Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 298 › Conversation 298-029

Nixon & Haldeman on Earl L. Butz and Government reorganization

Thursday, November 11, 1971 · 4:24 PM–4:29 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation298-029 on Tape 298 (tape position 02:34:09–02:36:05)StartThursday, November 11, 1971 at 4:24 PMEndThursday, November 11, 1971 at 4:29 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 298-029 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discussed the political messaging and public image of Secretary of Agriculture Earl L. Butz. They emphasized highlighting Butz's Indiana roots and agricultural background to appeal to rural voters. Additionally, the pair briefly reviewed the arduous process of implementing government reorganization initiatives spearheaded by the Ash Council and John Ehrlichman.

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 37% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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, I wondered if you had a chance to talk to John at, uh, the bar.

Sure.

Uh, I, uh, don't know.

I don't know.

Before he gets his mind set in some other direction, I thought this was handled very well.

You know, we haven't, we don't get much credit for this, and it's gracefully gone on.

And, uh, it may hurt me to admit it.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, boy.

Yeah, what you said.

Yeah, just bring in a great country.

Yeah, and he'll say that all over the country.

He's going to be a, he's going to, and he'll do it, you know, he's, he's an Indiana politician, Bob, that's as good as he does.

You know, and it, and it isn't too bad, too, to ever mention that I've been, like, my whole life, I've been raised on a farm, a farm, just for a year, still here, a farm here, and then I've been in teaching or in the department all of my life, that's not bad.

So, uh, the, uh,

The organization came in on that.

And again, I put a pair too, which you noticed in the way I said in this also, which is a greater success for passengers in the area of the mission after.

There's practically no way to get into it at all.

It's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work, you know.

Yeah.

All right.

Good.

Okay.

All right, here he goes.

NARA Description

On November 11, 1971, 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 4:24 pm and 4:29 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 298-029 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 298-29

Date: November 11, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:24 pm and 4:29 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     Haldeman's conversation with John [N. Mitchell?]

     Earl L. Butz
           -Background
                -Indiana
                      -Politics
                -Agriculture
                     -Farming
                     -Teaching

     Government reorganization
         -John D. Ehrlichman
         -Ash Council
         -John B. Connally
         -The President's previous statement
              -Reorganization Act
                    -Prospects

     John C. Stennis Amendment

Also recorded on November 11, 1971

014-046 4:19 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:19 pm and 4:22 pm.
298-026 4:19 PM · 17 sec — 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 4:19 pm and 4:22 pm.
298-027 4:19 PM · 8 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 4:19 pm and 4:22 pm.
014-047 4:22 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 4:22 pm to 4:24 pm.
298-028 4:22 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:22 pm to 4:24 pm.
014-048 4:24 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:24 pm and 4:29 pm.
298-030 4:24 PM · 5 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 4:24 pm and 4:29 pm.
298-031 4:24 PM · 24 sec — 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 4:24 pm and 4:29 pm.

All 91 conversations from November 11, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 298-029, November 11, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/298-029 (accessed October 12, 2026).