Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 514 › Conversation 514-011

Nixon, Driggs & Huntsman on Phoenix and Gift exchange

Tuesday, June 8, 1971 · 12:15 PM–12:18 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Driggs, John W.; Driggs, John W. (Mrs.); Driggs, Andrew; Driggs, Douglas; Driggs, Thomas; Huntsman, Jon M.Conversation514-011 on Tape 514 (tape position 01:49:28–01:55:34)StartTuesday, June 8, 1971 at 12:15 PMEndTuesday, June 8, 1971 at 12:18 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 514-011 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a brief, informal meeting in the Oval Office with Phoenix Mayor John W. Driggs, his wife, several of his sons, and Jon M. Huntsman. The conversation focused on social pleasantries, family history, and the presentation of a Phoenix centennial coin to the President, as well as an exchange of gifts. Before the group departed for a White House tour, Nixon offered brief words of encouragement to the mayor regarding his political efforts and upcoming testimony.

Audio

Download MP3 · 13.7 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 43% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Mr. President, Mr. President, Mayor Duffer, Mr. Phoenix, Mr. Powell, Mr. President, Mr. Mayor, good to see you again, Mr. Sam, Mr. President, my wife, my child, very nice to see you, Mr. President, nice to hear your voice, my oldest son, Doug, Andy, Tom, my father, how old are you?
How old are you?
How old are you?
You remember the gun, huh?
Well, that's a great band.
Tell us a little about us.
We've got two more boys.
Six-year-old and a two-year-old.
Isn't that nice?
Five boys, whatever.
Five brothers and mine.
All boys, no girls.
Look at all that literature.
You haven't been to Washington, have you?
I know.
Yeah, I used to do that all my life.
That's pretty good.
Very good.
The way you do it, you get on this side of me.
There you are.
Now let me see.
You stand right in front of me.
That's right.
Now you get on this side of your head.
Now, now you've got a well balanced smile on your face.
He took a picture of my daughter, which is on a part of the town, you see.
The town's name is on his daughter's head.
And that's a picture of his dad.
He's one of the, we have him on the pavement.
The good housekeeping was stated by another man.
He took all these pictures.
And the good housekeeping is so good housekeeping.
Yeah.
Yeah, and then there's one low, too.
That's one.
I appreciate you, your fine work out there.
Being a painter is the toughest job in the world.
Being in such a great city.
It's a great challenge.
I'd like to very much present to you, Mr. President, the Centennial coin.
We just completed these.
Any of them here are fountains.
This is over the corner of Strathclyde and I'm going to make a donation.
First 100 years of being here.
Oh, that's great.
Well, I'm glad to have this.
I got the, uh, some kind of thing for Birmingham the other day.
They've come in, so...
I don't want to go back 300 years, but it's another thing.
I still love it.
It's famous as the Yom City.
My Yoms are above the big cities in the world.
The Yoms are the biggest cities in the world.
Don't get any bigger.
I know people are going to come in there.
Now let me see.
We've got a few little assets for you.
For the boys, we'll get you a little tighter.
That's it.
You see the presidential seal up there?
There is the presidential seal.
That's it.
You get one.
And here's the tie.
Now, see, you get a little tighter.
And that's for you.
Head to center for the other two boys.
You get them tight.
Do you have one of these?
Well, yeah, but you can take it and all of you can use it.
Wonderful, that's for the hand.
I never looked at it.
It's a very special thing to see.
Well, we wish you all the very best here.
The other boy you didn't bring.
Yeah, well, they won't wish you much.
Six-year-old would probably be deeply resentful.
I hope you don't mind.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I'll be testifying on Friday.
I don't know about it.
I know you learned that.
We're working on it.
Yes.
I think that we'll get it sooner or later.
Well, I tell you, we've got most of the mayors, most of the governors, most of the county officials on our side.
And just lay it on the line.
They'll give you a rough time.
Just stick in there.
Thank you.
I appreciate it very much.
Well, thank you, sir.
Have you seen the police?
Absolutely.
I did.
Good.
That's up here.
Well, Freddy, are you engaged, too?
No.
I see.
Well, I'm so glad to see you.
Right.
Well, that's good.
That's good.
Take a special tour.

NARA Description

On June 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, John W. Driggs, Mrs. John W. Driggs, Andrew Driggs, Douglas Driggs, Thomas Driggs, and Jon M. Huntsman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:15 pm to 12:18 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 514-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 514-11

Date: June 8, 1971
Time: 12:15 pm - 12:18 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Mr. and Mrs. John W. Driggs, Andrew Driggs, Douglas Driggs, Thomas
Driggs, and Jon M. Huntsman

     Introductions

           -Driggs family history
           -Photographs
           -Weather
           -Photographs
                -Arrangement
                -Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins

     President’s appreciation of Driggs’ effort
          -Presentation of centennial coin to President
          -Size of Phoenix
          -Presentation of gifts

     Tour of White House

J. W. Driggs, et al. left at 12:18 pm

Also recorded on June 8, 1971

  • 514-008 11:06 AM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, George P. Shultz, Milton Friedman, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:06 am to 12:00 pm.
  • 514-009 12:00 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and John A. Volpe met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:00 pm to 12:01 pm.
  • 514-010 12:12 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John A. Volpe met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:12 pm.
  • 514-012 12:18 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:18 pm and 12:21 pm.
  • 514-013 12:21 PM · 1 hr 14 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 from 12:21 pm to 1:38 pm.
  • 514-022 1:38 PM · 2 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:38 pm and 2:57 pm.
  • 004-072 1:45 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 1:45 pm to 1:46 pm.
  • 004-073 1:46 PM · 19 min — Tricia Nixon Cox, White House operator, unknown person(s), and Jeffrey Donfeld talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:46 pm and 6:50 pm.

All 40 conversations from June 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 514-011, June 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/514-011 (accessed October 12, 2026).