Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 522 › Conversation 522-006

Nixon, Klein & Ziegler on Photography and White House ceremonies

Wednesday, June 16, 1971 · 12:46 PM–12:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 13 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); [Unknown person(s)]; Klein, Herbert G.; Ziegler, Ronald L.; Tames, George; Noel, Arnold C.; Driscoll, Norman; Rollins, Byron; Johnson, Maurice; Shutt, Charles; Stroup, Barry; Gaylin, George; Beall, William; Kramer, Carl; Raney, James; Woolsey, Charles; McGee, John; Arrowsmith, John; Galbraith, William; Peterson, Lynne; Smith, Allan; Chung, Constance ("Connie"); Sisco, Paul; Cancellare, Frank E.; Griffin, Henry; Craven, Thomas ("Tom"), Sr.; Johnson, Hugo; Denton, Robert D.; Baltzell, J. Thomas; Dorsey, George; Roberts, Joe; May, Andrew J.Conversation522-006 on Tape 522 (tape position 03:23:58–03:37:02)StartWednesday, June 16, 1971 at 12:46 PMEndWednesday, June 16, 1971 at 12:59 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 522-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Herbert G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler, and a large delegation from the White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) to commemorate the organization's anniversary. The group presented the President with ceremonial bookends crafted from historic U.S. Capitol bricks and discussed the vital role of photography in documenting history. During the exchange, Nixon expressed his personal preference for visual imagery over written text and briefly engaged with the photographers regarding the technical aspects of camera use.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 9 minutes of this recording (about 67% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello, sir.
I'm Charlie.
I'm Charlie.
I'm Charlie.
I'm Charlie.
I'm Charlie.
Still being him?
Still being him?
We're recording all this.
All right, one of the originals, one of the originals.
All right, one of the originals.
Uh, get all the fights.
When we finish all the fights, get us that most bigger round.
Yeah, we do.
You work there.
No, I don't.
You do work.
No, I'm talking about that.
Right.
Over in the middle.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
And of course, the other time,
You know this gentleman, Mr. Bob Mays Jr.?
Yeah.
No, this is very funny.
He blocked it on the pitch.
He's not doing it again.
Oh, yeah.
He's doing the original.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Oh, yeah.
We do have to meet at the restaurant.
I don't know.
I don't know.
That's right.
We do go to .
We go back to the day .
Mr. President.
This booklet may not take name from the original, one of the two of the original bricks from the Capitol.
The architects told me when they put the new elevator that they went down in the 1880s, this is the brick they made.
It has your name and the CEO's presidency on one side and the American side on the other two panels.
And then on this one, it has
It says from the U.S. Capitol, 8 through 19, in April was the opening of the day of the march.
This was the dinner.
That is right, Mr. President.
As you know, today, if you actually think, the 15th anniversary of the White House Youth Department Association, Mr. President, that's, it's really a, it's a only a, it's a lifetime anniversary to the life of one individual.
So it seems, it just seems, I'm sure that the original 28 men who started this organization, we do have five here today of the seven survivors.
And I would like to have them to read our poems to them.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
All right, I don't want to read it.
All right.
We have thousands of pictures of you.
Nobody knows how good a photographer you are.
I wonder if you would trust the honor of taking a picture of the survivors from a few years ago.
It won't work.
I'm Ronald Dale.
I'm living.
Only person.
My age is.
Never takes photographs.
Right there.
Where is the picture?
Right here.
Right here.
Right here.
Right here.
to your eye.
That's it.
Now, if you stand there, what do you mean?
Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,
All right, now let's see, what are we giving to you?
See, we don't, we might get grief if we don't take things into the bag.
Yeah, we'll get off like that, everybody.
You're not in one group shot.
Oh, I'm not in every group shot.
Go ahead.
No, let's get in now.
Okay.
Okay, let's get in here.
First, I was wondering about what's the newspaper deal with him.
Say about that program.
Well, I guess.
We're going to think of a collection right after this is made for the president.
We're going to do it.
Yeah.
We're going to do it together.
Yeah, he's going to use the line.
Well, I figured I'll get on the side.
I'll get the list for me.
Yeah.
Go ahead, you guys.
Now, we're going to get each of you to present your covenants.
It's a seal.
No name on it.
It says President Yankovic.
Yeah, yeah.
Thank you.
What do you do with guys?
I couldn't tell you what the name of the architect was actually.
It happened to be this morning, though.
All the pictures that were made, you know, once when Martin would think about photography, what would this country have been like if it hadn't had a cameraman to record the events?
Of course, your daughter being married, everyone,
But as far as I'm concerned, I think the picture they're going to be looking at 20 or 30 years from now is a shot of you and your niece.
You know, that signifies more than words can tell.
And, Mr. President, I have a catalog from our annual, and in it is also a prayer that opened the annual show this year, rather than eating a dinner.
And I thought it summed up the whole feeling of the photographers at that time.
I thought you'd like to have that.
Thank you.
Well, we want to thank you very hard.
It's getting harder to write in this future.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I wish you the best.
All I look at is the picture, so I can read it.
Now I can take it, right?
All right.
Is that your television?
You know what the way to do that?
Just turn the sound off.
There you have it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.

