{"conversationCode":"281-059","tapeNumber":281,"conversationNumber":59,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-281-059","startDateTime":"1971-10-21T22:24:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-10-21T22:36:00.000Z","startDate":"21-Oct-1971","startTime":"6:24 PM","endDate":"21-Oct-1971","endTime":"6:36 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); [Unknown person(s)];","description":"On October 21, 1971, 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. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 281-059 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. 281-59\n\nDate: October 21, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 6:24 pm and 6:36 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President met with an unknown person.\n\n     [Unintelligible]\n\nThe unknown person left at an unknown time before 6:36 pm.\n\nThe President rehearsed a speech at an unknown time between 6:24 pm and 6:36 pm.\n\n[A transcript of the final broadcast of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents,\nRichard M. Nixon, 1971, pp. 1053-1057]","filename":["281-059-splice.mp3"],"tapeStart":"04:41:59","tapeEnd":"04:52:16","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","[Unknown person(s)]"],"prevCode":"281-058","nextCode":"281-060","tapeTranscriptFile":"281a.mp3,281b.mp3,281c.mp3","transcript":[{"start":16917.05,"end":16926.14,"text":"I don't know what he's feeling, despite all their proclamations and their closest friends."},{"start":16932.38,"end":16932.76,"text":"Paris."},{"start":16932.84,"end":16942.99,"text":"The rock style, the, the, the, the, the dramatic, absurd support, because it's so, on a birthday, other than that, where they were coming from."},{"start":16943.7,"end":16944.74,"text":"They may have just pushed it."},{"start":16944.76,"end":16945.96,"text":"Oh, the hell with it."},{"start":16946,"end":16947.74,"text":"We don't care."},{"start":16947.96,"end":16954.29,"text":"We don't give a damn."},{"start":16958.87,"end":16964.12,"text":"It's a pretty important thing that's going to shift the masters a little."},{"start":16964.16,"end":16970.92,"text":"They may turn them down, and if they do, at least I won't tell you what they are, but I'll tell you this."},{"start":16971.42,"end":16973.15,"text":"Each one was first in his class"},{"start":16974.71,"end":16979.89,"text":"in the day of good law school."},{"start":16979.95,"end":16980.99,"text":"So, what do you think of that?"},{"start":16981.01,"end":16985.05,"text":"And one was a clerk for the Supreme Court of Justice."},{"start":16985.07,"end":16988.75,"text":"So, God, that and both of them served me as hell."},{"start":16989.05,"end":16993.86,"text":"This class is, you know, something."},{"start":16993.92,"end":16994.52,"text":"What the hell?"},{"start":16994.54,"end":16995.06,"text":"I was high on that class."},{"start":16995.08,"end":16995.84,"text":"I was third."},{"start":16995.86,"end":17002.34,"text":"You know, you just got to be a real bear captain for sure."},{"start":17004.26,"end":17004.88,"text":"In any place, in any place."},{"start":17007.36,"end":17019.18,"text":"But in these factories, the electric stops and so forth, and this is one of the excellent things, totally excellent, and I'm never going to get out of that again."},{"start":17019.22,"end":17022.68,"text":"So this speech is satisfying."},{"start":17022.7,"end":17024.24,"text":"On the other hand, I also talk about philosophy."},{"start":17024.26,"end":17030.71,"text":"I say that we also need somebody that has, as I call it, preserved traditional philosophy, which means"},{"start":17033.73,"end":17047.48,"text":"And in most cases, it's all developed in the right, in the queue, in the right, in the society."},{"start":17047.5,"end":17048.58,"text":"That society as well as the queue."},{"start":17048.66,"end":17050.92,"text":"I'm hitting that, because that's the only thing that the people are hurting."},{"start":17052.04,"end":17054.24,"text":"They don't give a goddamn about the next one."},{"start":17054.28,"end":17054.62,"text":"Not one bit."},{"start":17054.64,"end":17055.32,"text":"It's all editorial crap."},{"start":17055.34,"end":17055.46,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":17058.08,"end":17062.41,"text":"So, I'm going to crack it again."},{"start":17063.91,"end":17065.71,"text":"This will kill them."},{"start":17068.03,"end":17074.74,"text":"This will kill them."},{"start":17074.76,"end":17074.96,"text":"Excellent."},{"start":17075.62,"end":17076.84,"text":"Well, point out this fact."},{"start":17077.2,"end":17080.06,"text":"Both of these men were first in their class."},{"start":17080.34,"end":17081.64,"text":"Both were 5A captains."},{"start":17083.56,"end":17084.62,"text":"Both were 5A captains."},{"start":17084.96,"end":17087.62,"text":"Both were first in their class in law school."},{"start":17087.7,"end":17090.51,"text":"Not second, not third, but first."