Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 260 › Conversation 260-010

Nixon & Colson on John Skelly and Personnel management

Friday, July 2, 1971 · 4:23 PM–4:25 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation260-010 on Tape 260 (tape position 00:55:50–00:59:29)StartFriday, July 2, 1971 at 4:23 PMEndFriday, July 2, 1971 at 4:25 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 260-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson held a brief consultation concerning the performance and work of an individual identified as John Skelly. The discussion touched upon professional evaluations and potential future assignments or projects. The exchange concluded with an agreement to proceed with established plans despite the brief nature of the deliberation.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:55:50 – 00:59:29

260a.mp3

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260c.mp3

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I forgot to mention John Skelly that I saw last year's election.

He spoke very highly of Scali's work in the state and I commend him.

I told him whenever we took a trip to the future, actually he had enough time at the moment.

You never know.

I said it was my plan to have Scali build as the product advisor in this field.

Because he works so well with Digger and Mosky and those are just great.

It's all part of the business of building Scali.

But I mean, this time, that's what we don't want to do.

We don't plan on doing it.

But I'm pleased that it's working out for us.

And every interest will take it.

Roger, of course, will go.

He's got to exist and have them all.

The other thing to say to his sister, see if what he can do is see if that statistical fluke doesn't become the storyline.

And you see, I know he can.

Yeah?

Well, they've got to say, let's get our side of the question.

Now, what really happened is, it seems to me, earlier when they went up, they went up, they never went to 7.2.

I mean, it probably was about 5.8, and now it's really 5.6, but it did go down.

Yeah, but the point is that the van that we took was also a participant.

Now we're going to correct him.

Yeah?

Sure?

That's right.

All right, good.

NARA Description

On July 2, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:23 pm to 4:25 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 260-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 260-10

Date: July 2, 1971
Time: 4:23 pm - 4:25 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 6-95]

Also recorded on July 2, 1971

006-094 4:22 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:22 pm.
006-095 4:23 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 4:23 pm to 4:25 pm.
260-009 4:23 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 4:23 pm.
260-011 4:25 PM · 1 min — 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 4:25 pm and 4:27 pm.
006-096 4:26 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:26 pm.
006-097 4:27 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 4:27 pm to 4:29 pm.
260-012 4:27 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:27 pm to 4:29 pm.
006-098 4:29 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:29 pm and 5:24 pm.

All 78 conversations from July 2, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 260-010, July 2, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/260-010 (accessed October 5, 2026).