Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 509 › Conversation 509-005

Nixon, Hoover & Mitchell on Law enforcement and Crime victims

Thursday, June 3, 1971 · 9:59 AM–10:04 AM ET · Oval Office · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hoover, J. Edgar; Mitchell, John N.; Krogh, Egil ("Bud"), Jr.; Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation509-005 on Tape 509 (tape position 00:46:37–00:51:18)StartThursday, June 3, 1971 at 9:59 AMEndThursday, June 3, 1971 at 10:04 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 509-005 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417177583 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with J. Edgar Hoover, John Mitchell, Egil Krogh, and John Ehrlichman to coordinate an upcoming meeting with law enforcement leaders. The participants discussed the administration's proposed legislation for providing financial compensation to the families of crime victims and strategies for presenting these initiatives to police officials. Nixon specifically instructed Hoover to emphasize the FBI's commitment to providing assistance to local police departments as part of the broader legislative agenda.

Audio

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NARA Description

On June 3, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, John N. Mitchell, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:59 am to 10:04 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 509-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 509-005

Date: June 3, 1971
Time: 9:59 am - 10:04 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with J. Edgar Hoover and John N. Mitchell

     Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
           -Location

     Crime
          -Compensation to families of crime victims
                -Legislative proposal
          -Forthcoming meeting with police chiefs
                -President’s comments
                -Hoover’s possible comments
          -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
          -Agenda for forthcoming meeting
                -Monetary compensation for crime victim families
                -Krogh’s report on administration legislation
                -Clarence M. Kelley
                -Michael N. Canlis

Krogh and John D. Ehrlichman entered at 10:02 am

                 -Law enforcement legislation
                      -Response by attendees

The President, et al. left at 10:04 am

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 32% 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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

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How are you?
I didn't see one side of it.
$50,000.
I think they were kind of like $50,000 for survivors.
That's right.
Ask you to say a word about it.
They've already heard it, but would it be well for you to say it again about the facilities and the care of what you are doing for the rest at that point?
And then I would also say before presenting to you that one thing that particularly concerned me was the fact that
And so we've had conversations with some people
First, if you had raised this, if you had raised this, I mean, why not?
The Bureau has such a thing.
So we were considering that.
And you can go on.
You can talk about what you've done.
And after you've finished, see if Crowe is ready to report on the legislation as we're talking.
You were saying about the fact that the FBI will give assistance to the request of the local police.
Oh, yes.
I think it ought to be, huh?
Oh, yes.
That we will give this.
Do you want me to say that?
Yes, I think that will come to you.
And I didn't say it's present now, we referred back to you in November 1 directly.
Not that I'd like to directly indicate how we have an insistence, how you can in the future, and why we feel this is the best way to proceed.
There are, because I've been pointing out that there are many who believe that the
to play a bigger role and what the arguments are.
They're all part of the legislation.
Good.
Good.
I have that on hand.
Yes.
Good.
And they all oppose to the legislation on Congress.
As long as I can get the facilities, I'd be willing to get that out of here while we've been on this charge.
So I'd like for you to talk about that.
Then you've got some of them programmed to talk.
Should we ask them to say anything or they don't get most of that?
Well, I had briefed two, Commissioner Kelly of Kansas City and Mike Tandus, the head of the Sheriff's Association.
He's not the head of Kansas City.
He's not the head of Kansas City.
No, that's the head of the national organization.
He's here.
And then the head of the sheriff's office.
He'll be there sometime.
He'll be called sometime.
But are you ready to present to these people a bill of legislation?
I am.
We probably should hold on a specific nature of legislation.
But can we say we're considering it?
Yes, sir.
I think we can.
Attorney General is prepared to speak to how it probably will go, but we've got some conflict left that we should resolve.
She says, anybody want to talk to us?
Then should we call on you to talk about the legislation?
I don't call them directly to talk to me.
We talk about what we are prepared to do, and then we'll talk about the legislation.
And then what else?
That's it.
That's it.
And then just in their response, she says, the response is always a temporary response.
How do we get them to say anything?
They're going to go out.
to speak to the press after the Sanders.
Well, I think the President simply holds a vote to say, this is what we are doing and are prepared to do.
I'm very much interested in any contributions that you may make.
I think Candace will, and I think Frank will, and I think Kelly will from Kansas City.
I do have someone that might be called on the press.
But I don't know why I thought that.
I'm glad Frank is here to speak to us.
All right.
Fine.
Yes, Mr. President, you're going to meet this fellow individually.
Yes, General.

Also recorded on June 3, 1971

  • 059-001 8:02 AM · 12 min — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:02 am and 10:04 am.
  • 509-003 9:49 AM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:49 am to 9:54 am.
  • 059-002 9:51 AM · 1 hr 33 min — President Richard M Nixon and police chiefs, staffers, and others, including John R. Shryock, George A. Murphy, Don R. Derning, Edmund I. Hockaday, Rocky Pomerance, Richard C. Clement, Ramon M. Nardini, Michael N. Canlis, James H. Young, Clarence M. Kelley, James B. Conlisk, Jr., Jerry V. Wilson, William E. Kirwan, Edmund L. McNamara, Wilson E. Speir, Edward M. Davis, Peter J. Pitchess, Joseph J. Caspar, Guy F. Van Cleave, Roman L. Hruska, Richard H. Poff, Emanuel Celler, J. Edgar Hoover, John N. Mitchell, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., White House photographer, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:51 am and 11:44 am.
  • 509-004 9:54 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:54 am and 9:59 am.
  • 509-021 10:04 AM · 16 sec — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:04 am and 11:47 am.
  • 509-006 11:47 AM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:47 am to 12:08 pm.
  • 509-007 12:09 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Corrine Griffith, Roger E. Johnson, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:09 pm to 12:13 pm.
  • 509-008 12:13 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:13 pm.

All 25 conversations from June 3, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 509-005, June 3, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417177583). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/509-005 (accessed October 29, 2026).