Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 283 › Conversation 283-013

Nixon & Goldwater on Supreme Court appointments and Judicial philosophy

Wednesday, October 6, 1971 · 8:25 AM–8:27 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Goldwater, Barry M.Conversation283-013 on Tape 283 (tape position 00:34:56–00:37:51)StartWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 8:25 AMEndWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 8:27 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 283-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiated this call to express his appreciation for Senator Barry Goldwater’s recent public criticism of Senator Edward Kennedy. The discussion transitioned to the administration’s strategy for upcoming judicial appointments, with Nixon assuring Goldwater that he remained committed to nominating conservative candidates to the Supreme Court. They briefly evaluated potential nominees and discussed the challenges posed by the legal establishment and the ideological leanings of current justices.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 26% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Yeah.
Hello.
Barry, I just wanted to tell you I've just been very grateful for the way you've been knocking them around lately.
I drove back and I went over to do a finance thing for John Rollins, the National Committee at Telluride today.
I drove back with Bob Dole and he said, you guys are on an airplane with 3 o'clock in the morning on the 94th.
But it's really been great, and I think the way you nailed old Teddy on that crawling stage was good.
And you know, as Hubert followed your lot, you might as well see that.
Why do you think he did that?
What's he there?
You think he wants to get in on the game, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, he's the most decent man.
Right.
That's right, that's right.
But Teddy went beyond the pale on that.
But how do people react to you?
They... Yeah, right, right, good.
Yeah, incidentally, I want you to know on the judge thing, so I can assure you there, if I have to,
fighting for the balance of this, and we're going to have two conservative judges.
Yeah.
Oh, I know Richter well.
He's an excellent man.
Great.
Yeah.
The great difficulty of the damn bar we have come to because of the lack of
But boy, he's the right age and everything.
Doesn't mean a damn thing.
Look at Brennan.
That's right.
That's right.
Right.
They're not worried me a bit.
Not one bit.
I was sorry to give up on Toss, but Toss felt he couldn't put his family through it.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
But he thought he deserved it.
Okay.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On October 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Barry M. Goldwater met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:25 am to 8:27 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 283-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 283-013
Date: October 6, 1971
Time: 8:25 am - 8:27 am
Location: Executive Office Building
The President talked with Barry M. Goldwater.
[See Conversation No. 10-65]

Also recorded on October 6, 1971

  • 010-064 8:21 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Gerald R. Ford talked on the telephone at 8:21 am.
  • 283-011 8:22 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 8:22 am.
  • 283-012 8:22 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:22 am to 8:24 am.
  • 010-065 8:25 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Barry M. Goldwater talked on the telephone from 8:25 am to 8:27 am.
  • 010-066 8:27 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:27 am and 8:28 am.
  • 283-014 8:27 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 8:27 am.
  • 010-067 8:28 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and David N. Henderson talked on the telephone from 8:28 am to 8:32 am.
  • 283-015 8:28 AM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, David N. Henderson, White House operator, and Hugh Scott met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:28 am to 9:05 am.

All 110 conversations from October 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 283-013, October 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/283-013 (accessed October 8, 2026).