{"conversationCode":"282-012","tapeNumber":282,"conversationNumber":12,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-282-012","startDateTime":"1971-10-20T19:06:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-10-20T19:10:00.000Z","startDate":"20-Oct-1971","startTime":"3:06 PM","endDate":"20-Oct-1971","endTime":"3:10 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rumsfeld, Donald H.;","description":"On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 282-012 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. 282-12\n\nDate: October 20, 1971\nTime: 3:06 pm - 3:10 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Donald H. Rumsfeld.\n\n[See Conversation No. 12-3]","filename":["282-012.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:34:28","tapeEnd":"00:39:33","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Rumsfeld, Donald H."],"prevCode":"282-011","nextCode":"282-013","transcript":[{"start":0.21,"end":0.39,"text":"Hello."},{"start":0.41,"end":1.57,"text":"Yeah, hi, Don."},{"start":1.59,"end":6.59,"text":"Oh, I wonder what your final figure came from, your friend."},{"start":6.67,"end":7.83,"text":"Oh, I see, yeah."},{"start":7.87,"end":16.33,"text":"Oh, no, no, no, I thought you said that he was gonna have it."},{"start":16.41,"end":21.63,"text":"That's all right, it's not important."},{"start":21.95,"end":27.55,"text":"No, yeah."},{"start":30.97,"end":31.13,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":31.69,"end":36.82,"text":"We don't want him to dance with me unless he wants to give it to us."},{"start":36.84,"end":37,"text":"Fine."},{"start":37.2,"end":37.36,"text":"Fine."},{"start":37.4,"end":37.5,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":37.52,"end":38.52,"text":"If he has, I just choose."},{"start":38.54,"end":43.04,"text":"But if he's going to come out Sunday, he's going to come out Sunday, he probably just wants to have it with me."},{"start":43.06,"end":48.95,"text":"Since they're going to have it with us, he knows that while you're in Hong Kong."},{"start":48.97,"end":51.01,"text":"Right."},{"start":51.45,"end":52.75,"text":"Right."},{"start":52.77,"end":52.89,"text":"Right."},{"start":52.91,"end":54.07,"text":"How are you getting on your names?"},{"start":54.13,"end":56.03,"text":"I mean, everything is on the police still."},{"start":56.13,"end":59.03,"text":"They're coming for you, aren't they?"},{"start":62.78,"end":65.92,"text":"I'm a public member, or a private member."},{"start":66.06,"end":77.53,"text":"One name that occurred to me that was a very good man in the social movement, I mean, public-minded, is Pauly Avedon."},{"start":77.56,"end":79.19,"text":"Is that name ever come across your desk?"},{"start":79.25,"end":81.83,"text":"He's the president of New York Trust."},{"start":81.85,"end":83.31,"text":"He's a great friend of Collins."},{"start":83.49,"end":84.49,"text":"He was on his board."},{"start":84.79,"end":91.99,"text":"And he's about 60 years of age and, you know, very public-spirited, grateful, and he's sort of one of the big men"},{"start":92.92,"end":95.5,"text":"in the financial communities."},{"start":95.92,"end":96.44,"text":"Hoyt, Hoyt Amidon."},{"start":96.47,"end":98.63,"text":"Peter knows him well, they're all, they're social buddies."},{"start":98.65,"end":109.97,"text":"And I don't know why I hadn't thought of his name for a year, because he was so good that he was merrily offering a fashion repair or something, so."},{"start":115.69,"end":116.77,"text":"But he's the name of the person."},{"start":117.09,"end":117.79,"text":"I should have a visit."},{"start":118.71,"end":119.45,"text":"Now the other."},{"start":119.51,"end":120.71,"text":"Fine, fine, the other thing is that"},{"start":122.25,"end":124.83,"text":"Yeah, anytime you say, because I'll be here all day Friday."},{"start":124.97,"end":128.31,"text":"I'm not going away this weekend."},{"start":128.37,"end":128.97,"text":"So we can do it."},{"start":129.07,"end":131.55,"text":"That'd be good, get the Friday afternoon, so it hits next week."},{"start":132.41,"end":137.39,"text":"Next few weeks, magazines and the Sunday papers."},{"start":137.45,"end":139.21,"text":"Friday afternoon."},{"start":139.27,"end":140.23,"text":"I mean, there's something."},{"start":140.43,"end":142.77,"text":"Oh yeah, the Republican women, Friday morning."