Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 539 › Conversation 539-015

United States Secret Service agents on Public relations and Domestic policy

Monday, July 19, 1971 · 1:21 PM–1:22 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsUnited States Secret Service agentsConversation539-015 on Tape 539 (tape position 02:15:19–02:16:14)StartMonday, July 19, 1971 at 1:21 PMEndMonday, July 19, 1971 at 1:22 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 539-015 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met briefly with Secret Service personnel to coordinate logistics regarding his movement to the Executive Office Building and ensure appropriate media coverage of his schedule. The conversation centered on managing public perceptions of the President’s domestic agenda through upcoming meetings with congressional leadership. Nixon emphasized the importance of publicity and strategic messaging to maintain control over the domestic political narrative.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 70.0 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 02:15:19 into the tape and ends around 02:16:14.

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
2:15:19Not so very much, no.
2:15:19It's what I've had is on the domestic psychology.
2:15:21Just put out the fact that I am eating on domestic.
2:15:24You've got to grab it.
2:15:29You've got to do it.
2:15:29You've got to do it.
2:15:31Yeah.
2:15:33Do you?
2:15:35Do you feel we have champions in surgery?
2:15:38Others, we don't know.
2:15:40But what I've had is, publicity, that's our thing.
2:15:43So everybody will know.
2:15:46I don't know.
2:15:46We shall see.
2:15:47We've got a cover for today with these meetings.
2:15:48We'll have a cover for tomorrow with the leaders meeting, my leaders meeting.
2:16:13It should be, I think there's something else on the agenda than just this.

NARA Description

On July 19, 1971, United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:21 pm to 1:22 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 539-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 539-15

Date: July 19, 1971
Time: 1:21 pm - 1:22 pm
Location: Oval Office

An unknown man [Secret Service] entered

     The President’s location
          -Executive Office Building

Recording was cut off at 1:22 pm

Also recorded on July 19, 1971

  • 539-008 12:08 PM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 12:48 pm.
  • 539-009 12:08 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 12:48 pm.
  • 539-013 12:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 1:08 pm.
  • 539-014 1:08 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:08 pm to 1:21 pm.
  • 262-001 1:26 PM · 12 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 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 262-002 1:26 PM · 7 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 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 262-003 1:26 PM · 17 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 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 262-004 1:26 PM · 3 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 1:26 pm and 3:00 pm.

All 26 conversations from July 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 539-015, July 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/539-015 (accessed October 11, 2026).