Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 340 › Conversation 340-005
Nixon & Ziegler on Public Relations and Press Coverage
Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 1:20 PM–1:22 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building
AI Summary
President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discuss the positive public reception following a recent, undisclosed event involving children. Nixon expresses satisfaction with the optics of the situation, particularly noting the encouraging atmosphere and public engagement. The brief exchange confirms that the administration’s strategy successfully garnered favorable coverage.
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.5 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 4.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 92.6 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 00:05:34 into the tape and ends around 00:09:37.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
NARA Description
On May 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:20 pm to 1:22 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 340-005 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 340-5 Date: May 16, 1972 Time: 1:20 pm - 1:22 pm Location: Executive Office Building The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler; the discontinuities in this conversation appear in the original recording. [See also Conversation No. 24-168]
Also recorded on May 16, 1972
- 340-001 1:12 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:12 pm to 1:13 pm.
- 340-002 1:13 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Zosimo T. Monzon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:13 pm and 1:19 pm.
- 340-003 1:19 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:19 pm to 1:20 pm.
- 024-151 1:20 PM · 0 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:20 pm.
- 024-168 1:20 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 1:20 pm to 1:22 pm.
- 340-004 1:20 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 1:20 pm.
- 024-152 1:22 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:22 pm and 3:50 pm.
- 340-006 1:22 PM · 3 min — 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 1:22 pm and 3:03 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 340-005, 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/340-005 (accessed October 20, 2026).