Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 335 › Conversation 335-019

Nixon & Connally on J. Edgar Hoover and Funeral arrangements

Wednesday, May 3, 1972 · 3:43 PM–3:46 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.Conversation335-019 on Tape 335 (tape position 01:39:08–01:43:56)StartWednesday, May 3, 1972 at 3:43 PMEndWednesday, May 3, 1972 at 3:46 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 335-019 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John B. Connally discuss the recent death of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the logistics surrounding his upcoming funeral and eulogy. They also touch upon personal matters involving Connally’s family and a gift Nixon intends to display in the Oval Office. The brief exchange concludes with the President noting his ongoing work regarding policies toward the Soviet Union.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.5 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 106.9 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 01:39:08 into the tape and ends around 01:43:56.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 recording.
1:39:03I've been, I've been, I've been a little, uh, tied up, and I want to have a talk with your friends tomorrow, but I was going to say that, uh, you know, we've, uh, we've got a lot of problems these days, and of course, on top of all that, your Hoover died, so...
1:39:19I'm giving a eulogy tomorrow.
1:39:19I've been making it very brief.
1:39:21So I think, frankly, that I would hope the cabinet would come.
1:39:30I think it's coming up.
1:39:34There's one for the thing up there.
1:39:35Great, great.
1:39:35I didn't go because I thought that the Congress should have its own show up there.
1:39:40Well, you know, I had to do one or the other, and I felt that I should do the church.
1:39:46But the Chief Justice is responding to me.
1:39:55Well, he's been quite a guy, you know.
1:39:58Think of the band.
1:40:00And it's really interesting, you know, John, through the years, I called Johnson, tried to get him before the announcement of death, and he was out rioting again, but I got him a minute after I made it, and he appreciated it, because he was quite a close friend, you know.
1:40:09So I'll have Rose maybe call and see if they'd like to come and see if they're honest, and if they want to get his car.
1:40:19Well, no, he'd take the car, I'll be honest with you.
1:40:25No, no, he shouldn't, because incidentally, when a father's on a heart attack, going through a funeral is the last thing you ought to do.
1:40:31And he really shouldn't, really shouldn't.
1:40:38No, sir, no, sir.
1:40:39The right decision over Alan Sugar,
1:40:53Do you think we did the right thing?
1:40:57I'm glad we did it, John.
1:41:01They were very important.
1:41:02I've done two or three things.
1:41:03First of all, I wrote to C.R.
1:41:05Smith, and I've sent you a copy.
1:41:07I am displaying the gift in the Oval Office, you know, on the table over there.
1:41:14So it will be on display there for a month.
1:41:25also i have rose called o'connor and uh to invite him and his wife to go to california
1:42:01Yeah.
1:42:01But most important, I wrote a letter to your daughter in her classes.
1:42:05Your daughter-in-law?
1:42:07Yeah.
1:42:07She's a pretty bitch.
1:42:12Connelly's a pretty good picker.
1:42:13Yeah, yeah.
1:42:18Yeah, that, say that young fella, he's a, how old is he?
1:42:20Oh, he's a big, big boy.
1:42:23Yeah, yeah.
1:42:26How much is he studying?
1:42:29Get out of the way.
1:42:44Yeah, good.
1:42:45One good thing to give me credit for, you know, honestly, is that we don't know.
1:42:48Yeah.
1:42:48Yeah.
1:42:49Yeah.
1:42:49Well, we had a great time, and just appreciate it so much.
1:42:57And we're giving some thoughts to the Soviets on the moment I want to talk to you about it.
1:43:14a little time, and that's when I'm working on a few of these.
1:43:18I may have...
1:43:44Whoa!
1:43:44Whoa!

NARA Description

On May 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:43 pm and 3:46 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 335-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 335-19

Date: May 3, 1972
Time: Between 3:43 and 3:46 pm.
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with John B. Connally.

[See Conversation No. 23-140]

Also recorded on May 3, 1972

  • 023-139 3:35 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:35 pm and 3:43 pm.
  • 023-140 3:43 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 3:43 pm to 3:46 pm.
  • 023-141 3:48 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:48 pm.
  • 023-142 3:48 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:48 pm and 3:49 pm.
  • 335-020 3:48 PM · 53 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:48 pm.
  • 335-021 3:48 PM · 14 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 3:48 pm and 3:49 pm.
  • 023-143 3:49 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Warren E. Burger talked on the telephone from 3:49 pm to 3:53 pm.
  • 335-022 3:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Warren E. Burger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:49 pm and 3:53 pm.

All 63 conversations from May 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 335-019, May 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/335-019 (accessed October 10, 2026).