{"conversationCode":"261-004","tapeNumber":261,"conversationNumber":4,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-261-004","startDateTime":"1971-06-15T22:21:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-06-15T22:27:00.000Z","startDate":"15-Jun-1971","startTime":"6:21 PM","endDate":"15-Jun-1971","endTime":"6:27 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.;","description":"On June 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:21 pm to 6:27 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 261-004 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 261-4\n\nDate: June 15, 1971\nTime: 6:21 pm - 6:27 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Charles W. Colson\n\n[See Conversation No. 5-81]","filename":["261-004-splice.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:03:46","tapeEnd":"00:07:29","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Colson, Charles W."],"prevCode":"261-003","nextCode":"261-005","tapeTranscriptFile":"261a.mp3,261b.mp3,261c.mp3,261d.mp3","transcript":[{"start":235.58,"end":236.86,"text":"I was thinking on our..."},{"start":239.84,"end":245.2,"text":"The media generates some support from veterans."},{"start":245.92,"end":248.88,"text":"I think the veterans ."},{"start":249.98,"end":258.89,"text":"So I think that on the congressional side, we really need to ."},{"start":258.91,"end":260.71,"text":"And our senators will really go out ."},{"start":260.73,"end":263.69,"text":"Now, they have a privilege of ."},{"start":264.09,"end":266.91,"text":"What they have is, of course,"},{"start":268.56,"end":283.12,"text":"Understand, I personally think that if we cast this in the right direction of each other, this could backfire over time."},{"start":283.2,"end":287,"text":"They're playing for their own constituency."},{"start":287.16,"end":292.32,"text":"Now, we've got to get across several ones."},{"start":292.35,"end":294.05,"text":"One is the Kennedy-Johnson papers."},{"start":295.43,"end":301.69,"text":"at least that's what we're talking about."},{"start":301.73,"end":306.07,"text":"He has a larger responsibility to maintain the integrity of government."},{"start":306.23,"end":319.7,"text":"And the whole integrity of government, like Robert said in his press conferences, he had the impression foreign governments today, as we look at their paper, are sitting at my spot."},{"start":319.76,"end":321.16,"text":"And this also involves"},{"start":322.18,"end":324.36,"text":"It really, it really does involve us."},{"start":324.42,"end":331.29,"text":"It really involves the ability of you to talk about how the hell the President or the Secretary of Defense or anybody would do anything."},{"start":331.35,"end":339.87,"text":"How can we make a contingency plan that's going to be taken off of Trump and given to a goddamn newspaper?"},{"start":339.89,"end":340.33,"text":"All right, Bob."},{"start":340.45,"end":340.77,"text":"All right, Bob."},{"start":340.81,"end":341.07,"text":"Go ahead."},{"start":344.85,"end":347.62,"text":"The newspapers produce the printing, and they subscribe."},{"start":347.64,"end":348.42,"text":"They don't take it on."},{"start":348.44,"end":350.72,"text":"But the papers, the newspapers, have a show of their kind."},{"start":351.48,"end":354.39,"text":"They've got to say what they're trying to prove this time."},{"start":354.41,"end":355.93,"text":"Also, I think the network ought to step up for this time."},{"start":358.23,"end":379.56,"text":"You know, I think some of them should, you know, cast this, they've been listening, the main minister has returned to doing something disloyal in the country, that this risks our men, you know, just all that sort of secret things that aid comfort of the enemy, I mean, after all."},{"start":381,"end":382.98,"text":"They're running the line, Chuck, a right to know."},{"start":383.44,"end":385.48,"text":"We raise Albert Price, ask him, how do you answer?"},{"start":385.7,"end":386.24,"text":"Right to know."},{"start":386.84,"end":388.46,"text":"That's, of course, about Vancouver."},{"start":388.72,"end":389.2,"text":"Right to know."},{"start":389.22,"end":396.19,"text":"The public has no right to know secret documents."},{"start":396.47,"end":397.95,"text":"I don't want to know."},{"start":397.97,"end":403.47,"text":"And freedom of the press is not the freedom to destroy the integrity of the government."},{"start":404.01,"end":407.6,"text":"Right to know."},{"start":409.34,"end":428,"text":"Then, in any future case, then the publisher of a paper will put himself, that was really what I was interested in, he put himself on a higher pedestal and said, well, write to your time of the millers, and he passed the information, and the New York Times was among the papers that supported him in that."},{"start":429.09,"end":434.12,"text":"Now, the point is that here, what the Times has done is placed itself above the law."},{"start":434.19,"end":439.54,"text":"They say the law provides this, but we consider this an immoral or a tireless responsibility."},{"start":439.64,"end":446.48,"text":"God damn it, you can't have that in every country."},{"start":446.9,"end":448.04,"text":"Get some congressmen."}],"transcriptBoundary":{"start":226,"end":448,"startMethod":"llm-alignment","endMethod":"llm-alignment"},"transcriptConfidence":"high","transcriptSource":"bigtape","originalFilename":["261a.mp3","261b.mp3","261c.mp3","261d.mp3"],"spliceSource":{"spliceType":"bigtape","sourceFiles":["261a.mp3"],"cutStart":224.5,"cutEnd":449.5,"adjustedStart":224.5,"adjustedEnd":449.5,"boundaryMethod":"llm-alignment","confidence":"high","splicedAt":"2026-09-18T14:10:26.383Z"},"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies to counter the publication of the Pentagon Papers by the New York Times. Nixon asserts that the newspaper's actions jeopardize national security and represent an attempt to place the press above the law. To combat the \"right to know\" narrative, Nixon directs Colson to mobilize congressional allies to publicly frame the leaks as a disloyal threat to the integrity of government.","topics":["Pentagon Papers","New York Times","Freedom of the press","National security","Executive privilege","Public relations strategy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T12:17:32.226Z"},"topicSlugs":["pentagon-papers","new-york-times","freedom-of-the-press","national-security","executive-privilege","public-relations-strategy"],"audioDurationSec":225,"audioFiles":[{"file":"261-004-splice.mp3","bytes":3600345,"durationSec":224.99,"bitrate":128016,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T14:10:26.383Z","transcriptPrev":{"segments":41,"replacedAt":"2026-09-18T14:11:46.039Z"},"audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/261-004-splice.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/261-004","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/261/conversation-261-004","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}