Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 317 › Conversation 317-012

Nixon & Connally on Speech preparation and San Clemente

Monday, January 24, 1972 · 3:23 PM–3:29 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.Conversation317-012 on Tape 317 (tape position 01:20:24–01:25:58)StartMonday, January 24, 1972 at 3:23 PMEndMonday, January 24, 1972 at 3:29 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 317-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John B. Connally discuss preparations for an upcoming speech, emphasizing the importance of diligent preparation over off-the-cuff remarks. The conversation briefly touches upon political acquaintances and logistical concerns regarding school closures before transitioning into personal topics, including a gift for the President's San Clemente home and travel plans involving fishing in the Bahamas. No major policy decisions were reached, as the meeting served largely to coordinate schedules and manage social pleasantries.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 52% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Oh.
Hi, John.
Let me interrupt you, but I got back, and I basically decided to go tomorrow night.
On that book, it's a story about speech, and I'm working on it now.
I'll see you.
I'll see you.
Second point, I was just But you had to work on it.
No, I said there's no off-the-cuff speech.
You did the work before.
Sure.
Sure.
Oh, sure, sure.
What a heck of a service.
I could have told you.
Fine, fine, fine.
Excellent.
Oh, yes, excellent.
Well, I'm the same class.
I get it.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
That's right.
And not one bit.
Not one bit.
Not one bit.
That's fine.
Incidentally, he, uh, uh, he met with, uh, my friend, uh, Carter.
Quite a couple, isn't he?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I asked him.
Yeah.
I feel better if we could just hold out and put something in as opposed to knowing full well that nothing's going to happen.
We didn't notice hope for those people at all.
He says the two schools are closed in a week.
And maybe the best we could do is just go front of it like that, right?
And I'd rather than parsing around and do it fast.
And one other thing I've got to tell you that I didn't learn until apparently Nellie was
that one of you were doing in New York was taking that from my place in San Clemente.
Well, that was a beautiful thing.
Couldn't be a better choice.
Couldn't be a better choice.
Oh, yes.
I love it.
I just love it.
And it will fit that house in the Hollywood area.
Where did you find it?
Oh.
Hold on, I... Well, I'm not much of a fisherman, but Manolo, you know, goes on.
My guy, he talks to Grouper and Snapper and Yellowtail and go around over here.
That's all I ate.
We didn't, they didn't go out for marbling that day.
They're saving the marbling for you, I think they're keeping it right now.
Yep, yep.
But the place is just, you're gonna get a hell of a kick on it.
We found a way to kill the tuber, we don't have to do it further.
Next time we do that, we're gonna apply that to Grand Bahamas, which is a place called Tupac.
where they have an airport big enough to take care of the big clients.
And then the helicopter, you know, 15 minutes over to marinate, which is a place where you stay in walkers, you know, wherever you are.
Two hours and a half in Washington, if you're out there fishing, purging water.
Oh, there's another thing.
I don't know whether you've ever done it, because, of course, I'm not a fisherman, but most people, have you ever done some bone fishing?
Yeah.
Well...
This is the greatest bonefish flat in the world.
And then you can see their tails coming up and down out there, so they have to get you a bonefish, too.
Okay.
All right.
If you catch one, I'll have it mounted.
That'll be all you get out of me.
Okay.
You sure you don't have it?

NARA Description

On January 24, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:23 pm to 3:29 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 317-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 317-012

Date: January 24, 1972
Time: 3:23 pm - 3:29 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with John B. Connally.

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 10/03/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[317-012-w001]

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

[Duration: 1m 38s]

[See Conversation No. 019-045]

[End of telephone conversation]

*****************************************************************

Also recorded on January 24, 1972

  • 317-010 3:15 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:15 pm to 3:17 pm.
  • 019-044 3:17 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:17 pm and 3:23 pm.
  • 317-011 3:17 PM · 4 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 3:17 pm and 3:23 pm.
  • 019-045 3:23 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 3:23 pm to 3:29 pm.
  • 019-046 3:29 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:29 pm and 3:32 pm.
  • 317-013 3:29 PM · 7 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 3:29 pm and 3:32 pm.
  • 019-047 3:32 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:32 pm.
  • 317-014 3:32 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:32 pm.

All 54 conversations from January 24, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 317-012, January 24, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/317-012 (accessed September 26, 2026).