Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 292 › Conversation 292-012

Nixon with unidentified visitors in his EOB office on Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 5:08 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation292-012 on Tape 292 (tape position 02:15:02–02:15:55)StartTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 5:08 PMEndTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 5:08 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 292-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon instructed the White House operator to place a call to Lewis F. Powell, Jr. during a brief administrative interaction. Following the request, Nixon engaged in a spontaneous critique of political opposition, specifically disparaging the Kennedy family's influence on the Vietnam War and their perceived efforts to rehabilitate the legacy of John F. Kennedy in the media. No further official actions were taken during this exchange.

Audio

part B, 12:39

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 67.0 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 02:15:02 to 02:15:55 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 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 5:08 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 292-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 292-12

Date: October 19, 1971
Time: 5:08 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 11-139]

     Request for a call to Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

It don't happen.
But it's not easy to end.
It's a great irony that the sons of bitches have got us in.
Harrod and the rest have got us in.
The Kennedy clan and tribes have sabotaged every hecker for us to get us out.
Every goddamn hecker.
There's an interesting effort in the New York Times this morning to rehabilitate J.F.
Kennedy.
There are all these Latter-day Carpers who are now running down, and he's really a far sighted man.
He was going to get rid of Rusk.
He was going to get rid of his advisers.
He was going to lead us out of the war mess.
He was going to have a Russian summit, and he was going to have a summit in Japan, and he was going to solve all problems in the Far East if he's going to live.

Also recorded on October 19, 1971

  • 011-139 5:08 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:08 pm.
  • 011-140 5:08 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:08 pm and 5:09 pm.
  • 292-013 5:08 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:08 pm and 5:09 pm.
  • 292-014 5:08 PM · 17 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 5:08 pm and 5:09 pm.
  • 011-141 5:09 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 5:09 pm to 5:27 pm.
  • 292-015 5:09 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:09 pm to 5:27 pm.
  • 011-142 5:27 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:27 pm and 5:38 pm.
  • 292-016 5:27 PM · 59 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:27 pm to 5:38 pm.

All 95 conversations from October 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 292-012, October 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/292-012 (accessed November 13, 2026).