Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 274 › Conversation 274-002

Nixon with unidentified visitors in his EOB office on Robert H. Finch

Monday, August 16, 1971 · 1:40 PM–2:40 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  White House operatorConversation274-002 onTape 274 (tape position 00:02:59–00:04:06)StartMonday, August 16, 1971 at 1:40 PMEndMonday, August 16, 1971 at 2:40 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 274-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon instructed the White House operator to locate and connect him with Robert H. Finch for a telephone conversation. The President briefly expressed frustration regarding the difficulty of tracking down individuals amidst a high volume of ongoing initiatives and ideas. The exchange served as a routine administrative request to facilitate direct communication with a key advisor.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 67.0 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 00:02:59 into the tape and ends around 00:04:06.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

3:06Mr.
3:06Bench, where he is.
3:08I'll call him.
4:14I don't know where we are, but there are so many good ideas that you never know.

NARA Description

On August 16, 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 1:40 pm and 2:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 274-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 274-2

Date: August 16, 1971
Time: Unknown between 1:40 pm and 2:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Request for a call to Robert H. Finch

Also recorded on August 16, 1971

  • 008-003 1:18 PM · 5 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:18 pm and 1:20 pm.
  • 008-004 1:18 PM · 7 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:18 pm and 1:20 pm.
  • 008-006 1:20 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John B. Connally, Charles W. Colson, and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:23 pm.
  • 008-007 1:23 PM · 3 min — Bernard J. ("Bunny") Lasker and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:23 pm and 1:40 pm.
  • 274-001 1:40 PM · 1 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 1:40 pm and 2:40 pm.
  • 274-003 1:40 PM · 11 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 1:40 pm and 2:40 pm.
  • 274-004 1:40 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 2:40 pm.
  • 565-002 1:40 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at 1:40 pm.

All 88 conversations from August 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 274-002, August 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/274-002 (accessed September 18, 2026).