{"conversationCode":"269-008","tapeNumber":269,"conversationNumber":8,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-269-008","startDateTime":"1971-08-02T14:46:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-08-03T02:56:00.000Z","startDate":"2-Aug-1971","startTime":"10:46 AM","endDate":"2-Aug-1971","endTime":"10:56 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.;","description":"On August 2, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:46 am to 10:56 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 269-008 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 269-8\n\nDate: August 2, 1971\nTime: 10:46 pm - 10:56 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with John D. Ehrlichman.\n\n     Ehrlichman's call to Harry S. Dent\n\n     Busing\n          -Southern chairman\n          -Constitutional amendment\n          -John N. Mitchell\n          -Dent\n               -Amendment\n\n          -Unknown chairmen\n               -Ehrlichman’s forthcoming call to Dent\n                     -Partisan aspect\n          -Mitchell","filename":["269-008-splice.mp3"],"tapeStart":"01:24:59","tapeEnd":"01:30:54","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ehrlichman, John D."],"prevCode":"269-007","nextCode":"269-009","tapeTranscriptFile":"269a.mp3,269b.mp3,269c.mp3,269d.mp3","transcript":[{"start":5113.9,"end":5115.5,"text":"Well, let's, uh, know if you need to talk to him."},{"start":5115.54,"end":5115.64,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":5118.28,"end":5131.34,"text":"He's less at, uh, getting the subject chairman in and telling them what our plan is than a stupid idea."},{"start":5131.4,"end":5140.6,"text":"In other words, if we're going to tell them we can't say it, then we're going to come out with a court amendment that's no good."},{"start":5154.09,"end":5154.55,"text":"That may be helpful."},{"start":5181.78,"end":5194.37,"text":"That's a problem, but if you just start looking at it, and I must say, you've got the problem with all of them."},{"start":5197.18,"end":5198.58,"text":"It's not a special issue."},{"start":5215.31,"end":5216.95,"text":"He's an idiot."},{"start":5217.09,"end":5222.31,"text":"He's got flames on him, too."},{"start":5222.37,"end":5233.03,"text":"If you tell Harry about this, he's gonna have a good time."},{"start":5244.25,"end":5252.64,"text":"In fact, I had a point of time in here where I said, I'm sure that we're going to be honest with you, and it's fine for me to tell you something."},{"start":5252.68,"end":5263.76,"text":"We've decided to make a jump, and we're going to look at it, and we're going to all look at it, and we're going to look at it, and we're going to look at it."},{"start":5267.99,"end":5272.41,"text":"Getting on the division chapter is all."},{"start":5272.43,"end":5275.07,"text":"You might get hearing calls back at night."},{"start":5275.09,"end":5277.79,"text":"They don't hear you."},{"start":5277.83,"end":5282.61,"text":"But you know it's not the division that I know."},{"start":5282.65,"end":5288.5,"text":"So I know I'm supposed to be running."},{"start":5288.52,"end":5291.14,"text":"So I know I'm supposed to be running."},{"start":5291.16,"end":5294.36,"text":"So I know I'm supposed to be running."},{"start":5296.27,"end":5301.05,"text":"We'd like you to have a nice good afternoon, gentlemen."},{"start":5301.07,"end":5303.87,"text":"We hope you enjoyed this conversation with us."},{"start":5303.89,"end":5308.91,"text":"We hope you enjoyed this conversation with us."},{"start":5308.98,"end":5313.9,"text":"We hope you enjoyed this conversation with us."},{"start":5314.12,"end":5317.94,"text":"We hope you enjoyed this conversation with us."},{"start":5318.12,"end":5321.34,"text":"We hope you enjoyed this conversation with us."},{"start":5324.95,"end":5326.55,"text":"Well, you might follow."}],"transcriptBoundary":{"start":5114,"end":5329.46,"startMethod":"llm-alignment","endMethod":"llm-alignment"},"transcriptConfidence":"high","transcriptSource":"bigtape","originalFilename":["269a.mp3","269b.mp3","269c.mp3","269d.mp3"],"spliceSource":{"spliceType":"bigtape","sourceFiles":["269a.mp3"],"cutStart":5112.5,"cutEnd":5330.96,"adjustedStart":5112.5,"adjustedEnd":5330.96,"boundaryMethod":"llm-alignment","confidence":"high","splicedAt":"2026-09-18T14:10:27.728Z"},"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and John Ehrlichman discussed political strategies regarding school busing, specifically focusing on how to manage Southern congressional chairmen. Ehrlichman planned to coordinate with Harry Dent to ensure these chairmen were briefed on the administration's intention to pursue a constitutional amendment to limit busing. The discussion aimed to leverage these legislative maneuvers for partisan advantage while maintaining control over the administration's public stance on the issue.","topics":["School busing","Constitutional amendment","Harry Dent","Southern politics","Legislative strategy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T12:30:40.236Z"},"topicSlugs":["school-busing","constitutional-amendment","harry-dent","southern-politics","legislative-strategy"],"audioDurationSec":218,"audioFiles":[{"file":"269-008-splice.mp3","bytes":3495855,"durationSec":218.46,"bitrate":128016,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T14:10:27.728Z","transcriptPrev":{"segments":28,"replacedAt":"2026-09-18T14:11:52.373Z"},"audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/269-008-splice.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/269-008","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/269/conversation-269-008","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}