Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 273 › Conversation 273-016

Nixon with unidentified visitors in his EOB office on Charles W. Colson

Thursday, August 12, 1971 · 5:07 PM–5:16 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  White House operatorConversation273-016 onTape 273 (tape position 01:56:20–01:56:40)StartThursday, August 12, 1971 at 5:07 PMEndThursday, August 12, 1971 at 5:16 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 273-016 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon requested that the White House operator place a telephone call to his special counsel, Charles W. Colson. The interaction served as a brief administrative directive to facilitate communication between the President and a key aide. No further substantive discussion took place during this short exchange.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 67.9 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 01:56:20 into the tape and ends around 01:56:40.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

1:56:32Cofiwch.
1:56:33Cofiwch.

NARA Description

On August 12, 1971, 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 5:07 pm and 5:16 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 273-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 273-16

Date: August 12, 1971
Time: Unknown between 5:07 pm and 5:16 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Request for a call to Charles W. Colson

Also recorded on August 12, 1971

  • 273-010 4:51 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:51 pm and 5:05 pm.
  • 273-011 4:51 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:51 pm and 5:05 pm.
  • 273-012 4:51 PM · 3 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 4:51 pm and 5:05 pm.
  • 273-013 4:51 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:51 pm and 5:05 pm.
  • 273-014 5:05 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:05 pm to 5:07 pm.
  • 273-015 5:07 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 5:07 pm and 5:16 pm.
  • 273-017 5:16 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:16 pm to 5:20 pm.
  • 273-018 5:20 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:20 pm and 5:27 pm.

All 51 conversations from August 12, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 273-016, August 12, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/273-016 (accessed September 18, 2026).