Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 339 › Conversation 339-005

Nixon, Yates & Felt on George Wallace and Assassination attempt

Monday, May 15, 1972 · 8:10 PM–9:16 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Yates, Nellie L.; Felt, W. MarkConversation339-005 on Tape 339 (tape position 02:05:20–02:35:28)StartMonday, May 15, 1972 at 8:10 PMEndMonday, May 15, 1972 at 9:16 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 339-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Nellie L. Yates and briefly conferred with FBI Associate Director W. Mark Felt following the attempted assassination of Governor George Wallace. The conversation centered on the implications of the shooting, with Nixon drawing historical parallels to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and the wounding of John B. Connally. Nixon emphasized the need for a thorough FBI investigation to avoid the controversies associated with previous high-profile political shootings.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 108.1 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 02:05:20 into the tape and ends around 02:35:28.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
2:04:108 o'clock now.
2:04:11Why don't we wait until about 10.30 or so to get a summary report.
2:04:14I'll get to you then.
2:04:15Call me at 10.30.
2:04:16Okay, sir.
2:04:17Dinner's free.
2:04:18Very good.
2:07:51What do you think of all this?
2:07:53I can't say necessarily, because I'm watching that on television, but I can't wait.
2:07:59Robert Kennedy, you know, I remember him writing to me the other night when we watched that happen.
2:08:15I don't know.
2:08:15I don't know.
2:08:15I don't know.
2:08:16I don't know.
2:08:53You know, I used to follow, you know, I had a long hair.
2:08:54I was getting married.
2:09:53You know, we're at Margaret College now, where there's very hungry ladies.
2:09:54I know.
2:09:54They shot Pedro as well.
2:09:55Right.
2:09:55They're very hungry now.
2:09:55They're very hungry.
2:09:56Well, they shot him.
2:09:56They shot him.
2:09:57You know, particularly...
2:10:25Yeah.
2:10:25Yeah.
2:10:54Welcome back.
2:11:27Woof!
2:12:07They didn't have guns.
2:12:07It wasn't a hell of a thing to hit him.
2:12:08Don't you agree?
2:12:09With this fellow, the main thing is to be sure that we don't go through the things that we went through with the Kennedy assassination, because if we did, we'd follow them back and we'd be gone.
2:12:13We've got to remember that if we don't follow them back, even with this fellow, they're not going to put a line down.
2:12:36Can't be shot in the body, Joseph.
2:13:10Well, the main thing is you'll keep right on it.
2:13:15Remember, the FBI is in charge, and they're responsible, and I don't want to be so much of a hit.
2:13:28Right.
2:13:29Bye.
2:13:30We appreciate your coming.
2:13:31Thank you.
2:13:33Thank you.
2:14:14There you go.
2:22:46You can run it and be faster.
2:22:47You can run it and be faster.
2:23:16I was there at nine, of course, and I was gone.
2:23:18And I was there briefly, and I was just stumbling on my way to school.
2:23:20It was evening, and I was just stumbling on my way to school.
2:23:22And I was just stumbling on my way to school.
2:24:10You'll win big now.
2:24:11You'll sleep merrily.
2:24:11Whatever you do.
2:25:20Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 15, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Nellie L. Yates, and W. Mark Felt met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:10 pm and 9:16 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 339-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 339-5

Date: May 15, 1972
Time: Unknown between 8:10 and 9:16 pm

Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Nellie L. Yates.

     George C. Wallace
         -Assassination attempt
               -Compared with Robert F. Kennedy assassination
               -Secret Service agent's condition
         -Assailant
         -The President’s view
         -Assassination attempt
               -Theodore Roosevelt
         -Third party candidacy
         -Possible recovery

W. Mark Felt talked with the President between 8:15 and 8:18 pm.

[Conversation No. 339-5A]

[See Conversation No. 24-116]

[End of telephone conversation]

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 8m 10s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

     President's travels
          -Moscow’s [Soviet] Summit
          -Iran
          -Previous travels
          -Warsaw

     Wallace

          -Future victories
               -Maryland

     Robert F. Kennedy

     John B. Connally
          -Wounding in John F. Kennedy assassination

     Wallace
          -Assassination attempt
               -Responsibility

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 11m 33s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************

Yates left at an unknown time before 9:16 pm.

Also recorded on May 16, 1972

  • 024-115 8:02 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John B. Connally, and Idanell ("Nellie") (Brill) Connally talked on the telephone from 8:02 pm to 8:04 pm.
  • 024-116 8:15 PM · 3 min — W. Mark Felt and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 8:15 pm to 8:18 pm.
  • 024-117 8:18 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:18 pm and 9:16 pm.
  • 024-118 8:18 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:18 pm and 9:16 pm.
  • 024-119 8:18 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:18 pm and 9:16 pm.
  • 024-120 8:18 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:18 pm and 9:16 pm.
  • 339-006 8:18 PM · 50 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 8:18 pm and 9:16 pm.
  • 339-007 8:18 PM · 26 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 8:18 pm and 9:16 pm.

All 113 conversations from May 16, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 339-005, May 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/339-005 (accessed October 9, 2026).