Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 282 › Conversation 282-039

Nixon & Price on Speechwriting and Vietnam War rhetoric

Wednesday, October 20, 1971 · 6:10 PM–6:11 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.Conversation282-039 on Tape 282 (tape position 02:43:26–02:45:01)StartWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 6:10 PMEndWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 6:11 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 282-039 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417184903 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consults with speechwriter Raymond K. Price, Jr. regarding the tone and content of a draft document or speech. The discussion centers on tempering overly idealistic rhetoric concerning war and peace to avoid creating unrealistic public expectations. They reach a consensus to remove specific passages that the President deems too extreme for the current political climate.

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.3 MB

NARA Description

On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:10 pm to 6:11 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 282-039 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 282-39

Date: October 20, 1971
Time: 6:10 pm - 6:11 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 12-23]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

I don't want to go so far as the last generation veterans and so forth.

I have said, of course, that this couldn't be the last war.

But on the other hand, I think it could be held up to say, well, we're holding on a false hope and so forth and so on.

You know what I mean?

And so I think that he could just take her and, you know what I mean, those three areas, sort of take that out so it doesn't hold that high of a

a lasting piece or a, I don't know any sort of piece, that sort of thing, but I think, as well, it makes a nice balance, let's say, the versionary, the last version, there's all that, but I just think it's a bit too far in the present context.

But the other one, I think, is fine.

I'm not very on it.

Okay?

Bye.

Also recorded on October 20, 1971

012-022 6:09 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:09 pm and 6:10 pm.
282-037 6:09 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:09 pm to 6:10 pm.
012-023 6:10 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 6:10 pm to 6:11 pm.
282-038 6:10 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 6:10 pm.
012-024 6:11 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:11 pm and 6:17 pm.
282-040 6:11 PM · 59 sec — 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 6:11 pm and 6:17 pm.
282-041 6:11 PM · 8 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 6:11 pm and 6:17 pm.
282-042 6:11 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:11 pm and 6:17 pm.

All 81 conversations from October 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 282-039, October 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417184903). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/282-039 (accessed November 12, 2026).