Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 282 › Conversation 282-030

Nixon & Mitchell on Supreme Court and Judicial Nominations

Wednesday, October 20, 1971 · 5:33 PM–5:40 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.Conversation282-030 on Tape 282 (tape position 02:22:55–02:29:35)StartWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 5:33 PMEndWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 5:40 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 282-030 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417184885 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Mitchell discussed the final selection process for upcoming Supreme Court nominations, specifically weighing the qualifications of potential candidates Howard Baker, Lewis Powell, and William Rehnquist. Nixon expressed frustration with the deliberative pace and instructed Mitchell to prepare strong, positive statements for the chosen nominees. The President decided to finalize and announce his selections the following evening to preempt leaks and control the narrative surrounding the appointments.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:33 pm to 5:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 282-030 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 282-30

Date: October 20, 1971
Time: 5:33 pm - 5:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

John N. Mitchell talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 12-15]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
All right.
Hello.
Yeah.
Not for that.
I'm just great.
But he's a hell of a scholar.
Hard to go to law school.
Not that the father seems ridiculous.
Anyway, it's so outstanding.
Just give me a damn strong statement in regard to how superb and qualified he is.
I've been prepared for this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it.
I've heard from him.
I, uh, you know, I still think the record was sent to the man with the possibility, you know, to get the job done.
I just, I know it doesn't do much for everybody.
You know, you're going to get an answer.
The guy's record is just a hell of a record.
And, uh, you've got to say to his law firm, Bob Jackson, he's going to qualify.
Yeah, I would say he's going to qualify.
Turn down Friday?
Oh, I'll be there.
Oh, and how about Lily wasn't there?
I wasn't interested, not qualified.
Great, great, great.
Yeah.
Well, are they gonna put that out?
Well, we'll put it out.
Get that out.
Well, we've got to do it, I think, before we make the damn count.
All right, good.
But they said that she was as good as any one of them.
That's nice.
Well, then the stat curating thing is going to hurt her even more.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
That's right.
It's not the fact that you cannot have the President's choices, the sole service government also, and good men tolerating this and that.
That's what's happening.
And it's not going to happen again.
I want you to prepare one.
You prepared it.
You put it out for the rest of the day.
Now you have to wait for the following day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Hello, tomorrow night, John.
Baker doesn't say no, say yes, but I do.
I really lean very strongly to Reckless.
Somewhere or other, I think it's such a surprise that they don't have the problem that's law on their clients and all that kind of sort of stuff.
If you feel comfortable with it, all right.
That's the way I do it.
Either Baker or Reckless.
All right with you.
So prepare something.
God damn it, Baker should diddle us along like this.
Yeah.
All right.
When does he get back?
You've got to call in to him, have you?
Well, I want him laid right on the line.
We're not going to wait.
I want to go up.
You see, with this far out, you realize if that'll cause it'll leak.
I'm just not going to be peeking over the head of it all weekend.
I'm going to make the announcement tomorrow night at 730.
Okay.
I'm going to make the decision to go at 730.
I'll know all the requirements in time.
Fair enough.
And it'll either be on the year one rank list
I just think Rehnquist is made to order.
Rehnquist is done in that category.
Okay, that's what it is.
It's either Powell, Baker, or Powell, Rehnquist.
Fair enough.
And I may, we'll get out now, but I'll make you know tomorrow night.
Fair enough.
Does that bother you?
I'm just trying to keep that, uh, man, you see what I mean?
They'll think we're gonna go against the law, or they can convert our way to the morning.
I just want another name, understand?
Just you and I know the names.
Don't worry, I haven't briefed this man about it.
I mean, how old they've been, you know.
Just, just do it, I don't know.
See, what I meant is that I think we ought to tell the victors, and I will make, you know, a separate timeline.
No one else tonight.
Yeah, build it up.
Well, it'll knock the hell out of me.
They'll think it's the road next to the bar.
I really think we ought to build it up right away.
That's right.
Is that all right with you now?
All right.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right.
That's what I'm going to say.
Come on.
Thank you.

Also recorded on October 20, 1971

  • 282-027 5:20 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:20 pm to 5:25 pm.
  • 282-028 5:25 PM · 17 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 5:25 pm and 5:33 pm.
  • 282-029 5:25 PM · 2 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 5:25 pm and 5:33 pm.
  • 012-015 5:33 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 5:33 pm to 5:40 pm.
  • 012-016 5:40 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), White House operator, and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:49 pm.
  • 282-031 5:40 PM · 1 min — 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 5:40 pm and 5:49 pm.
  • 282-032 5:40 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, and John N. Mitchell met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:49 pm.
  • 012-017 5:49 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 5:49 pm to 5:50 pm.

All 81 conversations from October 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 282-030, October 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417184885). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/282-030 (accessed November 12, 2026).