Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 283 › Conversation 283-031

Nixon & Price on Public Relations and Speechwriting

Wednesday, October 6, 1971 · 11:46 AM–11:47 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.Conversation283-031 on Tape 283 (tape position 02:19:58–02:21:00)StartWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 11:46 AMEndWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 11:47 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 283-031 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consults with speechwriter Raymond K. Price, Jr. regarding the development of a persuasive communication strategy involving testimonials from diverse citizens. The President directs Price to incorporate anecdotes from ordinary Americans—such as teachers and retirees—to emphasize public support for his administration's messaging. This exercise aims to create a punchy, grassroots narrative that reflects a broad cross-section of the country.

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 63% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I'd like to try that exercise in two different ways.
One, to find, say, somebody murdered.
Another way that could be perhaps a little more effective.
I want to put in this paragraph with regard to the fact that they overwhelmingly published the Fourth League and Fourth League crimes free.
thousands of letters, and I think he wrote one sentence.
My wife's wife, a teacher from Texas, about six or seven, something like that, you see, and they don't have to be people who sacrifice.
If they have, that helps, but just somebody says, a retired person from this, they sue me, and I think that might be very sharp, punchy,
and cover the country sort of that way, and cover the various types of people.
Uh, so, uh, I'll take everything I have.
Okay.

NARA Description

On October 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:46 am to 11:47 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 283-031 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 283-031

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

Date: October 6, 1971
Time: 11:46 am - 11:47 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 10-80]

Also recorded on October 6, 1971

  • 010-077 11:39 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:39 am and 11:44 am.
  • 010-078 11:39 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:39 am and 11:44 am.
  • 010-079 11:44 AM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 11:44 am to 11:45 am.
  • 283-030 11:44 AM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:44 am to 11:45 am.
  • 010-080 11:46 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 11:46 am to 11:47 am.
  • 010-081 11:47 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:47 am and 11:55 am.
  • 283-032 11:47 AM · 27 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 11:47 am and 11:50 am.
  • 283-033 11:50 AM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, H. R. Gross, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:50 am to 12:35 pm.

All 110 conversations from October 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 283-031, 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/283-031 (accessed October 8, 2026).