Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 540 › Conversation 540-002

United States Secret Service agents on Secret Service

Tuesday, July 20, 1971 · 7:35 AM–7:53 AM ET · Oval Office · 5 min

ParticipantsUnited States Secret Service agentsConversation540-002 on Tape 540 (tape position 00:04:35–00:09:32)StartTuesday, July 20, 1971 at 7:35 AMEndTuesday, July 20, 1971 at 7:53 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 540-002 ↗

AI Summary

United States Secret Service agents met with the President in the Oval Office to discuss security-related matters. The conversation was heavily redacted due to federal statutes regarding sensitive security information and personal privacy. Consequently, no substantive record of the specific directives or developments remains available for historical review.

Audio

Download MP3 · 10.7 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

NARA Description

On July 20, 1971, United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:35 am and 7:53 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 540-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 540-2

Date: July 20, 1971
Time: Unknown between 7:35 am and 7:53 am
Location: Oval Office

Unknown men (Secret Service agents) entered..

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Previous PRMPA Federal Statute (A) withdrawal reviewed 01/21/2020. Segment will remain
closed.]
[Federal Statute]
[540-002-w001]

[Duration: 3m 18s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

******************************************************************************

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Previous PRMPA Federal Statute (A) withdrawal reviewed 01/21/2020. Segment will remain
closed.]
[Federal Statute]
[540-002-w002]
[Duration: 26s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

******************************************************************************

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Previous PRMPA Federal Statute (A) withdrawal reviewed 01/21/2020. Segment will remain
closed.]
[Federal Statute]
[540-002-w003]
[Duration: 55s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

******************************************************************************

This recording was cut off at an unknown time before 7:53 am.

Also recorded on July 20, 1971

  • 065-001 7:35 AM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 7:35 am and 8:05 am.
  • 065-002 7:35 AM · 2 hr 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William P. Rogers, and Republican Congressional leaders, including Hugh Scott, John C. Stennis, Robert P. Griffin, Margaret Chase Smith, Gordon L. Allott, Norris Ctton, Peter H. Dominick, Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends, John B. Anderson, Richard H. Poff, Barber B. Conable, Jr., John J. Rhodes, Robert C. ("Bob") Wilson, Robert T. Stafford, H. Allen Smith, Robert J. Dole, Henry A. Kissinger, Clark MacGregor, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, William E. Timmons, Kenneth E. BeLieu, Richard K. Cook, Harry S. Dent, Herbert G. Klein, Patrick J. Buchanan, Bryce C. Harlow, and Ronald L. Ziegler, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 7:35 am and 10:23 am.
  • 540-001 7:35 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William P. Rogers, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:35 am and 7:53 am.
  • 540-003 7:35 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:35 am and 7:53 am.
  • 540-004 7:53 AM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:53 am to 8:05 am.
  • 540-005 8:05 AM · 11 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:05 am and 10:23 am.
  • 540-013 8:05 AM · 17 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:05 am and 10:23 am.
  • 540-014 8:05 AM · 3 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:05 am and 10:23 am.

All 39 conversations from July 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 540-002, July 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/540-002 (accessed October 11, 2026).