},{"start":142.83,"end":145.37,"text":"But I do not want that to be the big news anyway."},{"start":145.39,"end":147.71,"text":"So I would much prefer to have this like that."},{"start":147.73,"end":148.85,"text":"We can do it at 11 o'clock, 11.30."},{"start":152.92,"end":153.92,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":153.98,"end":156.82,"text":"Uh, the, uh, who'd you make chairman of the price board?"},{"start":157.78,"end":158.06,"text":"Fine."},{"start":162.68,"end":171.31,"text":"I need you to decide your... Uh-huh."},{"start":171.53,"end":171.87,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":171.88,"end":172.1,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":172.16,"end":172.32,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":172.65,"end":173.09,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":173.1,"end":173.31,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":173.37,"end":177.65,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":177.71,"end":177.99,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":178.05,"end":182.39,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":183.47,"end":189.35,"text":"Sort of like, yeah, yeah, well, I, I, we always come up with that same fellow harder on this one."},{"start":189.66,"end":193.28,"text":"Hmm."},{"start":193.34,"end":197.98,"text":"This, this, this is the most important assignment of all."},{"start":198,"end":198.8,"text":"Not Scranton, huh?"},{"start":198.82,"end":201.78,"text":"He's on the price list."},{"start":201.8,"end":205.24,"text":"Let me think a bit on this."},{"start":205.28,"end":207.04,"text":"Let's think a bit."},{"start":208.68,"end":213.42,"text":"You really need a strong man here, a strong, strong, vigorous man, okay?"},{"start":216.9,"end":222.24,"text":"Well, that's the kind of, well, you ought to be able to run about that time."},{"start":222.42,"end":228.48,"text":"Maybe, maybe, I don't know."},{"start":228.66,"end":236.96,"text":"Okay, well, George's judgment would be very good on this, I think, because really, when you come down to it,"},{"start":239.47,"end":241.93,"text":"The ideal man to have this is George."},{"start":243.03,"end":252.55,"text":"He's the kind of man that we're looking for, so just tell George to get somebody like himself."},{"start":252.59,"end":258.11,"text":"But don't you agree, George is strong and he's light on both sides and respected."},{"start":261.11,"end":262.29,"text":"Names are sure to come."},{"start":266.77,"end":270.81,"text":"Oh, yeah, because you see, the pig one is the one that scares all the businessmen."},{"start":271.05,"end":272.85,"text":"And of course, the businessmen are wrong."},{"start":272.87,"end":283.39,"text":"They're spineless, but you've got to have somebody that can not let George and Amy, these fellows, bucking down every night."},{"start":283.45,"end":283.75,"text":"Well, good luck."},{"start":283.77,"end":285.07,"text":"If you need any help, let me know."},{"start":285.11,"end":287.05,"text":"I'm just working over at the O.B."},{"start":287.11,"end":288.37,"text":"and that's about it."},{"start":288.59,"end":288.83,"text":"Bye."},{"start":290.38,"end":290.57,"text":"Bye."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Donald Rumsfeld discuss potential appointments for the administration, specifically focusing on candidates for the chairmanship of the Price Board. Nixon emphasizes the need for a strong, vigorous leader who can effectively manage business community concerns regarding economic policy. The two also coordinate the scheduling of a media announcement to ensure maximum impact in upcoming Sunday papers and news cycles.","topics":["Price Board","Economic policy","Personnel appointments","Public relations","Nixon Administration"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T13:16:56.894Z"},"topicSlugs":["price-board","economic-policy","personnel-appointments","public-relations","nixon-administration"],"audioDurationSec":294,"audioFiles":[{"file":"282-012.mp3","bytes":11759089,"durationSec":293.83,"bitrate":320155,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.615Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/282-012.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/282-012","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/282/conversation-282-012","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}