Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 476 › Conversation 476-029

Nixon, Kuhn & Williams on Baseball and Hank Aaron

Friday, April 9, 1971 · 3:40 PM–3:50 PM ET · Oval Office · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kuhn, Bowie K.; Cronus, Joseph E.; Feeney, Charles S.; Short, Robert E.; Williams, Theodore S. ("Ted"); Cashen, Henry C., IIConversation476-029 on Tape 476 (tape position 06:06:48–06:12:00)StartFriday, April 9, 1971 at 3:40 PMEndFriday, April 9, 1971 at 3:50 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 476-029 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and legendary player Ted Williams to discuss professional baseball, including specific game tactics and the performance of star player Hank Aaron. The meeting served as a social engagement where the President was presented with a 1971 American League baseball pass. Nixon expressed his interest in attending a game in the near future and engaged in lighthearted conversation about the sport's current state.

Audio

Download MP3 · 7.2 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 58% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
The President will honor Mr.
Baseball on his birthday.
I missed the opener.
They won.
They did nothing.
We're rolling.
There we go.
Yeah, we're rolling.
That was exciting.
I wasn't getting the movie.
I was trying to tell him.
I guess you tell us when you come back.
Well, it was over there.
That was there.
Oh, you win.
Okay.
Very good try.
Thank you.
I think you know him pretty good.
Well, he knows how to pitch for sure.
You know, he's a little weird, a little weird, a little listy, and flat.
And he pitches against the line pretty good.
Plus, you know, a lot of nice training.
And, uh, he really had three in him.
Three in him.
Here he is.
Oh.
Under what?
Under what?
What is it?
What is it?
What did Aaron do?
Well, I was just going to say, I was just going to get out of here and come up.
He only plays with two of them.
He says two different types of play.
Yeah, yeah.
And he got Aaron two balls on the strike.
And he threw him a little sidearm slam.
And, uh, Aaron took a new pitch, you know.
We were always telling these kids out there, some of you know, they come two times a year, and I'll do something new.
You really have to come up with a play, either a new pitch or a new delivery.
So we finally get a new strike on Aaron, and he comes right on the side, and then two of them on the pitch, and gives him a little thing, and he goes right out there, and Aaron was up there looking, like, here, and he went, just like that.
It wasn't complete.
Then you don't see that.
What about, don't you consider Aaron to be a... Oh, one of the greatest Aaron's has never been is me.
Now, have you agreed with some of those sportswriters that you've played with?
You are.
I'm glad to hear that.
I'm glad to hear that.
I'm glad to hear that.
I'm glad to hear that.
I'm glad to hear that.
I'm glad to hear that.
I'll be the game before too long.
I'll be just when you need me.
I'll come by right about the middle of the game.
We've got to go tonight.
We've got to eat the money.
We've got to eat the money.
We've got to eat the money.
I know a little about it.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Oh, he's really good.
Really good man.
Well, anyway, let's get this thing moving.
And why don't you here, Sonny, you know, put yourself back on the agenda there.
You know, I know you do.
I know you do.
I know you do.
Take a good look at that plastic sleeve.
It's just a bunch.
It's just something.
Were you as good as that bunch you were giving out?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On April 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Bowie K. Kuhn, Joseph E. Cronus, Charles S. Feeney, Robert E. Short, Theodore S. ("Ted") Williams, and Henry C. Cashen, II met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 3:50 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 476-029 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 476-29

Date: April 9, 1971
Time: 3:40 pm - unknown before 3:50 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Bowie K. Kuhn, Joseph E. Cronus, Charles S. Feeney, Robert E. Short,
Theodore S. (“Ted”) Williams, and Henry C. Cashen, II

      Introductions

      Baseball

      President’s schedule
           -Camp David

      Baseball

          -[Name unintelligible] pitcher

     Henry L. (“Hank”) Aaron
          -Recent performance
          -Evaluation
          -Sport writers
          -Recognition

     President’s schedule
          -Possible attendance at baseball game

     Senators

     Presentation to the President of a 1971 American League baseball pass

     Dwight D. Eisenhower

     [General conversation]
          -Baseball

Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 3:50 pm

Also recorded on April 9, 1971

  • 001-060 1:35 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:35 pm and 1:47 pm.
  • 001-061 1:35 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:35 pm and 1:47 pm.
  • 001-063 1:47 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Arthur F. Burns, and Peter G. Peterson talked on the telephone from 1:47 pm to 1:54 pm.
  • 476-025 1:47 PM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Arthur F. Burns, Henry A. Kissinger, Peter G. Peterson, Stephen B. Bull, and Phil Watts met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:47 pm to 2:37 pm.
  • 476-026 3:16 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Thomas F. Murphy, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:16 pm to 3:33 pm.
  • 001-064 3:20 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thomas F. Murphy talked on the telephone from 3:20 pm to 3:21 pm.
  • 476-027 3:34 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:34 pm.
  • 476-028 3:34 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Marguerite Piazza, F. Harry Bergtholdt, William J. Condon, Anna B. Condon, Dr. Herman Marvin Pollard, Mrs. Dr. Herman Marvin Pollard, Irving I. Rimer, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:34 pm to 3:37 pm.

All 42 conversations from April 9, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 476-029, April 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/476-029 (accessed October 12, 2026).