Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 548 › Conversation 548-009

Nixon, Weicker & Calley on NASA and Apollo moon landing

Tuesday, July 27, 1971 · 3:26 PM–3:31 PM ET · Oval Office · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Weicker, Lowell P., Jr.; Calley, Paul; White House photographer; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation548-009 on Tape 548 (tape position 01:02:29–01:07:26)StartTuesday, July 27, 1971 at 3:26 PMEndTuesday, July 27, 1971 at 3:31 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 548-009 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417178595 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. and Paul Calley in the Oval Office for a brief, informal courtesy visit. The discussion centered on a NASA commemorative stamp featuring the Apollo moon landing, with the group sharing anecdotes about the mission and the lunar rover. Additionally, Weicker commended the President’s recent foreign policy initiatives, specifically praising the administration's strategic outlook regarding China. The meeting concluded with brief personal exchanges before Nixon transitioned to administrative scheduling with Stephen B. Bull.

Audio

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NARA Description

On July 27, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., Paul Calley, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:26 pm to 3:31 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 548-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 548-9

Date: July 27, 1971
Time: 3:26 pm - 3:31 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., and Paul Calley; the White House photographer
was present at the beginning of the meeting.

     Introductions

     Lithograph of "First Man on the Moon" stamp
          -National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA]
          -Apollo moon landing

           -Pictures
           -Autograph
                 -Edwin E. (“Buzz”) Aldrin, Neil A. Armstrong
           -Use of golf cart on the moon

     Presidential gifts

     US foreign policy
          -The People's Republic of China [PRC] initiative
               -The President's action
               -Effect

     Calley
          -Background
               -Stanford, Connecticut
                    -Anecdote
                          -Unnamed lawyer

Weicker and Calley left and Stephen B. Bull entered at 3:31 pm.

     Schedule
          -Timing of Congressional Half Hour meetings
          -Otto E. Passman

Bull left at 3:31 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 45% 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

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President, Senator Wagner.
Hi, Paul.
How are you?
Nice to see you.
Well, this is a perfect time to bring this in.
I'm not going to put a man on the moon.
In other words, Paul County has absolutely overwhelmed me.
But I'm glad to see you.
I have, you know, a second date.
I'm glad to see you.
I can't believe the boys are out there.
That's right, for Halloween, we should say, not out at the top.
And we're saying that there's good news, that they could get cleaned up, you know, and they're gonna have a lot of good time.
So, but I see a lot of people, so I just told you, I don't know, two, two, just a couple of guys go up there.
They have, and when I got a question, it was, well, did you go down there?
I went in there, it's the best that I've ever had.
It's just fantastic.
I went there for the first time, clear blue sky, so you watch for about three minutes.
That was the last thing I was going to say.
One of the...
did with TV.
And people come out like that.
You know, it's amazing to know that we were down 11.
I did a series.
You did?
Yeah, for NASA.
I can understand seeing how TV got to be broadcast from a room that actually had communications when we came back and saw the landing.
It was just an absolutely incredible thing.
That must be signed by Baldwin.
You know, you'll have to get a new one now with that Jeep.
Not Jeep, a golf cart.
Oh, I would love to.
I wanted to do it with me, and I left that first shot out.
Let's get a, should we get a proper one?
No, it's great.
It's a great job.
Well, now, I don't have anything that you'd like me to do.
I'd like you to attend to the president.
She's aware.
She has it out there for you.
Thank you very much.
I just want to tell you something.
I was talking to Paul outside.
I made a statement a couple days ago, and I kind of want to tell it to you personally.
I said it was a great interview, and I thought, there's no precedent in my life.
are more creative in foreign policy than the ones you produce here in the White House, whether it's the Middle East or China, or together in the next three years.
We just hold the words now.
But at least the main thing about China, which is very, very clear, is that it looks far to the future.
And it doesn't speak, basically, to the problem that I have three, four years from now, five, but it's absolutely indispensable.
That's incredible in terms of tenders.
You know, you can date hundreds of people.
What do you do?
And where do you go?
How is it that you're doing this?
What other issues?
I realize I'm supposed to be the one person for it, but I'm the ambassador for it.
Thank you very much.
You're really good at it.
You're a buzzsaw at it.
I am.
Where did I land here at?
You live in the center, didn't you?
Sanford.
Sanford.
Go ahead.
Time goes through there.
Yes, it goes through there.
I know.
I know.
I knew a lawyer years ago when I was in the Navy.
Well, just before I went to the Navy, I was an LPA.
And I remember his lawyer lived in, he was in Washington.
And he used to say he lived in Stanford and worked in New York.
That's how it started.
I'd never been to Stanford.
I didn't know.
I still thought I'd done that.
I didn't know that.
I know.
That's right.
That's right.
Well, thank you very much.
Good luck.
Thank you.
All right.
Yeah.

Also recorded on July 27, 1971

  • 007-010 2:51 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:51 pm and 7:42 pm.
  • 548-004 3:06 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Edward B. ("Pete") Biester, Jr., James E. Wood, Joseph D. Ceader, Alton B. Chamberlain, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm.
  • 548-005 3:10 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:10 pm.
  • 548-006 3:10 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Durward G. ("Doc") Hall, Mrs. Durward G. ("Doc") Hall, Melanie Ellison, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:10 pm to 3:16 pm.
  • 548-007 3:17 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William J. ("Jack") Edwards, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:17 pm to 3:23 pm.
  • 548-008 3:23 PM · 3 min — John G. Tower, Guy D. Newman, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:23 pm to 3:26 pm.
  • 548-010 3:31 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Otto E. Passman, William E. Timmons, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:31 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 548-011 3:49 PM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, White House photographer, William M. Magruder, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:49 pm to 4:37 pm.

All 38 conversations from July 27, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 548-009, July 27, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417178595). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/548-009 (accessed November 2, 2026).