Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 274 › Conversation 274-007

Nixon & Safire on Knights of Columbus and Speechwriting

Monday, August 16, 1971 · 2:44 PM–2:49 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Safire, William L.Conversation274-007 on Tape 274 (tape position 00:09:29–00:12:58)StartMonday, August 16, 1971 at 2:44 PMEndMonday, August 16, 1971 at 2:49 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 274-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with speechwriter William Safire to discuss the development of an upcoming address to the Knights of Columbus. Nixon instructed Safire to synthesize drafts prepared by John McLaughlin and Patrick Buchanan into a cohesive 1,500-word speech. The President emphasized themes of peaceful competition following his August 15th address to the nation and requested the inclusion of Buchanan’s assertive rhetoric regarding America’s critics to suit the audience's sensibilities.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:09:29 – 00:12:58

part A, 9:35

274a.mp3
274b.mp3
274c.mp3

NARA Description

On August 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:44 pm to 2:49 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 274-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 274-7

Date: August 16, 1971
Time: 2:44 pm - 2:49 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with William L. Safire.

     Knights of Columbus speech, August 17, 1971
         -Draft
                -Length
                -Other drafts
                     -Patrick J. Buchanan
                     -John J. McLaughlin

                -Importance
                -Themes
                     -President’s address to the Nation, August 15, 1971
                           -Peaceful competition
                -Buchanan
                     -America’s critics
                -Time
                -John B. Connally
                     -Football analogy

     Connally's press conference

     Draft of Knights of Columbus speech

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Hello.
I am going to send over to you a poem which I would like you to do for me.
I'm going to send you a thousand-word draft that Father McLaughlin did, and another 1,100 words that you can get in another direction on 19 Columbus.
I want 1,500 words outside on 19 Columbus, so let me say it.
But I think the two, you could take the two and meld them together.
And it seems to me that I will say this in my introduction.
I am the first president of the Congress, and I want to point out that
I think really the theme of the music is sort of cutting off our last night.
But after today, we're entering a new era.
And all we start with is finding out a piece of comedy.
and the decisions of the government to announce bold actions.
But more than that, it depends.
In other words, start writing the last of the speech last night, and then say, it depends on the people that have it.
And then disorganization, and we've got Father-in-law and all the fine things about, you know, about the night, it's essentially a different thing.
Buchanan's got some good...
hard-hitting stuff about people who are non-American and so forth, which I think could be said there.
It's that kind of, you know, they're kind of a down-to-earth, mason-like type of audience, so you need a little of that in.
I'd like to hear what you're wanting to say.
They're a little rougher than you said, and I can say, I'll send the copies to your office, okay?
Yeah.
well let me say there's no problem
to get the whole team to play a pretty tough, powerful quarterback.
He said, I want to build him up, so I'm going to do an excellent job.
And then I think, too, the idea of those so-called comprehensive teams, whether they're all
Okay, bye.
It's present.
They seem to be late.

Also recorded on August 16, 1971

  • 274-005 2:40 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:40 pm to 2:43 pm.
  • 274-006 2:43 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 2:43 pm.
  • 274-048 2:43 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:43 pm to 2:44 pm.
  • 274-008 2:49 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:49 pm and 2:54 pm.
  • 274-009 2:49 PM · 12 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 2:49 pm and 2:54 pm.
  • 274-010 2:54 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:54 pm to 2:58 pm.
  • 274-011 2:59 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Robert H. Finch met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:59 pm to 3:01 pm.
  • 274-012 3:01 PM · 59 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:01 pm and 3:05 pm.

All 66 conversations from August 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 274-007, 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/274-007 (accessed November 7, 2026).