NARA Description

On June 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), Herbert G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler, George Tames, Arnold C. Noel, Norman Driscoll, Byron Rollins, Maurice Johnson, Charles Shutt, Barry Stroup, George Gaylin, William Beall, Carl Kramer, James Raney, Charles Woolsey, John McGee, John Arrowsmith, William Galbraith, Lynne Peterson, Allan Smith, Constance ("Connie") Chung, Paul Sisco, Frank E. Cancellare, Henry Griffin, Thomas ("Tom") Craven, Sr., Hugo Johnson, Robert D. Denton, J. Thomas Baltzell, George Dorsey, Joe Roberts, and Andrew J. May met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:46 pm to 12:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 522-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 522-006

Date: June 16, 1971
Time: 12:46 pm - 12:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man.

     Schedule

The unknown man left and Herbert G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler, and officers of White House
News Photographers Association [WHNPA] George Tames, Arnold C. Noel, Norman Driscoll,
Byron Rollins, Maurice Johnson, Charles Shutt, Barry Stroup, George Gaylin, William Beall,
Carl Kramer, John Rosson, Charles Woolsey, John McGee, John Arrowsmith, William
Galbraith, Lynne Peterson, Allan Smith, Constance (“Connie”) Chung, Paul Sisco, Frank E.
Cancellare, Henry Griffin, Thomas (“Tom”) Craven, Sr., Hugo Johnson, Robert H. Denton, J.
Thomas Baltzell, George Dorsey, Joe Roberts, and Andrew J. May entered at 12:46 pm.

     Greetings

     General discussion
          -Golf

     Presentation to President
          -Bookends
                -Origin
          -Anniversary of WHNPA
                -Originators
                -President's photograph of original members of WHNPA
                      -President’s photographic ability
                      -Mechanics of camera use

     Presentation of gifts

     Shots of President
          -Catalogue
                -Opening prayer

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

     President's preference for photographs over text

     Chinese view

Klein, et al. left at 12:59 pm.

Also recorded on June 16, 1971

  • 522-003 12:07 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:07 pm and 12:26 pm.
  • 522-004 12:26 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ambassador E. Ross Adair, Mrs. E. Ross Adair, and W. Marshall Wright met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:26 pm to 12:37 pm.
  • 522-005 12:38 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Herbert G. Klein, Stanley S. Scott, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:38 pm to 12:46 pm.
  • 522-007 12:59 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:59 pm to 1:04 pm.
  • 522-008 1:04 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:04 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 522-009 1:09 PM · 2 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 1:09 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 522-010 1:15 PM · 1 min — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:15 pm and 1:27 pm.
  • 522-011 1:27 PM · 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:27 pm to 2:15 pm.

All 29 conversations from June 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 522-006, June 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/522-006 (accessed October 5, 2026).