{"conversationCode":"279-031","tapeNumber":279,"conversationNumber":31,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-279-031","startDateTime":"1971-09-22T21:37:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-09-22T21:38:00.000Z","startDate":"22-Sep-1971","startTime":"5:37 PM","endDate":"22-Sep-1971","endTime":"5:38 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Buchanan, Patrick J.;","description":"On September 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:37 pm to 5:38 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 279-031 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. 279-31\n\nDate: September 22, 1971\nTime: 5:37 pm - 5:38 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Patrick J. Buchanan.\n\n[See Conversation No. 9-124]","filename":["279-031.mp3"],"tapeStart":"03:05:52","tapeEnd":"03:07:47","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Buchanan, Patrick J."],"prevCode":"279-030","nextCode":"279-032","transcript":[{"start":0.2,"end":0.38,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":0.46,"end":0.58,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":1.78,"end":8.89,"text":"Give me one of mine."},{"start":9.69,"end":16.96,"text":"Now, the other thing is that Schultz had some, I called him and I said, you know, we ought to use that one thing we usually do."},{"start":19.53,"end":22.14,"text":"Start about some of the optimistic side of the economy."},{"start":22.16,"end":35.43,"text":"In other words, there's a lot of stuff that, you know, there's something about the, you know, there's an agency for professional employees, you know, everything from housing to, you know, just the living."},{"start":35.45,"end":40.65,"text":"And why don't you get to, why don't you get to go and get to work?"},{"start":43.04,"end":45.26,"text":"A short list, a short list, so you can do it for a minute."},{"start":45.34,"end":56.62,"text":"You know, retails, I don't know how, a lot of old bills, you know, a lot of, you know, the, the, the, you know, which he makes it very important to mention."},{"start":69.06,"end":74.96,"text":"I think these things are probably more important than making that kind of appointment."},{"start":75.02,"end":85.37,"text":"You're trying to give them a lot of bad information about what they used to do and what you're going to do about that Japanese man."},{"start":85.39,"end":88.75,"text":"You see, the thing is, the press family isn't interested in that kind of crap."},{"start":88.77,"end":91.53,"text":"But the folks are interested in the other thing, right?"},{"start":91.55,"end":96.93,"text":"And so, let's see if we can find a new rule, and then we'll talk about it."},{"start":98.42,"end":106.31,"text":"Sapphire might have some of that."},{"start":106.61,"end":106.81,"text":"Okay."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan discuss media strategy for promoting the administration's economic agenda to the public. Nixon directs Buchanan to emphasize optimistic economic indicators and domestic quality-of-life improvements rather than focusing on complex trade negotiations or bureaucratic personnel appointments. The objective is to craft a simplified, positive narrative that resonates with the general public rather than the press corps.","topics":["Economic policy","Public relations","Media strategy","George Shultz","Domestic policy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T13:04:38.665Z"},"topicSlugs":["economic-policy","public-relations","media-strategy","george-shultz","domestic-policy"],"audioDurationSec":107,"audioFiles":[{"file":"279-031.mp3","bytes":4290158,"durationSec":107.1,"bitrate":320447,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.008Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:15.370Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/279-031.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/279-031","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/279/conversation-279-031","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}