized the necessity of preventing leaks to ensure the administration's leverage in diplomatic and military negotiations.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Oh, Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to tell you that I was very grateful in reading the news reports last night, this morning, for your statement on the House Conference, House Conference.
I'm saying that guys like you, we might as well call Mr. Bruce home.
Oh, yeah.
Now, listen, don't leave any secret papers around while he's there.
He's afraid he's going to haul it out.
Incidentally, along that, I do want you to know that I'm most grateful.
And actually, I hope that you can take out some of that.
You know what I mean?
You're all impossible to win with the Senate.
I told Victor to point out that the Senate's only one-half the country.
Yeah.
Can you have good strong men?
Right, right.
Who will be on the other side?
Who will be on the center?
Take care.
Right.
Now, what about the uh, the uh, the uh, the uh, the uh, the uh, the uh, the uh, the uh,
In any event, I'll tell you why this language is so important.
We just need, as I've said several times, we can't hold, and we are in a process now, I can tell you, the time will come when we can't do anything.
We just need to get any kind of a racket out, because if you put yourself in the position of the enemy, the enemies of the area, they're going to get on anything, how they're going to negotiate with you.
Good.
This is heavy on this paper thing.
Hello.
Hello.
Can I get him on the phone?
Selective agent.
So the main thing is we'll, you know, it's supposed to get all far back, but we've gotta protect the security of our sources.
Okay.
Well, fine.
You tell Larry.
We didn't get time to complain about him and not you.
Him and not you.
I hope that they do.
They won't.
All right.
All right.
Oh, that's all right.
That's all right.
We can't set it.
But I'll do that.
I'll do that.
All right.

NARA Description

On June 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and F. Edward Hébert met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:39 pm to 2:44 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 258-038 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 258-38

Date: June 23, 1971
Time: 2:39 pm - 2:44 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with F. Edward Hébert

[See Conversation No. 5-139]

Also recorded on June 23, 1971

  • 005-139 2:39 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, F. Edward Hébert, and Melvin R. Laird talked on the telephone from 2:39 pm to 2:44 pm.
  • 005-140 2:45 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Pierre S. DuPont talked on the telephone from 2:45 pm to 2:46 pm.
  • 258-039 2:45 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:45 pm to 2:46 pm.
  • 258-040 2:45 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Pierre S. DuPont met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:45 pm to 2:46 pm.
  • 005-141 2:46 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles S. Gubser talked on the telephone from 2:46 pm to 2:48 pm.
  • 258-041 2:46 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles S. Gubser met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:46 pm to 2:48 pm.
  • 258-042 2:48 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Garry E. Brown met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:48 pm to 3:04 pm.
  • 005-142 2:51 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Garry E. Brown talked on the telephone from 2:51 pm to 2:52 pm.

All 52 conversations from June 23, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 258-038, June 23, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/258-038 (accessed September 18, 2026).