Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 261 › Conversation 261-047

Nixon & Haldeman on Texas politics and Vietnam War

Thursday, July 1, 1971 · 6:45 PM–6:46 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation261-047 on Tape 261 (tape position 05:07:30–05:14:47)StartThursday, July 1, 1971 at 6:45 PMEndThursday, July 1, 1971 at 6:46 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 261-047 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman briefly conferred regarding political dynamics in Texas and the progress of U.S. troop withdrawals from the Vietnam War. The discussion touched upon the status of specific individuals identified as Johnson and White, with the President seeking a follow-up report on their situations. Nixon also arranged for a briefing with his staff to prepare for an upcoming meeting.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 4) · 27.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 05:07:30 into the tape and ends around 05:14:47.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
5:07:30I can probably do, um... Somebody will have killed him on the first... Get the, get the, uh...
5:07:38You know, a fellow like me can arrest men.
5:07:42I hope they did, sir.
5:07:57They must be on our side, aren't they?
5:08:05John, how many?
5:08:05Oh, yeah.
5:08:05Great.
5:08:05No, but Texas is a hell of a big state.
5:08:09And it's not just Southern, it's Western.
5:08:17Well that thing, now you've got it all amongst all of you.
5:08:23Well, who?
5:08:24Couldn't, that's good.
5:08:26He's got a different chance of saying he couldn't.
5:08:38Well, actually, there is a drop, Johnson.
5:08:42This is pretty good news.
5:08:43Now, it may go up a little in the summer, but that's all right.
5:09:00And we're getting them out of the war.
5:09:01How do we get that?
5:09:04Okay, well, let me know about White and Johnson now.
5:09:12Okay, good.
5:12:18Hello, you guys sure need me?
5:12:21You home?
5:12:21Still in the office?
5:12:24Well, do you want to come over and give me a briefing for them?
5:12:27Okay, fine.

NARA Description

On July 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:45 pm to 6:46 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 261-047 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 261-47

Date: July 1, 1971
Time: 6:45 pm - 6:46 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

[See Conversation No. 6-88]

Also recorded on July 1, 1971

  • 006-086 6:30 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 6:30 pm to 6:37 pm.
  • 261-045 6:30 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:30 pm to 6:37 pm.
  • 006-087 6:37 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:37 pm and 6:45 pm.
  • 261-046 6:37 PM · 30 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 6:37 pm and 6:45 pm.
  • 006-088 6:45 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 6:45 pm to 6:46 pm.
  • 006-089 6:46 PM · 1 min — Edward R. F. Cox and Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins talked on the telephone on an unknown date, sometime between 6:46 pm on July 1, 1971 and 4:08 pm on July 2, 1971.
  • 261-048 6:46 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:46 pm and 7:00 pm.
  • 261-049 7:00 PM · 23 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:00 pm to 7:20 pm.

All 57 conversations from July 1, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 261-047, July 1, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/261-047 (accessed October 5, 2026).