Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 491 › Conversation 491-009

Nixon, Coffin & Conant on Photography and Urban planning

Wednesday, April 28, 1971 · 12:37 PM–12:39 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Cox, Tricia Nixon; Coffin, Ann; Conant, HowellConversation491-009 on Tape 491 (tape position 00:59:36–01:05:45)StartWednesday, April 28, 1971 at 12:37 PMEndWednesday, April 28, 1971 at 12:39 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 491-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his daughter, Tricia Nixon, along with Ann Coffin and photographer Howell Conant, to exchange gifts and discuss logistics for upcoming wedding photography. The group engaged in casual conversation regarding urban life in major American cities and the President's upcoming travel schedule. The discussion primarily served as a social prelude to planning portrait sessions for Tricia’s wedding, weighing the aesthetic and practical benefits of settings in California versus the White House.

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 41% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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We get to cut.
Oh, you don't have to wear cuffs on those guys.
President, you're a cop, actually.
Look at this, this is the mark of this room.
And you have very, very, very nice.
And let's see, the ladies are going to make very fancy, but it's a nice little, let's see what you can wear like sometimes.
Completely, it's quite hard.
And this is a little bit of his office.
You know, some point.
You live in New York, are you?
I know.
How long have you been married for?
Nine years, I think.
Nine years?
Really?
Did you marry somebody?
Did you marry somebody from the back road?
No, from Wall Street.
Wall Street.
And that was the first time you were married.
The market was down.
And you married a fellow from Wall Street.
Isn't that interesting?
Are you a little man now?
Are you a little man now?
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah?
I hate that shit.
I know.
I won't find it up there.
It's very easy.
Really, Mr. Anderson, we're lucky this morning to get down here late.
I just had to get up.
I had to drive 55 miles.
Where do you live?
I don't know.
I'm not going to tell you.
Where do you live?
I don't know.
I'm not going to tell you.
If your husband had a bird to get down with, don't do that.
I used to get up and the crack would go off.
And I came all the way.
There were no traffic problems.
I didn't go down for 25 minutes.
Where we were, something like 20 minutes.
I was at the subway once in Russia.
That was the last time.
After that, we could stay later.
I didn't like the subway.
We're here to go later.
It's a fun night.
It's a lot of time to remember.
They aren't called that.
Yeah, I like to go to New York.
What you miss about it is that New York is a great city, like New York.
There are not many great cities in the United States.
I would say New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles.
They're all charming cities.
New Orleans is charming, and Charleston, South Carolina is one of the great charming cities.
But in terms of cities, of creating a vibrant life, the art is a vibrant city.
Congo, of course, has the
You know, everything, everything, fire hills, there are the lobsters, there are the oceans, there are the mountains, there are the swallows, there are the snakes.
I mean, it's a challenge.
You've got to see if you turn the...
We were sorry you couldn't do this in California.
I thought that would have been a marvelous thing to do for you.
But we're going to take your headlines as such if you do.
They do seem to know that you're in a California place, you know.
I don't like it here, you know.
You see, you could have paid them.
You could have gotten beat shots, you know.
It is a lighthouse wave, and perhaps, you know, I think it's a, I think it's a, I think it's a lighthouse wave.
It's more difficult in here on business hours also because, of course, people are a little preoccupied, but trust me, it's fine now.
But then in addition to that, we get a rainy day, and we have to start firing light, but we're working in very slow starts.
I hope you got this computer all right.
Oh, yes, that was fine.
Yeah, that was, uh, I had to use that one to get rid of my nerves.
I had to do the whole thing, so he would get ready to attack on everybody.
Oh, sure.
Yeah, you got that.
Oh, that's nice.
I don't know whether it's going to be a boy or a girl, but whether it's going to be a boy or a girl, I don't know.

NARA Description

On April 28, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Tricia Nixon Cox, Ann Coffin, and Howell Conant met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:37 pm to 12:39 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 491-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 491-9

Date: April 28, 1971
Time: 12:37 pm - 12:39 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Tricia Nixon, Ann Coffin, and Howell Conant; this recording began at an
unknown time after 12:37 pm, while the conversation was in progress.

     [General conversation]

     Presentation of gifts
          -Cuff links
          -Presidential seal
          -Golf

     [General conversation]

          -Coffin
               -Spouse
               -Residence
          -[Forename unknown] Anderson
          -Conant's residence

           -Cities
                 -New York
                      -President’s memory
                            -Traffic
                            -Subway
                 -Chicago
                 -San Francisco
                 -Los Angeles
                 -New Orleans
                 -Charleston
                 -Miami
                 -New York
                 -Chicago
                 -San Francisco
                 -Los Angeles
                      -Beverly Hills
                      -Watts

     President's schedule
           -Upcoming meeting with Gerhardt Schroeder
           -California

Coffin left at 12:37 pm.

     Tricia Nixon's wedding
           -Photo session
                -California
                -Possible settings
                      -Beach
           -White House
           -Photo session
                -Weather
                -Lighting
                -[General conversation]
                      -Unknown baby

Tricia Nixon and Conant left at 12:39 pm.

Also recorded on April 28, 1971

  • 491-003 11:42 AM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Melvin R. Laird, James E. Johnson, James D. ("Don") Hughes, John H. Chafee, Frederic V. Malek, Ronald L. Ziegler, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:42 am to 11:59 am.
  • 491-004 11:59 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:59 am.
  • 491-005 12:00 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Tricia Nixon Cox, and Howell Conant met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:00 pm to 12:16 pm.
  • 491-006 12:16 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:35 pm.
  • 491-007 12:16 PM · 17 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:35 pm.
  • 491-008 12:16 PM · 10 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:35 pm.
  • 491-010 12:39 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Gerhardt Schroeder, Henry A. Kissinger, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:39 pm to 1:06 pm.
  • 491-011 1:07 PM · 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:07 pm to 1:56 pm.

All 31 conversations from April 28, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 491-009, April 28, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/491-009 (accessed October 12, 2026).