Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 290 › Conversation 290-004

Nixon with unidentified visitors in his EOB office on William P. Rogers

Sunday, October 17, 1971 · 6:09 PM–6:13 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation290-004 on Tape 290 (tape position 00:15:44–00:16:08)StartSunday, October 17, 1971 at 6:09 PMEndSunday, October 17, 1971 at 6:13 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 290-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiates a brief exchange with the White House operator to facilitate a telephonic connection with Secretary of State William P. Rogers. The President briefly engages the operator in casual conversation regarding a sporting event before transitioning to his official request. The call serves as the administrative bridge to connect the President with his Secretary of State for subsequent high-level government business.

Audio

15:44

Download MP3 · 75.3 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the players above hold the full tape, shared with neighbouring conversations. By the archivists' log it runs from 00:15:44 to 00:16:08 into the tape; their log often drifts a minute or two from the audio, so listen for the subjects in the finding aid.

NARA Description

On October 17, 1971, 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 6:09 pm and 6:13 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 290-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 290-4

Date: October 17, 1971
Time: Unknown between 6:09 pm and 6:13 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 11-104]

     Request for a call to William P. Rogers

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Timestamps are positions within the full tape; click one to play the tape from there.

Hello?
You saw a good game, didn't you?

Also recorded on October 17, 1971

  • 011-103 5:52 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 5:52 pm to 6:09 pm.
  • 290-003 5:52 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:52 pm and 6:09 pm.
  • 011-104 6:09 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 6:09 pm to 6:13 pm.
  • 011-105 6:13 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 6:13 pm to 6:26 pm.
  • 290-005 6:13 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:13 pm and 6:26 pm.
  • 290-006 6:26 PM · 3 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 6:26 pm and 8:48 pm.
  • 290-007 6:26 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:26 pm and 8:48 pm.
  • 290-008 6:26 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:26 pm and 8:48 pm.

All 17 conversations from October 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 290-004, October 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/290-004 (accessed November 12, 2026).