Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 451 › Conversation 451-016

United States Secret Service agents on Secret Service and Congress

Thursday, February 18, 1971 · 3:40 PM–3:52 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsUnited States Secret Service agentsConversation451-016 onTape 451 (tape position 03:23:20–03:23:40)StartThursday, February 18, 1971 at 3:40 PMEndThursday, February 18, 1971 at 3:52 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 451-016 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Secret Service agents in the Oval Office to discuss concerns regarding a congressman’s recent conduct and the potentially damaging public narrative surrounding it. The participants expressed frustration over the congressman's actions, characterizing them as a significant overstep. The discussion concluded without a formal policy shift, serving primarily as a brief exchange regarding security and political optics.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 166.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 167.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 143.0 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 03:23:20 into the tape and ends around 03:23:40.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.

3:23:21I couldn't believe my eyes on something where a congressman directed a different story that's fine and the article's fine and it doesn't turn out too well, but there's something there with the Congress.
3:23:37In the name of God, they blew it out.
3:23:39We don't do that, you know what I mean?

NARA Description

On February 18, 1971, United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 3:52 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 451-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 451-16

Date: February 18, 1971
Time: Unknown between 3:40 pm and 3:52 pm
Location: Oval Office

Unknown people [Secret Service] met

     The President’s schedule

The unknown people [Secret Service] left at an unknown time before 3:52 pm

Also recorded on February 18, 1971

  • 451-013 2:32 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:32 pm and 3:32 pm.
  • 451-014 3:32 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:32 pm.
  • 451-015 3:32 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Mark I. Goode, and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:32 pm to 3:40 pm.
  • 451-017 3:40 PM · 37 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 3:52 pm.
  • 451-018 3:52 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mark I. Goode met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:52 pm to 3:55 pm.
  • 451-019 3:55 PM · 1 hr 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:55 pm to 4:52 pm.
  • 451-020 5:10 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:10 pm to 5:14 pm.
  • 451-021 5:14 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:14 pm and 5:25 pm.

All 24 conversations from February 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 451-016, February 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/451-016 (accessed September 18, 2026).