Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 493 › Conversation 493-016

Nixon White House recording on anti-war protests and civil disobedience

Thursday, May 6, 1971 · 1:06 PM–2:30 PM ET · Oval Office

Participants[Unknown person(s)]Conversation493-016 on Tape 493 (tape position 03:33:35–03:34:12)StartThursday, May 6, 1971 at 1:06 PMEndThursday, May 6, 1971 at 2:30 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 493-016 ↗

AI Summary

Participants discuss the recent anti-war demonstrations in Washington, D.C., focusing on the rationale behind the mass arrests of protestors. The speakers justify the police action by asserting that the demonstrators intentionally broke the law and were prepared for incarceration. They characterize the protestors' behavior as performative and conclude that the legal consequences were an expected and appropriate outcome of the participants' actions.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 160.2 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 03:33:35 into the tape and ends around 03:34:12.

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

3:33:35I don't know.
3:33:46It didn't hurt anybody.
3:33:52Anybody who was here for a demonstration could afford to spend the night in jail.
3:34:00Hell, they didn't mind spending the night out on the parking.
3:34:05Sleeping bags out there.
3:34:08They came here to break the law.
3:34:09They got paid a price.
3:34:11They wanted to break the law.
3:34:12They got paid a price.

NARA Description

On May 6, 1971, unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:06 pm and 2:30 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 493-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

None

Also recorded on May 6, 1971

  • 493-011 12:10 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thomas C. Korologos, Max L. Friedersdorf, William E. Timmons, Richard A. Moore, Clark MacGregor, White House photographer, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:10 pm and 12:15 pm.
  • 493-012 12:15 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Arte Johnson, Mrs. Arte Johnson, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:15 pm to 12:22 pm.
  • 493-013 12:22 PM · 38 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:22 pm.
  • 493-014 12:22 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John B. Connally, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:22 pm to 12:32 pm.
  • 493-015 12:32 PM · 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:06 pm.
  • 493-017 1:06 PM · 17 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:06 pm and 4:15 pm.
  • 042-100 1:49 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 1:49 pm to 1:50 pm.
  • 042-101 1:50 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 2:24 pm.

All 36 conversations from May 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 493-016, May 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/493-016 (accessed October 3, 2026).