{"conversationCode":"285-020","tapeNumber":285,"conversationNumber":20,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-285-020","startDateTime":"1971-10-07T16:28:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-10-07T16:31:00.000Z","startDate":"7-Oct-1971","startTime":"12:28 PM","endDate":"7-Oct-1971","endTime":"12:31 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Safire, William L.;","description":"On October 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:28 pm to 12:31 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 285-020 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. 285-020\n\nDate: October 7, 1971\nTime: 12:28 pm - 12:31 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with William L. Safire.\n\n[See Conversation No. 10-129]\n\n       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542","filename":["285-020.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:59:40","tapeEnd":"03:01:26","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Safire, William L."],"prevCode":"285-019","nextCode":"285-021","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":17.46,"text":"Bill, this may be a typo, but when we talk about we, it says we launched this battle next in place for the purpose of letting it to be launched."},{"start":22.69,"end":23.05,"text":"Yeah, we launched."},{"start":23.07,"end":23.81,"text":"Incidentally, is there a better word?"},{"start":23.83,"end":26.91,"text":"We started this battle, or, you know, people understand, launched."},{"start":26.93,"end":28.43,"text":"Yeah, well, I guess people understand it with all the goodness of the word."},{"start":28.99,"end":47.54,"text":"All right, we launched this federal ."},{"start":47.56,"end":48.64,"text":"We launched, well I can say we launched this federal ."},{"start":48.66,"end":49.12,"text":"We began this federal ."},{"start":49.14,"end":49.34,"text":"High five."},{"start":52.85,"end":72.33,"text":"We launched this about a year, we launched this about the other day."},{"start":72.36,"end":72.94,"text":"I think we got a point there."},{"start":72.96,"end":73.44,"text":"That's pretty good, too."},{"start":73.46,"end":74.74,"text":"Battle against inflation with the purpose of winning."},{"start":74.76,"end":75.46,"text":"We're going to stay in until we do."},{"start":75.48,"end":75.58,"text":"Okay?"},{"start":75.6,"end":75.82,"text":"Yeah, good."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and speechwriter William Safire review and refine the wording of a presidential address concerning economic policy. They focus specifically on improving the rhetoric regarding the administration's \"battle against inflation.\" The brief exchange concludes with an agreement to use the phrasing \"we launched this battle\" to emphasize the government's commitment to winning the fight against rising prices.","topics":["Inflation","Speechwriting","Economic Policy","Rhetoric","William Safire"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T13:27:54.622Z"},"topicSlugs":["inflation","speechwriting","economic-policy","rhetoric","william-safire"],"audioDurationSec":76,"audioFiles":[{"file":"285-020.mp3","bytes":3042550,"durationSec":75.92,"bitrate":320626,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.615Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:16.144Z","transcriptGapSeconds":38,"transcriptGapShare":0.5,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/285-020.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/285-020","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/285/conversation-285-020","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}