Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 411 › Conversation 411-004

Nixon & Ziegler on Media relations and Public relations

Tuesday, February 20, 1973 · 3:14 PM–3:17 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation411-004 on Tape 411StartTuesday, February 20, 1973 at 3:14 PMEndTuesday, February 20, 1973 at 3:17 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 411-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discuss media strategy and the risk of over-saturating the press with information. Nixon expresses concern regarding the volume of material provided to journalists and seeks to refine how the administration manages the narrative. The brief exchange highlights the President’s focus on controlling the flow of information to avoid media exhaustion or negative competitive coverage.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 41% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Ron, I've been thinking about that.
I wonder if we aren't floating too much in.
I wonder if we aren't floating too much in.
... ... ... ...
Well, that's what we had, that's what we had thought, that's what I wanted to do.
You see, the only other time I could build a vehicle in Wensley, but if I went to Wensley, I don't want to compete with the economics, but still, you don't ever track on the story, you don't watch the story, you read it.
I think it's, we don't want to get them to kind of have to do all the research for a breath of air.
I think that's true.
Hey, that would have been a quick day of it.

NARA Description

On February 20, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:14 pm to 3:17 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 411-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 411-4

Date: February 20, 1973
Time: 3:14 pm - 3:17 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 43-118]

Also recorded on February 20, 1973

  • 043-117 3:12 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 3:12 pm to 3:13 pm.
  • 411-003 3:12 PM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:12 pm to 3:13 pm.
  • 043-118 3:14 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 3:14 pm to 3:17 pm.
  • 411-005 3:17 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:17 pm.
  • 043-119 3:18 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:18 pm.
  • 043-120 3:18 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Peter J. Brennan talked on the telephone from 3:18 pm to 3:22 pm.
  • 411-006 3:18 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Peter J. Brennan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:18 pm to 3:22 pm.
  • 043-121 3:22 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 4:17 pm.

All 21 conversations from February 20, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 411-004, February 20, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/411-004 (accessed October 1, 2026).