Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 487 › Conversation 487-009

Nixon, Newton & Switzer on Better Hearing and Speech Month

Friday, April 23, 1971 · 12:20 PM–12:28 PM ET · Oval Office · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Newton, Michael; Newton, Richard (Lt.); Newton, Richard (Mrs.); Switzer, Mary; Merrill, Edward C., Jr.; Porter, Edgar B.; Dunn, Bradley P.; Segrest, Susan; Haimbach, Mary; Luzak, Karen; Bell, George T.; Huebner, Lee W.; White House photographerConversation487-009 on Tape 487 (tape position 02:41:43–02:50:38)StartFriday, April 23, 1971 at 12:20 PMEndFriday, April 23, 1971 at 12:28 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 487-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with representatives from the Council for Hearing and Speech, including Michael Newton, the campaign's poster child, to discuss the "Better Hearing and Speech Month" initiative. The gathering served as a public relations event to highlight the work of the council and recognize the accomplishments of hearing-impaired children. During the session, the President presented official mementos, including cufflinks and View-Masters, and pledged his administration's continued support for the organization's advocacy efforts.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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You know, Mr. President, Mr. President, this is new for the Senate movement, and you're right, we're going to have a poster child in here.
So this is Mike.
He's our president.
So he said, I'm going to give this to you.
I'm not the president, but I'm the president of the United States.
I don't want to scare you.
There you are.
Watch me.
Yeah.
Do you like that man?
Thank you.
No, no, no.
Thank you.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Now, come on.
Oh, there you go.
Thank you.
He goes to Virgin Island.
He's got a sailboat.
He's great.
We'll have a picture of him with all of the other members of the audience.
We'll have a picture of him in the air.
Now, everybody look out.
All right, now, if you will drop out this week, and the girls.
Two on the other side.
Come on.
Now, now we gotta go.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
There you are.
You're all the greatest in my life.
Thank you, too.
I wish you well.
Thank you.
You're doing all right.
Thank you.
I have great parents, and you're the teacher.
Well, thanks to you, what a wonderful work you do.
Oh, thank you.
I wish I could have been a writer for six years, and I'm too old to be a teenager.
Too old?
You're not old enough to be a teenager.
Oh, yes.
You're not in the teaching work, but you're a licensed member of the committee.
What are the council minutes?
Right.
Right.
Oh, yes.
All right.
All right.
This is the presidential seal, which you can wear.
I almost implored every part of it for the years.
Heroes of those times.
And here's a new master.
Thank you very much.
What happens, you see, is that when a child is, or any person, as we all know, when he doesn't have one specialty, like purity, at all, then what he does is actually compensate by all these other factors, personality, to a greater degree, or even loyalty.
It's marvelous.
Well, you know,
We're proud of what you're doing.
Thank you, Mr. President.
We'll be doing a few contributions to your work.
I know you.
We'll try to help you all we can.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On April 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Michael Newton, Richard Newton, Mrs. Richard Newton, Mary Switzer, Edward C. Merrill, Jr., Edgar B. Porter, Bradley P. Dunn, Susan Segrest, Mary Haimbach, Karen Luzak, George T. Bell, Lee W. Huebner, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:20 pm to 12:28 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 487-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 487-9

Date: April 23, 1971
Time: 12:20 pm - 12:28 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Michael Newton, Lt. and Mrs. Richard Newton, Mary Switzer, Edward
C. Merrill, Jr., Edgar B. Porter, Bradley P. Dunn, Susan Segrest, Mary Haimbach, Karen Luzak,

George T. Bell, and Lee W. Huebner.

[The White House photographer and members of the press were present at the beginning of the
meeting.]

     Introductions
           -Michael Newton
     Photographs

     [Camera noise]

     Photographs

     [General conversation]

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 12:20 pm.

     Cookies

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 12:28 pm.

     [General conversation]

     [Camera noise]

     [Laughter]

     Photograph
          -Groupings
          -Girls

     Luzak
          -Teacher
          -Work

     Council
         -Hearing and speech

     Presentation of gifts
          -Cuff links
                -Men
          -Presidential seal

                -Ladies
           -Viewmaster

     Better Hearing and Speech Month campaign
          -Children
                -Hearing
                -Compensation
                -Personality
          -Michael Newton
                -Accomplishment
          -Work of council

     Contributions for work

Michael Newton, et al., left at 12:28 pm.

Also recorded on April 23, 1971

  • 487-007 11:56 AM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:56 am to 12:19 pm.
  • 487-008 12:19 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:19 pm.
  • 487-010 12:28 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:28 pm.
  • 487-011 12:29 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John H. Buchanan, Jr., James B. Allen, Norman Pless, Elton Stevens, George Siebels, John E. Nidecker, Lee W. Huebner, and Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:29 pm to 12:40 pm.
  • 487-012 12:40 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:40 pm.
  • 487-013 12:41 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry C. Cashen, II, Raymond Cashen, Mrs. Raymond Cashen, Arnold Sax, and Mrs. Arnold Sax met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:41 pm to 12:42 pm.
  • 487-014 12:42 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:42 pm and 12:52 pm.
  • 487-015 12:52 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:52 pm to 1:04 pm.

All 32 conversations from April 23, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 487-009, April 23, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/487-009 (accessed October 11, 2026).