Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 281 › Conversation 281-071

Nixon, Haldeman & Woods on Supreme Court appointments and Speechwriting

Thursday, October 21, 1971 · 4:25 PM–5:05 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 12 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose Mary; Acker, Marjorie P.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation281-071 on Tape 281 (tape position 03:46:50–03:58:42)StartThursday, October 21, 1971 at 4:25 PMEndThursday, October 21, 1971 at 5:05 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 281-071 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Marjorie P. Acker collaborated on the final editing and structural revisions of a speech concerning upcoming Supreme Court nominations. The President consulted with H. R. Haldeman throughout the process to refine specific content, including references to Chief Justice John Marshall. The session concluded with final instructions regarding the document's pagination and formatting to ensure the speech was prepared for delivery.

Audio

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Position in tape: 03:46:50 – 03:58:42

281a.mp3
281b.mp3
281c.mp3

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
I wonder, on this typewriter, go out and type that off and bring it right back in, please.
Now, so that I can get this started, Rose, could I send some pages over to have Marge start working on it?
I need something in the speech typewriter.
Is she there?
Okay.
Ever come over here, please.
I would be reluctant to excuse myself, but I think if you have this in hand now, I would work on those batteries because we've got a little dead end.
Checking on two details.
Now, I'll do a question for you.
I don't have your service here, but I'll check it.
This feels good to you, but it does.
I know it does.
Every little point where I had any hesitation was all kind of mine.
I can't wait until 730.
I share this view as a traditional conservative.
See, Whitman didn't put the bonus necessarily on the judiciary.
So, for your, uh, following his code, I share this view.
I share this view as a judicial conservative.
I strongly share this view.
And that's a new paragraph.
That's a very good point.
That's a judicial conservative.
That's right.
As a judicial conservative, I believe that the
and the court decisions have all been balanced to the right side.
I'm on record on that.
I've sent down the no-knock and the wiretap and everything else, so they all know that.
They need to protect the people from criminal elements.
I'm confident that we can accomplish this goal without compromise.
Our precious president.
I think we got it there.
All right, you can go now.
I'll be right there.
I strongly share this view, it follows right after the Lipman quote, and not as a second paragraph.
I strongly share this view.
And then, this paragraph, as a traditional conservative,
I could make the change to the first couple pages, but not to the start page.
The first part of the page is not good yet.
Uh, put in uh...
Start this page with the 11, 21 months ago and then end that with COVID.
My sentence, I strongly share this too.
And then come on with a paragraph that appears in the past few years.
The word balance.
And then say, as a traditional conservative,
Okay, just type the page like that.
In other words, just type this right here on.
I'll just pull this.
All right.
Come on, let's go.
Mr. Spivey, you are ready.
Page four is what I want to see.
I don't think you have this.
Where is page four?
Did I say let me give an example which bears
You started to change it.
You sent the copy.
I don't have that copy.
Marge has your original.
And I didn't.
We were reading it for too long.
You want to get that from her?
That's not...
There's something else on the bottom of page four of the monitor that you should take with another.
Let me give an example which varies specifically on that point.
You had written that.
See, that's why I should get it from her.
I didn't, you didn't give me that.
Hold on, I'll ask her what it is.
What's your own project, at least?
Yeah.
Yeah, it throws.
Put it around.
All right, what's the bottom page for?
Let me give you an example.
Oh, what's that philosophy mean?
Well, you had changed it, but see, I didn't have it for the car.
All right, fine.
Okay, thanks.
I don't have a copy out for that site.
It's in that page I typed.
Yeah, it's still in the page.
Yes, see, but I didn't have that page that we did over out there, so I couldn't...
So I can see what it looks like, just the way you wrote it over again.
I strongly share this view.
There's the P.F.
in this paragraph.
This is like results and so forth.
There's A here.
That's A.
That's A.
I share with you, you want up there, and then you want this.
No.
That all comes in.
Then that paragraph.
Then this paragraph.
And then,
But the one that I don't have the finish of the sentence is this, I believe we can, and this is it right here.
Check.
Chief Justice Marshall from Virginia.
Call me back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On October 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Marjorie P. Acker, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:25 pm and 5:05 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 281-071 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 281-71

Date: October 21, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:25 pm and 5:05 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Rose Mary Woods and Marjorie P. Acker.

     The President's speech on Supreme Court appointments
          -Revision of text

                -Walter Lippmann
                -Woods
           -Typing instructions
           -Pagination

Acker left at 4:35 pm.

           -Acker
                -Richard A. Moore

Rose Mary Woods talked with White House operator at an unknown time between 4:35 pm and
5:05 pm.

[Conversation No. 281-71A]

[See Conversation No. 12-46]

Rose Mary Woods talked with Marjorie P. Acker at an unknown time between 4:35 pm and 5:05
pm.

[Conversation No. 281-71B]

[See Conversation No. 12-47]

[End of telephone conversation]

     The President's speech on Supreme Court appointees
          -Pagination
          -Typing instructions

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman at an unknown time between 4:35 pm and
5:05 pm.

[Conversation No. 281-71C]

     The President's speech on Supreme Court appointments
          -Chief Justice John Marshall
               -Virginia

[End of telephone conversation]

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman between 5:00 pm and 5:01 pm.

[Conversation No. 281-71D]

[See Conversation No. 12-48]

[End of telephone conversation]

     [Pause]

     The President's speech on Supreme Court nominations
          -Preparation
               -Revisions
               -Acker

Woods left at 5:05 pm.

Also recorded on October 21, 1971

  • 012-042 3:53 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard A. Moore talked on the telephone from 3:53 pm to 3:54 pm.
  • 012-043 3:54 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:54 pm and 3:58 pm.
  • 012-044 3:54 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:54 pm and 3:58 pm.
  • 281-046 3:54 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:54 pm and 3:55 pm.
  • 281-047 3:55 PM · 28 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Richard A. Moore, White House operator, and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:55 pm to 4:25 pm.
  • 012-045 3:58 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 3:58 pm to 3:59 pm.
  • 012-046 3:59 PM · 11 sec — Rose Mary Woods and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:59 pm and 5:00 pm.
  • 012-047 3:59 PM · 48 sec — Rose Mary Woods, unknown person(s), Marjorie P. Acker, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:59 pm and 5:00 pm.

All 107 conversations from October 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 281-071, 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/281-071 (accessed September 28, 2026).