Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 281 › Conversation 281-055
Nixon, Haldeman & Woods on Supreme Court nominations and William H. Rehnquist
Thursday, October 21, 1971 · 5:50 PM–5:55 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 6 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with Rose Mary Woods and H. R. Haldeman to evaluate his pending Supreme Court nominations, specifically focusing on the qualifications and backgrounds of William H. Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell, Jr. The discussion included a review of the candidates' legal school rankings and ages, as well as coordination regarding the President's upcoming speech on the appointments. Additionally, the participants addressed the President's schedule and the status of various administrative tasks handled by his speechwriting team.
Audio
This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.
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Position in tape: 04:16:35 – 04:22:18
281a.mp3
281b.mp3
281c.mp3
Transcript (AI-generated)
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There's a typo where it says, I acquainted an Assistant Attorney, Office of Legal Counsel, and Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel.
Don't do it over for me, because I don't need it.
Oh, sure.
He's got to have a release right after I finish.
Why?
Why?
Well, ask him if he needs it.
Maybe they can just take it off and then he'll not give it up.
Ask him what he needs.
I think you might as well.
I think it's just one of those type of damn things.
And let him have it.
It's right on the first copy, just right on this copy.
General's not on it.
You got the last page?
You got the last page?
Fine.
In turn, the President of the United States makes over 3,000 major appointments in various government agencies.
By far, the most important appointments he makes are to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Presidents come and presidents go, but the Supreme Court, through its decision, goes on forever.
Because they will make decisions which will affect your lives and the lives of your children in generations to come, I should like to share with you tonight my reasons for selecting the two individuals whose names I will send to the Senate tomorrow for confirmation as justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Over the past two months, I received thousands of letters from all over the country recommending scores of able men and women for appointments at two bases in the Court.
I have two vacancies prepared for you today.
One of the vacancies is that left by the retirement and death of Mr. Justice Black, a former United States Senator.
There's been strong support for the appointment of a member of the House of Senate and the Court, so that the appointment, so that the point of view of Congress would be actively moved.
A number of letters have recommended the appointment of a woman since no woman has ever been named in the Supreme Court.
A number of others have recommended the appointment of representatives of religious, racial, and nationality groups not presently represented in the Court.
I believe the Supreme Court should, in the broadest sense, be representative of the entire nation.
Though with only nine seats to fill, obviously every group in the country can't be represented on the Court.
These are the criteria I believe should be applied in naming people to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in this country.
Its members should be among the very best lawyers in the nation.
The two individuals I have nominated for the Court meet that standard to an exceptional degree.
Second consideration is the judicial philosophy of those who are to serve in the Court.
I emphasize the word judicial because whether an individual is a Democrat or a Republican should not be a decisive factor in determining whether or not he should be appointed to the Court.
Are you sure you don't want us to do that one page over?
Don't tell them it's only one.
But it was very low on the page I noticed, too.
I think it's very good, huh?
And from what I know, hearing people, it sounds great.
Well, Rancor does not know, except among people with knowing, the qualifications that he can't knock you.
Anybody who will spurs you into class in Stanford, they're all a bunch of goddamn snobs.
But if you spurs you into class in Stanford, you just break here in the government.
You just run circles around all these other guys.
And I know Hope told me the other day, I told him, he's got powers, right?
You know, he's a little older than me.
Well, everybody's saying, everybody's...
But you didn't see that even in the middle of that.
You couldn't find it.
I hadn't.
So it's our, we've got the deal made, and nobody knows it.
No, well, I didn't know.
I didn't know what he could be told, and I denied him anybody who said anything.
Oh, but... Powell doesn't want to serve you at all.
But he's, he's, he's everybody's choice.
the difficulty of Rehnquist cases in 1947, but that goddamn Potter Stewart was 40 when they... Well, with their rights on the... 38 or something.
NARA Description
On October 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:50 pm and 5:55 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 281-055 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 281-55
Date: October 21, 1971
Time: Unknown between 5:50 pm and 5:55 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Rose Mary Woods.
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 30s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
**********************************************************************
The President's Supreme Court appointments
-William H. Rehnquist
-Qualifications
-Hobart D. Lewis’ opinion
-Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
-Ages
-Rehnquist
-Potter Stewart
-Byron R. ("Whizzer") White
-Rehnquist
-Rank in law school class
-Mildred L. Lillie
-Herschel H. Friday
-Powell and Rehnquist
The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman between 5:52 pm and 5:53 pm.
[Conversation No. 281-55A]
[See Conversation No. 12-51]
[End of telephone conversation]
Speech
-Changes
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Woods' preparation
Presidential speech writers
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-William L. Safire
-Patrick J. Buchanan
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 3s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
**********************************************************************
The President's schedule
-Old Executive Office Building office
-John N. Mitchell
-Telephone calls
-Warren E. Burger
-Lawrence E. Walsh
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 12s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
**********************************************************************
Woods left at 5:55 pm.Also recorded on October 21, 1971
- 012-049 5:42 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:42 pm.
- 281-052 5:43 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:43 pm and 5:50 pm.
- 281-053 5:43 PM · 12 sec — 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 5:43 pm and 5:50 pm.
- 281-054 5:43 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:43 pm and 5:50 pm.
- 012-051 5:52 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 5:52 pm to 5:53 pm.
- 012-052 5:53 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:53 pm and 6:08 pm.
- 281-056 5:55 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:08 pm.
- 281-057 5:55 PM · 48 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 5:55 pm and 6:08 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 281-055, October 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/281-055 (accessed September 28, 2026).