},{"start":17090.55,"end":17091.47,"text":"By God, that's awfully hard."},{"start":17091.49,"end":17093.37,"text":"Awfully hard to believe for a child."},{"start":17095.68,"end":17096.28,"text":"Well, we all did."},{"start":17096.32,"end":17096.66,"text":"What the hell?"},{"start":17096.68,"end":17097.9,"text":"I mean, we're lucky to get even pass."},{"start":17098,"end":17098.1,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":17098.12,"end":17099.18,"text":"Right."},{"start":17099.2,"end":17099.34,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":17101,"end":17104.61,"text":"Well, I was lucky to be third."},{"start":17105.13,"end":17111.91,"text":"Well, we just didn't have other people."},{"start":17111.93,"end":17115.12,"text":"I mean, not that we get to play around."},{"start":17115.18,"end":17117.16,"text":"They're putting out a blocking pass."},{"start":17117.94,"end":17119.54,"text":"Well, it was like a screen pass, basically."},{"start":17128.95,"end":17129.61,"text":"Okay."},{"start":17170.16,"end":17175.74,"text":"because they will make decisions which will affect your lives and the lives of your children for generations to come."},{"start":17175.76,"end":17187.07,"text":"I would 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."},{"start":17187.09,"end":17193.97,"text":"Over the past month, I have received thousands of letters from all over the country recommending scores of able men and women for appointment in the state system court."},{"start":17195,"end":17200.8,"text":"because one of the vacancies is that left by the retirement of Justice Black, a former United States Senator."},{"start":17201.46,"end":17207.77,"text":"There has been strong support for the appointment of a member of the Senate of the House, so that they could view the point of view of the Congress."},{"start":17213.41,"end":17219.43,"text":"I recommend the appointment of a woman, since no woman has ever been named as a Supreme Court."},{"start":17220.5,"end":17228.22,"text":"A number of others have recommended defunding representatives of religious, racial, and nationality groups not presently represented on the Court."},{"start":17228.26,"end":17231.98,"text":"I believe the Supreme Court should, in the broadest sense, be represented with entirety."},{"start":17234.57,"end":17239.41,"text":"With only nine seats to bill, obviously every group in this country can be represented on the Court."},{"start":17240.83,"end":17244.21,"text":"These are the criteria I believe should be applied in naming people in the Court."},{"start":17245.33,"end":17247.85,"text":"The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in this country."},{"start":17249.05,"end":17251.67,"text":"Its members should be among the very best lawyers in the nation."},{"start":17253.03,"end":17259.42,"text":"Two individuals I am nominating to the Court meet that standard to an exceptional degree."},{"start":17259.46,"end":17264.24,"text":"Second consideration is the judicial philosophy of those who are deserving of the Court."},{"start":17264.26,"end":17274.07,"text":"I emphasize the word judicial because whether an individual is a Democrat or Republican cannot and should not be a decisive factor to determine whether he should be appointed to the Court."},{"start":17274.09,"end":17277.35,"text":"By judicial philosophy, I do not mean agreeing with the President on every issue."},{"start":17278.49,"end":17280.85,"text":"It would be a total repudiation of our constitutional system."},{"start":17281.67,"end":17288.99,"text":"The judges on the Supreme Court, or any federal court for that matter, were like puppets on a string pulled by the president who appointed them."},{"start":17289.01,"end":17297.78,"text":"When I appointed Chief Justice Berger, I told him that from the day that he was confirmed for the Senate, he could expect that I would never talk to him about a case before the court."},{"start":17298.85,"end":17314.52,"text":"In the case of both Chief Justice Berger and Mr. Justice Black, and in the case of the two nominees that I shall be sending to court tomorrow, their sole obligation is to the Constitution and to the American people, and not to the President, who will find out."},{"start":17314.56,"end":17324.79,"text":"As far as judicial philosophy is concerned, it is my belief that it is the duty of a judge to interpret the Constitution and not to place himself above the Constitution or outside the Constitution."},{"start":17326.62,"end":17332.28,"text":"He should not twist or bend the Constitution in order to promulgate his personal political and social views."},{"start":17333.46,"end":17340.53,"text":"This doesn't mean that judges who adhere to this philosophy will find that they always agree in their interpretation of the Constitution."},{"start":17340.57,"end":17346.93,"text":"We have an actual example of this in the record of the two judges whose vacancies I know are going to be before Judge Black and Judge Powell."