Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 512 › Conversation 512-031

Nixon, Brewer & Wright on Mauritius and Foreign Service

Monday, June 7, 1971 · 12:35 PM–12:41 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Brewer, William D.; Wright, W. Marshall; Bull, Stephen B.; White House photographerConversation512-031 on Tape 512 (tape position 06:00:34–06:07:02)StartMonday, June 7, 1971 at 12:35 PMEndMonday, June 7, 1971 at 12:41 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 512-031 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417177727 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Ambassador William D. Brewer and W. Marshall Wright in the Oval Office to discuss diplomatic matters and exchange gifts intended for the Prime Minister of Mauritius. The conversation covered Mauritius's economic reliance on sugar, its tourism potential, and the logistical challenges facing the island nation. Additionally, the President and Brewer shared personal anecdotes regarding their respective backgrounds in the Foreign Service and education.

Audio

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NARA Description

On June 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, William D. Brewer, W. Marshall Wright, Stephen B. Bull, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:35 pm and 12:41 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 512-031 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 512-31

Date: June 7, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:35 pm and 12:41 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with William D. Brewer, W. Marshall Wright, and Stephen B. Bull; the White
House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

     Brewer
         -Foreign service experience

     President John Adams

     Arrangements for photo

     Mauritius
         -Climate
         -Economy
         -Tourism

     Brewer’s background
         -Connecticut
               -Herbert C. Hoover

           -Foreign service

     President’s background
          -School
          -Travel

     Presentation of gifts by President
          -Prime Minister of Mauritius

     Presentation of gifts

     President’s annual report on the world
          -Prime Minister’s comments
          -Length

     Brewer’s background
         -Williams College
               -Milton C. Rose

Brewer, et al. left at 12:41 pm

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 40% 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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Good morning, Mr. President.
Good morning, Mr. President.
Good morning.
How are you?
I'm very well, sir.
Good morning, Mr. President.
Thank you for the honor to be with you.
Good morning, Mr. President.
Mr. Brown, you've been at the Foreign Service many years, isn't it?
I'm a webhead as an ambassador.
Thank you very much.
I'm glad to be with you.
And also, sir, I want to just say, perhaps you didn't know, but when you were reporting to me, you were acting upon a recommendation of the recently named President John Adams.
1799.
What was that record?
Justin.
to be driven because of that.
We had a lot of interest in that in the 1790s and 1900s.
Well, he didn't in fact act on it, but the recommendation was made by the consul that some men would be sent aside to Mauritius.
Well, you got it.
That's what we'd like to do is to get to a formal picture here.
And we'll get one sitting down.
Thank you very much.
what you said over here.
I'll be going back in a few weeks time.
I'll be back in a few weeks time.
I'll be back in a few weeks time.
all the countries that are involved.
Well, I wouldn't expect that you could from the part of your
It's like Caribbean island.
Is it?
With the, you know, the beaches.
Not caves.
Yes.
Perfectly lovely.
And swimming.
Yes.
No sharks.
Not in the, inside the reef.
And that's, of course, the other state of Florida.
Outside the reef, fishing is pretty good.
I don't like fishing too well, but it sounds great.
The beaches are great.
Yes.
Well, they should attract tourists.
Well, they're trying to because, you know, it's the one crop economy, sugar, and they're increasingly worried about the output of sugar in the long term.
So they are delayed.
Do they have good transportation?
Yes, airlines.
But many, not American airlines, but Lufthansa, BOIC, Air France, East African Airways, hotels.
They have several, but they need more.
Well, they have some.
They have two that are really very good, but they're usually full.
Oh, yeah.
This is the problem.
They get full of smart people.
That would be great.
Well, a lot of it is in the back of my mind.
I always think, well, those are different places.
Well, it's a beautiful spot.
Where did you come from, Richard?
Connecticut, Mr. President.
That's right.
From Connecticut.
Yeah, I was the first member of the lecture school.
Yes, sir.
Right.
And that's it.
Very good memory.
Yeah.
But I was the first member to leave the New England 300 years.
Yeah.
And then came on down and entered the Foreign Service quite...
Yes, sir.
Right after 1947.
Yeah, well, right after the war.
After the war.
Yeah.
1947.
Moved up.
Well, it must have been, you wouldn't trade it, but you'd do the same thing again.
You like what you're doing.
Yeah.
And one of the very few, perhaps, settled on this kind of career, very young, about eight or nine years old.
Did you really?
That was your father?
No, sir.
I don't recall including myself.
Why?
Yeah.
But I must have said to somebody, this is not quite a good idea.
And everybody said, oh, yes.
And from that point on, well, I would say that geography was my best subject.
I was most interested in it.
Yes.
County line is a big deal in those days.
But, or down to Tijuana.
And since then I've gone to about 75 countries.
So that's one thing.
Join the Foreign Service and see the world.
Well, I want you to tell us some of the presidential companies.
And let me give you some of our most tradition badges.
Thank you for the time.
I hope you'll be honored.
You a golfer?
No, sir.
I am the...
paper I use in my songs.
One reason why I've written it best is because it's small, which indicates you don't have too much paper in here.
Mr. President, I don't know whether I wrote it to you, but maybe I haven't brought it to your attention, but your annual report got the right impression very much.
And as I handed it to him, he looked at the table of contents and he said, boy, President Nixon must have an efficient operation.
That's how you will pass.
You know, it is quite a, you know, it's sort of a book, you know, 60,000 words, and we cut it for $120,000.
And I think it's not a bad thing.
But I think he read it and thought it was a good thing.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
I wish you the best in your continuing service.
Thank you again very much.
Do you want to get up?
You've already been up all night.
Well, I've got to get up tomorrow.
Did you go to, let's see, let's see.
And you went directly from there into college?
That's right, yes.
My former law partner, Bill Rose, trustee.
Oh, yes.
Thank you very much, President.
Thank you.

Also recorded on June 7, 1971

  • 511-003 11:49 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:49 am and 11:55 am.
  • 512-029 11:50 AM · 40 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:50 am to 12:34 pm.
  • 512-030 12:34 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:34 pm.
  • 512-032 12:41 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:41 pm to 1:10 pm.
  • 513-001 12:43 PM · 43 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:43 pm.
  • 255-009 1:41 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:41 pm and 2:40 pm.
  • 255-010 1:41 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:41 pm and 2:40 pm.
  • 255-011 1:41 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:41 pm and 2:40 pm.

All 53 conversations from June 7, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 512-031, June 7, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417177727). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/512-031 (accessed November 2, 2026).