Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 435 › Conversation 435-035

Nixon & Ziegler on political strategy and White House press office

Monday, May 14, 1973 · 5:01 PM–5:08 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsZiegler, Ronald L.; Nixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation435-035 on Tape 435StartMonday, May 14, 1973 at 5:01 PMEndMonday, May 14, 1973 at 5:08 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 435-035 ↗

AI Summary

Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler met with President Nixon to discuss administrative or political strategy, utilizing metaphorical language regarding the challenges of initiating a new project or initiative. The conversation focused on the difficulties of early implementation, specifically characterizing the task as comparable to starting with a single horse. No specific policy decisions were finalized during this brief exchange.

Audio

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NARA Description

On May 14, 1973, Ronald L. Ziegler and President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:01 pm to 5:08 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 435-035 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 435-35

Date: May 15, 1973
Time: 5:01 pm-5:08 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

Ronald L. Ziegler talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 46-66]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 15% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

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... ... ... ...
Hei, hei, hei, hei!
As a matter of fact, this is the first time we've seen this baby on a horse.
You know what I mean?
I just don't think it's going to be that easy to start, especially with one horse.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Also recorded on May 14, 1973

  • 435-036 5:08 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:08 pm and 5:15 pm.
  • 435-037 5:08 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:08 pm and 5:15 pm.
  • 917-040 5:10 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:10 pm to 5:15 pm.
  • 435-038 5:15 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:15 pm to 5:20 pm.
  • 917-042 5:17 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 6:16 pm.
  • 436-014 5:20 PM · 23 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Lawrence M. Higby met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:20 pm to 5:42 pm.
  • 435-039 5:21 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 5:21 pm.
  • 435-040 5:21 PM · 1 hr 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr., Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, and Doug Parker met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:21 pm to 6:45 pm.

All 113 conversations from May 14, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 435-035, May 14, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/435-035 (accessed November 15, 2026).