},{"start":17347.9,"end":17353.56,"text":"When they retired from the court, most observers labeled Mr. Justice Black as a liberal and Mr. Justice Harlow as a conservative."},{"start":17353.58,"end":17357.77,"text":"I would say that both were constitutionalists."},{"start":17357.79,"end":17373.51,"text":"It is true they disagreed sharply in many cases, but as I learned not only from reading their opinions over the years, but from a period twice before them, and arguing cases before the Supreme Court, both were great judges, with the bravery to ask questions that went to the heart of the matter."},{"start":17374.67,"end":17380.67,"text":"and then make a decision based on their honest interpretation of the Constitution."},{"start":17380.69,"end":17387.61,"text":"In the debate over the confirmation of the two individuals I have selected, it may be charged that they are conservatives."},{"start":17388.71,"end":17393.04,"text":"This is true, but only in a judicial, not a political sense."},{"start":17394.65,"end":17404.12,"text":"During my campaign for the Presidents, see, I pledged to nominate in the Supreme Court individuals who shared my judicial philosophy, which is basically a conservative philosophy."},{"start":17405.1,"end":17408.88,"text":"Let me give an example of what that philosophy means."},{"start":17408.9,"end":17421.22,"text":"Twenty-one months ago, Mr. Walker wrote, balance of power within our society has turned dangerously against the peace forces, against governors and mayors and legislatures, against the police and the courts."},{"start":17422.5,"end":17423.71,"text":"I strongly share this view."},{"start":17425.18,"end":17435.72,"text":"Over the past few years, many cases have come before the courts involving the delicate balance between the rights of society and the rights of defendants accused of crime against society."},{"start":17435.86,"end":17442.96,"text":"Honest and dedicated constitutional lawyers have disagreed as to where and how they maintain that balance."},{"start":17443,"end":17452.06,"text":"As a judicial conservative, I believe some court decisions have gone too far in weakening the peace forces as against the criminal forces in our society."},{"start":17453.22,"end":17468.09,"text":"In maintaining the delicate balance between the rights of society and defendants accused of crime, I believe the peace forces must not be denied the legal tools they need to protect the innocent from criminal offences."},{"start":17468.11,"end":17477.1,"text":"I believe we can strengthen the hands of the peace forces without compromising our precious principle that the rights of individuals accused of crime must always be protected."},{"start":17478.12,"end":17483.52,"text":"It is with these great children in mind that I have selected the two men whose names I will send to the Senate tomorrow."},{"start":17483.78,"end":17494.11,"text":"Everything that Louis F. Powell has undertaken, he has accomplished with distinction and honor, both as a lawyer and as a citizen."},{"start":17494.13,"end":17501.97,"text":"Excellence has marked his career since his days as a student at Washington, D.C., where he was 5A to Canada and first in his class in law school."},{"start":17503.37,"end":17510.29,"text":"He follows practice law in Richmond since 1931, except for four years of distinguished service in World War II."},{"start":17510.35,"end":17516.83,"text":"In his unique legal career, he has received virtually every honor of this nation and his profession himself."},{"start":17516.85,"end":17524.07,"text":"He has been president of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Bar Foundation, and the American Bar Association."},{"start":17524.27,"end":17532.52,"text":"In the latter role, he provided leadership in the prevention of legal services for the needy with the revision of standards of administration and criminal justice."},{"start":17533.77,"end":17535.35,"text":"Louis Powell is from Virginia."},{"start":17536.45,"end":17547.35,"text":"But like another great Virginian, Chief Justice Marshall, Louis Powell is recognized by his legal colleagues throughout the nations as being a man who represents not just Virginia and the South."}],"transcriptBoundary":{"start":16919,"end":17536,"startMethod":"llm-alignment","endMethod":"llm-alignment"},"transcriptConfidence":"high","transcriptSource":"bigtape","aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon utilized this time to rehearse a public speech outlining his philosophy for selecting judicial nominees. During the session, he discussed his criteria for appointments, specifically emphasizing the need for candidates who balance social order with individual rights. He also highlighted the credentials of Lewis F. Powell as an exemplary candidate for a position in the federal judiciary.","topics":["Speech rehearsal","Judicial appointments","Lewis F. 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