{"conversationCode":"320-018","tapeNumber":320,"conversationNumber":18,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-320-018","startDateTime":"1972-02-08T19:44:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-02-08T19:48:00.000Z","startDate":"8-Feb-1972","startTime":"2:44 PM","endDate":"8-Feb-1972","endTime":"2:48 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.;","description":"On February 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:44 pm to 2:48 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 320-018 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 320-18\n\nDate: February 8, 1972\nTime: 2:44 pm - 2:48 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.\n\n[See also Conversation No. 20-62]","filename":["320-018.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:40:24","tapeEnd":"00:42:12","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ziegler, Ronald L."],"prevCode":"320-017","nextCode":"320-019","transcript":[{"start":0.08,"end":14.3,"text":"So, your press thing, everything goes out as you expected?"},{"start":14.32,"end":15.59,"text":"Oh crap, what a run for the man."},{"start":15.61,"end":17.45,"text":"Have we picked our friends?"},{"start":17.75,"end":18.91,"text":"I hope not that."},{"start":18.93,"end":21.94,"text":"Jesus Christ, that's the most horrible bunch of people I ever saw."},{"start":33.04,"end":41.71,"text":"Well, really, I think most of the fair guys realize it's a damn good job."},{"start":41.73,"end":45.7,"text":"I don't think... Not just those that win."},{"start":45.72,"end":52.43,"text":"I mean, it's damn fair."},{"start":52.45,"end":53.23,"text":"I know."},{"start":53.25,"end":53.39,"text":"Thanks."},{"start":53.41,"end":58.6,"text":"The point was that we just didn't have anybody that fit the criteria down here."},{"start":58.62,"end":60.58,"text":"We didn't have anybody that fit the criteria down here."},{"start":63.02,"end":79.31,"text":"Good."},{"start":79.33,"end":85.45,"text":"He said it was okay."},{"start":86.77,"end":86.87,"text":"Okay."},{"start":86.89,"end":87.8,"text":"Getting it to kind of apply to the wire door."},{"start":87.81,"end":87.92,"text":"Good."},{"start":87.94,"end":88.68,"text":"Threatened you again on that."},{"start":88.7,"end":90.52,"text":"Well, they already had their story on that."},{"start":95.11,"end":95.94,"text":"Okay."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler briefly reviewed the status of a recent press briefing and staffing challenges. The discussion focused on personnel recruitment difficulties, with Ziegler confirming that no suitable candidates meeting the administration's criteria were currently available for specific positions. Nixon expressed frustration regarding the quality of external associations while acknowledging the perceived fairness of the administration's public messaging strategy.","topics":["Press relations","Personnel recruitment","Public image","Staffing","White House operations"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T14:53:05.115Z"},"topicSlugs":["press-relations","personnel-recruitment","public-image","staffing","white-house-operations"],"audioDurationSec":98,"audioFiles":[{"file":"320-018.mp3","bytes":3920248,"durationSec":97.86,"bitrate":320488,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:41.568Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/320-018.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/320-018","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/320/conversation-320-018","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}