Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 556 › Conversation 556-009

Nixon, Whitaker & Train on Council on Environmental Quality

Friday, August 6, 1971 · 12:06 PM–12:13 PM ET · Oval Office · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Whitaker, John C.; Train, Russell E.; Cahn, Robert; MacDonald, Gordon J. F.; Butterfield, Alexander P.; Woods, Rose MaryConversation556-009 on Tape 556 (tape position 01:50:22–01:58:56)StartFriday, August 6, 1971 at 12:06 PMEndFriday, August 6, 1971 at 12:13 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 556-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with members of the Council on Environmental Quality, including Russell E. Train and John C. Whitaker, to express his appreciation for their work. The meeting began with a brief photo session, followed by casual conversation regarding the President's upcoming travel plans, pop culture references, and historical anecdotes. The meeting concluded with Nixon presenting commemorative paperweights to the council members.

Council on Environmental Quality
Environmental Policy
Presidential Commemorations
White House Staff
Public Relations

Audio

Download MP3 · 11.8 MB

This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 01:50:22 – 01:58:56

part A, 1:50:20

556a.mp3

556b.mp3

NARA Description

On August 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, John C. Whitaker, Russell E. Train, Robert Cahn, Gordon J. F. MacDonald, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:06 pm to 12:13 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 556-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 556-9

Date: August 6, 1971
Time: 12:06 pm - 12:13 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John C. Whitaker, Russell E. Train, Robert Cahn, Gordon J. F.
MacDonald, and Alexander P. Butterfield; press photographers were present at the beginning of
the meeting.

     Washington Post

     President's visit to New York
          -"No, No, Nanette"
          -Ruby Keeler
          -Bobby Van

     [Photograph session]
          -General conversation
               -Environmentalism
                     -Clean air and water
                          -San Clemente

Rose Mary Woods [?] entered at an unknown time after 12:06 pm.

          -Texas, Oklahoma, Massachusetts

Woods [?] left at an unknown time before 12:13 pm.

     Report

     Anecdote
         -Bert Andrews
               -New York Herald-Tribune
               -State Department coverage
                      -John Foster Dulles
         -Illustration of environmentalism

     Dinner
          -Unknown person's wife

     Unknown person

     President’s schedule
          -California

     Council on Environmental Quality staff
         -President's appreciation for work

     Presentation of gifts by President
          -Paperweights

Whitaker, et al. left at 12:13 pm.

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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Alright, we're set.

Why don't you get out of here?

The first one was not reset, Doctor.

Wait, wait, wait.

I want to get in here.

See, y'all, this is the last one.

The main one, the second one, I don't even know which one's the closest one.

See, Doctor, if y'all plan not to hear it,

She was correct.

The audience responded very boldly.

The audience just clapped their hands.

All right.

— 1 min 1 s with no transcribed speech —

All right.

Box.

Blue.

Blue is the color.

Of course.

Blue skies, blue water.

Got a embarrassing sight.

The blue that I got.

— 1 min 8 s with no transcribed speech —

That's why I asked you to do this.

I heard in that study that you know the trouble with all reporters who cover the State Department is, instead of writing about the Secretary of State, they write as if they were the Secretary of State.

Not you, the President.

You were the Secretary of State of the Department.

Those are the talks about the Department.

Good to see you.

Good to see you, too.

Good to see you.

I mean, it's going to be for a decent man.

He's a decent man, a fine man, an outstanding man.

He keeps coming back and crying.

We appreciate those machines and also all your

professional staff, you know what I'm saying?

I'm up with the people, and their work is appreciated, and it's worthwhile, and, uh, people get credit.

Even us, you know, like it.

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Do you get presents?

I forgot your presents.

Here's your wine, sir.

Here's your wine.

Also recorded on August 6, 1971

556-006 12:02 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm.
556-007 12:02 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm.
007-064 12:06 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:06 pm.
007-065 12:06 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:06 pm.
556-008 12:06 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:06 pm.
556-010 12:13 PM · 52 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:15 pm.
556-011 12:13 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:15 pm.
556-012 12:15 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:15 pm to 12:16 pm.

All 30 conversations from August 6, 1971 →

Nixon, Train & Cahn on Council on Environmental Quality August 7, 1972 · 29 min
Nixon, Train & Willard on Council on Environmental Quality November 3, 1972 · 7 min
Nixon & Bull on Environmental policy and Public relations February 27, 1973 · 1 min
Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Second term transition January 9, 1973 · 4 min
Nixon & Bull on Council on Environmental Quality and Mstislav Keldysh November 3, 1972 · 2 min
Nixon & Butterfield on Henry Kissinger and Council on Environmental Quality August 7, 1972 · 3 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 556-009, August 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/556-009 (accessed November 2, 2026).