Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 446 › Conversation 446-017
Nixon & Yates on Speechwriting and Everett M. Dirksen
Thursday, June 14, 1973 · 10:00 PM–11:15 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 10 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with Nellie L. Yates in the Executive Office Building to coordinate the preparation and printing of an upcoming speech honoring Everett M. Dirksen. Beyond technical logistics regarding the speech’s formatting and delivery, the pair engaged in casual conversation about office decor, horticulture, and Yates’s dedicated work ethic. The meeting concluded with the President acknowledging Yates’s contributions to his administration.
- Speechwriting
- Everett M. Dirksen
- Office management
- White House staff
- Presidential scheduling
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 5 minutes of this recording (about 49% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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Hi, how are you?
Fine.
This won't take long.
I just want to...
Sit down.
I hope I didn't start you sick for that long, sir.
Sit down.
Sit down.
Can you see me on the left?
Not really.
I can see you.
I can see you.
Right here.
This is a, uh...
I think he's about to go in the dirt.
I think he's about to go in the dirt.
I think he's about to go in the dirt.
What you want to do is run this off.
I'll be ready back in a quarter of a minute.
That goes in down to there.
This out comes to there.
This stays in.
This stays in.
This stays in.
This stays in.
Every time he heads up here, they don't like that ever.
Yeah, the people are doing tragedy.
Yeah, and run it off at the same time.
I have most of the time.
Yeah, that's a great deal.
We have two options.
On the outside, they have about 20 minutes outside.
You can't talk more than about 12 minutes.
Thank you.
I might need to do this one, but this will be a help.
If I decide I'm going to read it, I'm going to run it off on a speech record for me, and then other countries can know I'm trying to do it for them.
What?
You can pack it up and put it on a speech record.
Yeah.
Okay.
Do you want us to get it prepared for a meeting tonight?
Have a wonderful day.
Have a wonderful day.
I had a phone call.
Even has flowers.
Why did you get those flowers?
Your soul rolls out of mind.
Because I came by with a gift from the car.
You said I actually meant it.
No, I didn't mean it.
In the back.
I'm waiting in the back.
In the back.
Looking out in the back.
No one waiting in the back.
Of course not.
I'd be delighted if you did.
You know what that is over there?
Have you been there before?
That's the famous, what do you call it?
That's the Vietnam.
That's one of the great black people.
Made by the great Vietnamese people.
Just over there.
on the wall.
Oh, I see.
So that would be it.
I mean, that probably could be us.
I see.
You guys.
Well, it's not the magazine that's bothering me, but every little thing lines in with the same stuff.
So I can see.
Okay.
You left a light flower.
A child grew up with it.
I like it when I'm loving the boxes, but I don't like the flowers.
What flowers?
You know, do you know when you have a patio over there, do you have strawberries?
Well, there's strawberries growing.
You know, the garden has a pan that's pretty high.
It's pretty nice.
It has holes in it, and each one of those holes has a strawberry plant growing in it.
Right?
Strawberries are growing in it.
It's really nice.
I notice them, but I'm not aware of the type.
That's just something as a reward.
He worked so hard, but he didn't go to anything.
I heard all about it.
Well, I didn't go to anything.
Well, he didn't do it with them, but all of them told me to put it out.
It works all the time.
Oh, I didn't know that.
I don't know.
I don't know.
All right.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On June 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Nellie L. Yates met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:00 pm to 11:15 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 446-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 446-17
Date: June 14, 1973
Time: 10:00 pm - 11:15 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Nellie L. Yates.
Yates’s schedule
President’s edits
-Yates’s glasses
-22-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 446-17 (cont’d)
-Speech
Yates’s schedule
President’s forthcoming Dirksen Center speech
-President’s typing of speech
-Effort
-President’s schedule
-Speech preparation
-Printing of text of speech
-Departure time
-President’s forthcoming speech
-Arrangement of text
-Yates’s typewriter
-Yates’s printing of text
-Technique, length
-Venue for speech
-Outdoors
-Length of ceremony
-President’s previous speech in Florida
-Technique
President’s previous speech in Florida
-Typing
-Speech typewriter
-Possible release
-Example for speechwriting staff [?]
Everett M. Dirksen
-President’s assessment
-Yates’s memories
-Cigarettes
-Dirksen’s death
President’s office in the Executive Office Building [EOB]
-Flowers
-Yates’s flowers at her White House desk
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 446-17 (cont’d)
-President’s bouquet
EOB Office furnishings
-Vietnamese object
-Lacquer
-Preparation time
-Yates’s work with pottery [?]
Flowers
-Yates’s experience
-President’s knowledge
-Beauty
Strawberries
-White House patio
Flowers
-President’s knowledge
-Types of flowers
Gift
-Reward for Yates’s service
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman’s statement
-Yates’s work ethic
Work ethic
-Phone calls
The President and Yates moved away from the microphones and continued meeting. The taping
system remained activated and continued to record.
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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 446-17 (cont’d)
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Unintelligible]
[Duration: 42 m 54 s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
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The President and Yates moved toward the microphones and continued meeting.
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Deed of gift - Privacy]
[Duration: 2 m 33 s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
Yates left at 11:15 pm.Also recorded on June 15, 1973
- 040-121 9:10 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:10 pm and 9:14 pm.
- 446-013 9:10 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:10 pm and 9:14 pm.
- 040-122 9:14 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Nellie L. Yates talked on the telephone from 9:14 pm to 9:16 pm.
- 446-014 9:14 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Nellie L. Yates met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:14 pm to 9:16 pm.
- 446-015 9:16 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Chief Petty Officer met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:16 pm and 10:00 pm.
- 446-016 9:16 PM · 9 sec — 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 9:16 pm and 10:00 pm.
- 942-001 8:20 AM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:20 am to 8:46 am.
- 942-002 8:46 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:46 am and 9:20 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 446-017, June 15, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/446-017 (accessed October 9, 2026).