Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 561 › Conversation 561-009

Nixon & Haldeman on Speechwriting and George P. Shultz

Wednesday, August 11, 1971 · 12:51 PM–12:57 PM ET · Oval Office · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation561-009 on Tape 561 (tape position 03:47:59–03:49:27)StartWednesday, August 11, 1971 at 12:51 PMEndWednesday, August 11, 1971 at 12:57 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 561-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to coordinate upcoming schedule adjustments and strategy sessions regarding speechwriting. The discussion focused on organizing individual meetings with speechwriter Raymond K. Price, Jr. and advisor George P. Shultz to refine the President's public messaging. Nixon directed Haldeman to structure these appointments to ensure direct, separated consultations for each project.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I would like that, which attempt was false?
And see, I've got an hour and a half, you know, some time.
It could be 3, 3.30, 4, 4.30, you know.
You know, you should at least get what we got.
Over there.
And, uh...
Right.
I better... Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess what I'm needing is the guy who's directly working on each of those speeches.
One comes in for a while, separately again, and the other comes in separately for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
So you have a figure running on for that, too.
What do you got?
Okay, here we go.

NARA Description

On August 11, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:51 pm and 12:57 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 561-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 561-9

Date: August 11, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:51 pm and 12:57 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     President's schedule
           -George P. Shultz
           -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
                 -Speechwriting

Also recorded on August 11, 1971

  • 561-008 11:53 AM · 59 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:53 am to 12:51 pm.
  • 561-010 12:51 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:51 pm and 12:57 pm.
  • 007-088 12:57 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 12:57 pm to 12:58 pm.
  • 561-011 12:57 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:57 pm to 12:58 pm.
  • 007-089 12:58 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:58 pm and 7:52 pm.
  • 561-012 12:59 PM · 44 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Charles W. Colson, Manolo Sanchez, Stephen B. Bull, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:59 pm to 1:43 pm.
  • 272-010 1:43 PM · 2 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 1:43 pm and 2:54 pm.
  • 272-011 1:43 PM · 5 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 1:43 pm and 2:54 pm.

All 30 conversations from August 11, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 561-009, August 11, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/561-009 (accessed October 9, 2026).