Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 503 › Conversation 503-003

Nixon & Safire on Speechwriting and Thomas Jefferson

Friday, May 21, 1971 · 9:37 AM–9:40 AM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Safire, William L.Conversation503-003 on Tape 503 (tape position 01:05:14–01:07:38)StartFriday, May 21, 1971 at 9:37 AMEndFriday, May 21, 1971 at 9:40 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 503-003 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted speechwriter William Safire to refine remarks for an upcoming presentation of science medals. The President requested that Safire incorporate a paraphrase of Thomas Jefferson regarding the preference of hope over fear to ensure the speech resonated with the audience. Nixon finalized the messaging strategy, intending to utilize the draft for an event scheduled for early June.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 37% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Would you send over for me, I was in one of the talks I made recently about the Jefferson vote, about fear.
Yeah, was that what it was?
Was it despair or fear, fear and hope?
What?
Consolidate fears.
Well, I guess I won't fit into my life as such.
I'm gonna have to make presents with science medals, and I was trying to get a little kick in the past for the people, and all of a sudden, that's gone.
The rare, severe, great truth, and so forth, because of our fears, and we're gonna explode, or we're gonna get skin cancer.
Getting old feds, I don't know.
It wouldn't matter.
I think that the way you put a few paraphrases then in the top three is that we, as Thomas Jefferson said, we prefer hope.
And in the top three, I'm going to stand there and just send it over to the third.
Yeah.
Correct.
That paraphrase is audience-friendly.
Science is science, and I wouldn't appreciate that.
Thank you, Jefferson.
They ought to appreciate it, nonetheless.
Frank was, of course, a great scientist.
Of course, all Jefferson, Frank, and all those early guys, they were all interested in architecture.
There is some there, but that won't mean much.
I won't need it until around the 10th or 13th.
Thank you.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:37 am to 9:40 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 503-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 503-3

Date: May 21, 1971
Time: 9:37 am - 9:40 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with William L. Safire.

[See Conversation No. 3-108]

Also recorded on May 21, 1971

  • 503-001 8:13 AM · 1 hr 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:13 am and 9:25 am.
  • 503-002 9:25 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 9:37 am.
  • 003-108 9:37 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 9:37 am to 9:40 am.
  • 503-004 9:40 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:40 am to 9:46 am.
  • 503-005 9:46 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:46 am and 9:53 am.
  • 503-006 9:53 AM · 35 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, Gerard C. Smith, Paul H. Nitze, Llewellyn E. ("Tommy") Thompson, Jr., Philip J. Farley, Alexander P. Butterfield, and William P. Rogers met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:53 am to 10:43 am.
  • 503-007 10:46 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:46 am to 10:47 am.
  • 503-008 10:47 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:47 am and 11:02 am.

All 40 conversations from May 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 503-003, May 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/503-003 (accessed October 12, 2026).