Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 475 › Conversation 475-006

Nixon, Morton & Stevens on Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

Tuesday, April 6, 1971 · 12:20 PM–12:25 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Wright, Don; Morton, Rogers C. B.; Stevens, Ted; Behren, Fritz; Garment, Leonard; Patterson, Bradley H., Jr.; Kilberg, Barbara ("Bobbie") (Greene); White House photographerConversation475-006 on Tape 475 (tape position 00:28:06–00:34:33)StartTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 12:20 PMEndTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 12:25 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 475-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Rogers C. B. Morton, Ted Stevens, and several staff members to discuss the status and legislative strategy for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The participants reviewed the challenges of moving the bill through the House and Senate, specifically noting the roles of key legislators like John P. Saylor and James A. Haley. During the meeting, which included a photo session, the President emphasized the historical significance of the legislation and encouraged the team to continue their efforts to secure its passage.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 42% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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President?
Well, how are you?
How are you?
Mr. Bryan here.
Hi.
How are you, Mr. Bryan?
How's the big boy treating you?
Yeah, he has been good.
How's my friend Ted Stevens treating you?
Me?
Yeah.
He's working hard.
He's one of your great advocates, I know.
Hi.
Hi.
President, you're going to relax.
What's he going to do with it?
Work on the pipeline.
Work on the pipeline.
I just bring that mic to smoke.
I'll give you a start.
I'll give you a start.
All right.
Good.
I'm making sure of it now.
It's not very easy working with me.
All right.
Now, Rock, you told me that you got that English.
The little bureaucrats out in the pocket.
Well, I've had a hard time.
We read right through this one about 25 times.
I was about to go this one.
I had to call the dissenters.
Oh, I'm sorry.
You know what I mean?
That's right.
Thank you.
Yes, you're right over here.
You're right over here.
Yes, you're right over here.
That's it.
That's it.
That's it.
We're going to get it out.
We're going to get it out.
It's complicated, I assure you that.
But it's, this president really is a tremendous historic document.
He really is.
I think you can be very proud of him.
I'm proud of you, your department, and the president.
We've got so much paper and never given out paper.
This is the first time it's ever been made as the president.
Thank you, sir.
I appreciate it very much.
Who else worked on this bill?
How many of us in Bracken over here did the selection?
He rewrote it 40 times.
You worked on it too long, by the way.
I bet.
Oh, God.
Never turned to my dad.
I'll be there.
He's a lawyer.
He asked for it.
Not really.
We have a real lawyer here.
We've had a lot of fun with him.
He loves to work.
I think this is a very, very exciting piece of work.
Thank you, President.
He's got problems in the house and we know the problems and we know the problems.
Well, on our side, John Sabre.
He's all right.
I think he's all right.
And I think, strangely enough, Haley's in a lot better shape on this than I thought he would be.
And he'll have some influence.
He's done something.
Good luck.
Good luck with your job.
I hope you like your job.
I love my job.
I'm being sad that I haven't ran a little bit, but I'm glad.
I told you that just to prove it, I had to go to the dentist.
And I told him, I told you he got a hold of his checks.
And it's going to cost him money.
And you've got to get it.
It's going to cost him his wealth.
And he would be prepared to save you from your slurs.
Well, we are approaching, but it's a great idea.
You just, I was aware that, just say that I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I thought you didn't have to go hang out there, and then, having over an hour or so, I'd like to have them let the boat come in, the Indians, and the Rangers, and the Capitals.
We'll get on every park and every reservation here.
Great idea.
Good to see you.
It's going to be all right.
Oh, great.
Absolutely great.
All right.

NARA Description

On April 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Don Wright, Rogers C. B. Morton, Ted Stevens, Fritz Behren, Leonard Garment, Bradley H. Patterson, Jr., Barbara ("Bobbie") (Greene) Kilberg, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:20 pm to 12:25 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 475-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 475-6

Date: April 6, 1971

Time: 12:20 pm - 12:25 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Don Wright, Rogers C. B. Morton, Ted Stevens, Frank Bracken, Leonard
Garment, Bradley H. Patterson, Jr., and Barbara (Greene) (“Bobbie”) Kilberg; the White House
photographer and members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting

     Greetings

     [General conversation]

     Photo session

     [Alaska Natives’ Claim Bill]
          -Passage efforts
               -Request for President’s help in passage through Congress
               -Stevens
                     -Senate
               -Western Senators
               -House of Representatives
               -Uniqueness of “Eskimo Bill”
               -Importance of bill
               -Gifts to participants in preparing bill
                     -Paper weights
               -Bracken
               -Patterson
               -Kilberg
               -Garment
               -Prospects
               -House
                     -John P. Saylor
                     -James A. Haley
                     -Support
                           -Cost
                           -Denver, Colorado
                           -Constituent groups
                           -Locations

     [General conversation]

Wright, et al. left at 12:25 pm

Also recorded on April 6, 1971

  • 001-003 11:53 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:53 am and 12:10 pm.
  • 001-004 11:53 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:53 am and 12:10 pm.
  • 475-001 11:53 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:53 am and 11:55 am.
  • 475-004 11:55 AM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, Edward L. Morgan, Dana G. Mead, James McLane, John Gartland, John F. Evans, Jr., Edwin L. Harper, Raymond J. Waldeman, William F. Rhatican, Donald B. Rice, Donald E. Crabill, David Page, Roger Adkins, Richard P. Nathan, William Robinson, James Blum, Harry S. Havens and William Hamm, Wilfred H. Rommel, C. William Fischer, Naomi Sweeney, Richard K. Cook, John Russell Deane, III, Bill Fuller, Murray L. Weidenbaum, Robert Joss, William H. Johnson, Richard W. Velde, Jerry Copf, Charles J. Orlebeck, Henry Ahlgren, William W. Blunt, John P. Olsson, Malcolm R. Lovell, Jr., Christopher T. Cross, John R. Ottina, Ned Granlich, Larry Thompson, White House photographer, Peter Michel, Rainer Barzel, Rolf Pauls, and William Hamm met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:55 am and 12:20 pm.
  • 001-006 12:14 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Clifford M. Hardin, and Claude W. Gifford talked on the telephone from 12:14 pm to 12:17 pm.
  • 475-005 12:17 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:17 pm and 12:20 pm.
  • 475-007 12:25 PM · 55 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:25 pm and 12:27 pm.
  • 476-001 12:27 PM · 9 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:27 pm and 8:59 pm.

All 59 conversations from April 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 475-006, April 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/475-006 (accessed October 12, 2026).