Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 491 › Conversation 491-026

Nixon & Ziegler on Kent State University and Jackson State University

Wednesday, May 5, 1971 · 11:33 AM–11:38 AM ET · Oval Office ·5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation491-026 onTape 491 (tape position 04:10:11–04:15:50)StartWednesday, May 5, 1971 at 11:33 AMEndWednesday, May 5, 1971 at 11:38 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 491-026 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler met to coordinate the White House's public response to the first anniversary of the Kent State and Jackson State shootings, specifically addressing how to handle critical CBS media coverage. Nixon directed Ziegler to maintain a firm, low-profile posture regarding these events while reiterating previous statements of sorrow to avoid inciting further media agitation. They also discussed debunking rumors of a meeting between the President and Judge Reid Kennedy regarding the William Calley case and reviewed the status of a potential invitation for the President to speak before the American Bar Association.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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several things.
I may be asking about the Kent State thing today because this is the anniversary of the Great Price Night.
Put this together.
No, let me just... Go ahead.
The President, of course, and I would not read this, I just, this would be some...
The President shared with all Americans he sensed sorrow over the tragic events that had happened a year ago.
and also those at Jackson State a short time later.
One of the President's most fervent hopes is that such tragedies will never occur again, will never again strike the American campus.
And then refer to the fact that, as you recall, the President in his conversation with the network correspondents expressed... Why don't you just start with that rather than the other way around so that you recall your favorites?
Don't raise the question.
Oh, I won't.
No, sir.
I just want to be prepared for it.
If you recall, the president expressed himself on this in his conversation with the federal correspondents.
His views today are the same as they were then.
Right.
I wouldn't make a news story about his views today or the views that he expressed.
No, sir, his views.
I don't like to start a build-up and set up a big mob.
Well, that's... Well, see, there was a thing on last night on CBS that was just...
disasters.
Well, they've had interviews with the parents and the anguish and so forth.
I don't want to get into this at all, but if I could be able to refer to this if I have to, you know, if some of these bastards press on it, and it looks like...
I understand your view, however.
Oh, well, they did ten minutes.
Well, they did each of the, on the anniversary of each of the pictures of the students when they played basketball and so forth, and then they had interviews with parents who were, of course, anguished because their children were shot there, but it was quite emotional, and that's why I thought some of these guys
Very good.
Then one other thing.
I checked this around, but I want to check directly with you.
I had no discussions about seeing Reed Kennedy, the judge of the Kelly case, at any point in California.
That's true.
Who is it?
He's the judge of the Kelly case.
Apparently he was in San Clemente, and there was a rumor around that he was going to come in to see you.
Holden did not.
He's not going to come in to see you, so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don't mean to hurt you.
Right.
I don't think it's, but somebody must have made it up.
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a,
They were there.
They wanted to be caught, you know what I mean?
They were there to cover it.
Let me say, that's a good subject for us to be on.
Just keep on it.
The people on this one, the press, again, is misjudged.
They think they're hurting us by playing up these baskets.
I'm not going to back away from that posture at all.
The more that I do, the more that I'm going to begin to weigh in on that.
No, no, this, see this thing, this thing really is hurting.
They were planning to get the whole build-up.
Sir CPS had run that, but the main thing is the wage and confidence of the crowd.
That's what we're going to question about, and we're just going to have a good hard line.
I have said it's not under active consideration.
You have to discuss the Chief Justice and the Attorney General will raise the possibility of my calling.
It's a matter.
The license is under consideration, but we don't make any commitments.
Well, keep it very tight.
It is a possibility, because you can just say, yes, it is a matter of minutes, because he has received an invitation.
Once you put it that way, I've received an invitation.
We haven't made a decision on it yet, all right?
Once you put it that way, I've received an invitation.
Sure.
All right.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 5, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:33 am to 11:38 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 491-026 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 491-26

Date: May 5, 1971
Time: 11:33 am - 11:38 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

     Kent State University
          -Anniversary
          -Ziegler's statement to press
                -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
                -Wording
                      -Sorrow
                      -Jackson State University
                      -President’s interview with television networks, January
                                                                        Conv. No.
                                                                               4, 1971
                                                                                   491-33 (cont.)
                -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] program, May 4, 1971
                      -Interviews with parents
                      -Summary

     Lt. William L. Calley, Jr. case
          -President's possible meeting with Reid Kennedy
          -President's schedule
                -California

[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under court order from
December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums, et al. v. James M.
Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records Administration produced this
transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[End of transcript]

     Media
         -Kent State
               -CBS
         -Asia

     President's schedule
           -Possible trip to Europe
                 -American Bar Association [ABA]
                 -Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and John N. Mitchell
                       -View
                 -Ziegler's possible press statement

Ziegler left at 11:38 am.

Also recorded on May 5, 1971

  • 491-023 10:30 AM · 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), Peter G. Peterson, and Peter M. Flanigan met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:30 am to 11:27 am.
  • 491-024 11:27 AM · 43 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:27 am and 11:31 am.
  • 491-025 11:31 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:31 am to 11:33 am.
  • 491-027 11:39 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:39 am to 11:40 am.
  • 491-028 11:40 AM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Paul W. McCracken, Ezra Solomon, George P. Shultz, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:40 am to 12:08 pm.
  • 491-029 12:08 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 12:11 pm.
  • 491-030 12:11 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Samuel M. Cohn, Mrs. Samuel M. Cohn, U. Alexis Johnson, Edward F. Knipling, Mrs. Edward F. Knipling, Fred Leonard, Mrs. Fred Leonard, Mrs. George H. Willis, George H. Willis, Robert E. Hampton, John B. Connally, Clifford M. Hardin, George P. Shultz, and Frederic V. Malek met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:11 pm to 12:23 pm.
  • 491-031 12:23 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John G. Tower, Robert D. ("Bob") Lee, Jill Lee, A. J. ("Bob") Blasé, Richard A. Moore, Stephen B. Bull, and Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:23 pm to 12:43 pm.

All 77 conversations from May 5, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 491-026, May 5, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/491-026 (accessed September 18, 2026).