Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 559 › Conversation 559-019

Nixon & Woods on Norris Cotton and New York Times

Tuesday, August 10, 1971 · 2:46 PM–2:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose MaryConversation559-019 on Tape 559 (tape position 02:59:10–03:01:40)StartTuesday, August 10, 1971 at 2:46 PMEndTuesday, August 10, 1971 at 2:59 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 559-019 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon dictates a letter to his personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, addressed to Senator Norris Cotton regarding a recent trip to New Hampshire. The conversation shifts to a discussion about a recent White House church service and the President's explicit refusal to cooperate with the New York Times. Nixon expresses clear resentment toward the newspaper, emphasizing that his staff was instructed to avoid assisting them with their reporting.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hi, Rose.
On that, uh, on the new record, uh, Reverend Milton Norris Cotton.
Say, dear Norris, uh, many thanks for your statement about my welcome to the nation.
Uh, heard violent your gun's exclamation point.
Sincerely, R.N.
Okay.
He's all right.
He's all right.
He's all right.
He's all right.
He knows pretty good.
He really does.
He's all right.
He's all right.
He's all right.
Nobody did really try to operate.
He just probably scrounged around on a picture here and there.
But at least I was very glad to see that our people were honest to see what it is to try to help New York Times in such an article.
They did.
That's the point.
I told them time and again not to.
So I just couldn't get that out of the way.
But I don't think anybody else did.
I just didn't want, I don't care if it was moving or if it was possible, I didn't want to cooperate with the New York Times on something, you know, because they are not there to help us.

NARA Description

On August 10, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:46 pm and 2:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 559-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 559-019

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

Date: August 10, 1971
Time: Unknown between 2:46 pm and 2:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Rose Mary Woods.

     Letter dictation
           -Norris Cotton
                 -President’s trip to New Hampshire

     Cotton

     White House church service
          -New York Times

Also recorded on August 10, 1971

  • 559-014 2:31 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:31 pm and 2:33 pm.
  • 559-015 2:31 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:31 pm and 2:33 pm.
  • 007-085 2:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 2:33 pm to 2:37 pm.
  • 559-016 2:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:33 pm to 2:37 pm.
  • 559-017 2:37 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:37 pm and 2:38 pm.
  • 559-018 2:38 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:38 pm to 2:46 pm.
  • 559-020 2:46 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:46 pm and 2:59 pm.
  • 559-021 2:59 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Mrs. Paul Harvey, Harry S. Dent, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:59 pm to 3:19 pm.

All 40 conversations from August 10, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 559-019, August 10, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/559-019 (accessed October 9, 2026).