{"conversationCode":"500-021","tapeNumber":500,"conversationNumber":21,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-500-021","startDateTime":"1971-05-18T18:14:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-18T18:30:00.000Z","startDate":"18-May-1971","startTime":"2:14 PM","endDate":"18-May-1971","endTime":"2:30 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.;","description":"On May 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:14 pm and 2:30 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 500-021 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 500-21\n\nDate: May 18, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 2:14 pm and 2:30 pm\n\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President talked with John D. Ehrlichman.\n\n[Discontinuities appear in the original recording]\n\n     Statements by Dr. Bertram S. Brown of National Institute of Mental Health\n          -Ronald L. Ziegler's press briefing\n          -President's previous press conference\n          -Brown identified\n          -Ziegler's briefing\n\n[End of conversation]","filename":["500-021.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:42:59","tapeEnd":"02:43:48","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ehrlichman, John D."],"prevCode":"500-020","nextCode":"500-022","transcript":[{"start":4.66,"end":21.22,"text":"I want to be sure that, since you won't probably get any dope on this fellow Brown, you get a hold of the signature and get a question put in there so he knocks it down."},{"start":21.24,"end":25.75,"text":"You know, and I, yeah, yeah, no, let me say that the reason I'm concerned about it is that I specifically was acting about that at the press conference."},{"start":25.73,"end":38.77,"text":"We're supposed to have a procedure where such press conference room, I'm sure, would circulate into the appropriate agencies."},{"start":38.79,"end":45.12,"text":"Now, when a son of a bitch like this gets out and makes something exactly the contrary, he's got to be reprimanded."},{"start":45.14,"end":45.87,"text":"What is he, a doctor, or what is he?"},{"start":45.88,"end":48.27,"text":"He's a doctor, is he, or a psychiatrist?"},{"start":48.29,"end":48.79,"text":"Did we put him in there?"},{"start":48.81,"end":50.05,"text":"Okay, well, I'll just get Ziegler to knock it down."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and John Ehrlichman discuss the need to reprimand Dr. Bertram S. Brown of the National Institute of Mental Health for publicly contradicting statements made by the President during a recent press conference. Nixon expresses frustration that an administration official would undermine his position and instructs Ehrlichman to investigate Brown's credentials. Ultimately, the President directs press secretary Ron Ziegler to publicly refute Brown's comments to ensure administrative discipline.","topics":["Bertram S. Brown","NIMH","press relations","administrative discipline","Ron Ziegler"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T22:20:11.125Z"},"topicSlugs":["bertram-s-brown","nimh","press-relations","administrative-discipline","ron-ziegler"],"audioDurationSec":52,"audioFiles":[{"file":"500-021.mp3","bytes":2085407,"durationSec":52,"bitrate":320853,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:49.346Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:51.625Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/500-021.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/500-021","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/500/conversation-500-021","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}