Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 341 › Conversation 341-036

Nixon alone in his EOB office on Vietnam and Presidential workload

Sunday, June 11, 1972 · 3:22 PM–5:08 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation341-036 on Tape 341 (tape position 05:47:59–05:58:08)StartSunday, June 11, 1972 at 3:22 PMEndSunday, June 11, 1972 at 5:08 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 341-036 ↗

President Nixon dictated a memorandum regarding ongoing developments in Vietnam, though the recording also captures casual, informal remarks between the President and an unidentified associate. The conversation touches upon the President's heavy workload and his reflections on the constraints of the presidency, specifically his inability to take extended personal time. The dialogue serves as a brief window into the President's exhaustion and the pressures of his office during a period of high-stakes foreign policy management.

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 111.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 111.8 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 05:47:59 into the tape and ends around 05:58:08.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
5:47:59He said, you know, look, we might not welcome a king, but I think we welcome a cardinal.
5:48:02Ha ha ha.
5:48:02So I thought you could give me this for that.
5:48:05Is Crowell king?
5:48:06I see.
5:48:07Well, I didn't know you were king, so you've got something to tell all of your dioceses now that the president says you're king now, and he came over to Foley.
5:48:14Ha ha ha.
5:48:19I see isn't a indicator.
5:48:31I see.
5:48:31I see.
5:48:31Yeah, yeah.
5:48:32Yeah, I just ran across it in my notes here, and I got...
5:48:34I had a...
5:48:35I had a...
5:48:39I had a...
5:48:42I had a...
5:48:43I had a...
5:48:43I had a...
5:48:43I had a...
5:48:44I had a...
5:49:15We're having an idea.
5:49:16I've been on the line a little this week.
5:49:18I've been working at the campaign with them.
5:49:24I can't catch up on the message, but you know that I'm going forward.
5:49:31Well, not much, actually.
5:49:32I was very interested in talking to my Soviet friends.
5:49:34They called my freshman.
5:49:38He said every year he takes off for months and months.
5:49:43But I don't think that luxury is the modern day presence.
5:50:03Actually, it's all I can do, and I tend, I don't know, there may be a time, I'm sure, when I'm lost, where I can really take off to.
5:50:12I think I can do it probably in a month, but I don't know where I can do it myself.
5:50:22I know, you know, you guessed it.
5:50:24About all I can do about that, I do have an idea for your reading quite a bit.
5:50:32And even that, you know, over here, I was a little tired after two or three hours of reading.
5:50:42I was reading last night, so I thought I was a little tired.
5:50:45Thank you for talking to me.

On June 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 5:08 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 341-036 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 341-36

Date: June 11, 1972
Time: Unknown between 3:22 and 5:08 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building

The President dictated a memorandum.

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

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 10/17/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[341-036-w001]
[Duration: 57s]

     Vietnam

*****************************************************************
  • 025-043 3:16 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John Cardinal Krol talked on the telephone from 3:16 pm to 3:22 pm.
  • 025-044 3:22 PM · 30 sec — Unknown person(s) talked on the telephone on an unknown date, sometime between 3:22 pm on June 11, 1972 and 9:09 am on June 12, 1972.
  • 341-037 3:22 PM — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 5:08 pm.
  • 341-038 3:22 PM — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 5:08 pm.
  • 341-039 3:22 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 5:08 pm.
  • 341-040 3:22 PM — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 5:08 pm.
  • 341-041 3:22 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 5:08 pm.
  • 341-042 3:22 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 5:08 pm.

Conversation 341-036, June 11, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/341-036 (accessed September 30, 2026).