Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 281 › Conversation 281-058
Nixon & Colson on Supreme Court nominations and Lewis Powell
Thursday, October 21, 1971 · 6:08 PM–6:24 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building
AI Summary
President Nixon and Charles Colson met to discuss the pending Supreme Court nominations of Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist. The President expressed his confidence in the nominees and emphasized the importance of their judicial appointments to the broader government agenda. The conversation also touched upon broader concerns regarding public trust in government and the challenges of managing political discourse.
- Supreme Court nominations
- Lewis Powell
- William Rehnquist
- Judicial appointments
- Public trust in government
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 63.4 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 04:31:51 into the tape and ends around 04:41:59.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
NARA Description
On October 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:08 pm to 6:24 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 281-058 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 281-58 Date: October 21, 1971 Time: 6:08 pm - 6:24 pm Location: Executive Office Building The President talked with Charles W. Colson. [See Conversation No. 12-53]
Also recorded on October 21, 1971
- 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.
- 012-053 6:08 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 6:08 pm to 6:24 pm.
- 012-054 6:24 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:24 pm and 6:36 pm.
- 281-059 6:24 PM · 10 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 6:24 pm and 6:36 pm.
- 281-060 6:24 PM · 22 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 6:24 pm and 6:36 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 281-058, 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/281-058 (accessed September 28, 2026).