{"conversationCode":"508-004","tapeNumber":508,"conversationNumber":4,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-508-004","startDateTime":"1971-06-02T12:55:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-06-02T13:20:00.000Z","startDate":"2-Jun-1971","startTime":"8:55 AM","endDate":"2-Jun-1971","endTime":"9:20 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President);","description":"On June 2, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:55 am and 9:20 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 508-004 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. 508-004\n\nDate: June 2, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 8:55 am and 9:20 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\n       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542\n\nThe President dictated a memorandum to Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.\n\n     Drug abuse studies\n          -Heroin addicts who started on marijuana\n          -Federal agencies as sources of information\n          -Dr. Bertram S. Brown, director, National Institute of Mental Health","filename":["508-004.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:08:01","tapeEnd":"00:09:17","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)"],"prevCode":"508-003","nextCode":"508-005","transcript":[{"start":9.5,"end":36.41,"text":"If you read some kind of a study in parentheses, don't make a capital case on this."},{"start":36.42,"end":38.25,"text":"Just try to get me some reliable information that I can use to help with those parentheses."},{"start":38.27,"end":39.49,"text":"On the percentage of heroin addicts who started on marijuana."},{"start":42.1,"end":66.23,"text":"as compared to the percentage of heroin addicts who use marijuana."},{"start":66.25,"end":69.76,"text":"I'm sure this must be in the files of one of the agencies and it is not desperately wrong with the research that's in the agencies."},{"start":69.78,"end":70.76,"text":"Brown and the National Institute of Mental Health"},{"start":71.78,"end":77.96,"text":"Should even have this number."},{"start":77.98,"end":78.18,"text":"All right."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon dictated a memorandum to Egil “Bud” Krogh, Jr., tasking him with gathering reliable data on the correlation between marijuana use and subsequent heroin addiction. He directed Krogh to leverage research held by federal agencies, specifically identifying the National Institute of Mental Health and its director, Dr. Bertram S. Brown, as key sources. The President’s objective was to acquire concrete statistics to bolster his administration’s drug policy messaging.","topics":["Drug abuse","Heroin","Marijuana","Egil Krogh","National Institute of Mental Health","Bertram S. Brown","Policy research"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T22:35:08.873Z"},"topicSlugs":["drug-abuse","heroin","marijuana","egil-krogh","national-institute-of-mental-health","bertram-s-brown","policy-research"],"audioDurationSec":78,"audioFiles":[{"file":"508-004.mp3","bytes":3131350,"durationSec":78.14,"bitrate":320574,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:49.684Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:52.790Z","transcriptGapSeconds":51,"transcriptGapShare":0.65,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/508-004.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/508-004","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/508/conversation-508-004","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}