Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 460 › Conversation 460-016

Nixon, Ziegler & Bull on Public Relations and Welfare Reform

Friday, February 26, 1971 · 1:18 PM–1:23 PM ET · Oval Office · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation460-016 on Tape 460 (tape position 01:00:23–01:08:04)StartFriday, February 26, 1971 at 1:18 PMEndFriday, February 26, 1971 at 1:23 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 460-016 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417176045 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler and Stephen Bull to coordinate administration messaging and manage public perception. The discussion focused on Ziegler's handling of press inquiries regarding the National Security Council, welfare reform, and media coverage by columnists like Holmes Alexander. Additionally, they reviewed strategies for communicating foreign policy, specifically emphasizing the administration's non-negotiable stance on securing the release of prisoners of war (POWs) during U.S. force withdrawals.

Audio

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NARA Description

On February 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:18 pm to 1:23 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 460-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 460-16

Date: February 26, 1971
Time: 1:18 pm - 1:23 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler

     Public relations
          -National Association of Retarded Children
                 -Bonnie Cook
                 -Dissemination to press

     Ziegler’s previous press conference
          -Ziegler’s handling
                -National Security Council [NSC] meeting

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 1:18 pm

     Henry A. Kissinger’s schedule

Bull left at an unknown time before 1:23 pm

     Ziegler’s previous press conference
          -Wilbur D. Mills
                -Welfare reform

     Media
         -Holmes Alexander
              -Column, 2/26
         -George W. Romney
              -New York Times
              -Washington Post
              -Ziegler’s comments to press
                    -Administration policies
                          -Communications
         -Foreign policy radio address
              -Prisoners of War [POWs]
                    -View of unknown Department of State employee
                    -William P. Rogers
                    -Administration policy
                          -Ziegler’s comments
                          -Kissinger’s comments

Ziegler left at 1:23 pm

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 36% 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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Oh, did you get the whole note of the retarded child?
Yes, sir.
So I gave that to the marshal.
She said, what do I say to her?
She said, an American.
So I clapped her hand.
She smiled and said, who is it?
She said, an American.
I thought that was a nice little touch.
It's a sweet job.
And I told her she loved you.
And she said, right.
And I told her the story of my girls.
And I thought I said, well, she knows.
She knows me.
I can get along here, trust me.
It's fine.
No problem.
Mr. President, how do you figure that, you know, I will never deny it, but I just wanted to say anything on the NSC.
Yes.
Well, I know what the main thing is.
We never want these subjects entertained, or otherwise they'd be entertained.
Just say that we don't discuss the agenda.
Right, I know.
I never do that.
I don't want them to know that.
That's not my thing.
I don't want them to know that.
I would never do that.
But it's valuable to me to get a feel of this.
Raise it up until 2.33.
Raise it up.
Let's listen.
All right.
The briefing this morning, I talked to the chairman of the middle.
He said, Ron, go ahead and say this.
I didn't tell the White House that I was going to propose anything.
He said, I talked to the White House about better control of welfare, of the price of welfare.
He said, I'm for reform of it.
He said, now, move on down the line.
That'd be reform.
He said, that may have not been fine.
But he said, don't say that.
So he agreed that I was going to support the welfare of the people.
Thank you.
How is he?
How is he?
He sure is.
Holmes Alexander has a very good column today, too.
Well,
He's so sensitive about it.
He thinks that these are reasonable people, and they're not so reasonable, thankfully.
You know what I said to these guys when they said, well, there's really, you know, it's a nice report that explains the policies, but there's nothing new in it.
I say to them that that just demonstrates the thing that we've been trying to do, which you haven't come directly, don't seem to give us credit for, and that is that we must have communicated our policies damn well over the last two years.
complete outline of our policies appear here and you feel there's not a great deal new in it, then you know our policies.
And that kind of takes us back a bit.
Thank you for all of it.
One policy radio address.
You know, that's our position.
We're never going to get out of there without our POWs.
That's not even possible.
Have you ever tackled on that?
No.
I've...
I've said what you've said, and also I say the President's view is when U.S., as U.S. forces withdraw, the POWs come with us.
And that is, you know, the posture I've said and indicated that their forces will be there until POWs are released.
And Henry's followed that up in his background briefings, too.
That's what we will be doing, yes sir.

Also recorded on February 26, 1971

  • 460-009 1:00 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 1:00 pm.
  • 460-010 1:00 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, T. Harding Jones, Anthony Radd, Charles Kolb, Jeb Stuart Magruder, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:00 pm to 1:08 pm.
  • 460-011 1:08 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 1:08 pm.
  • 460-012 1:08 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Cecil W. Stevenson, Frank G. Wood, George T. Bell, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:08 pm to 1:12 pm.
  • 460-013 1:12 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thomas L. Lias, Harry S. Dent, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:12 pm to 1:14 pm.
  • 460-014 1:14 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Guilford Dudley, Jr., Harry S. Dent, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:14 pm to 1:18 pm.
  • 460-015 1:18 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 1:18 pm.
  • 460-017 1:26 PM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), and Dwight L. Chapin met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:26 pm to 2:20 pm.

All 30 conversations from February 26, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 460-016, February 26, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417176045). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/460-016 (accessed November 2, 2026).