Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 563 › Conversation 563-005

Nixon, Malek & Klein on Wolf Trap and Women in the workforce

Friday, August 13, 1971 · 12:19 PM–12:27 PM ET · Oval Office · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Malek, Frederic V.; Klein, Herbert G.; Spain, Jayne B.; Hitt, Patricia R.; Bentlye, Helen D.; Franklin, Barbara H.; Hanford, Elizabeth; Hanks, Nancy; Payton, Sallyanne; Walsh, Ethel B.; White House photographerConversation563-005 on Tape 563 (tape position 01:10:01–01:19:59)StartFriday, August 13, 1971 at 12:19 PMEndFriday, August 13, 1971 at 12:27 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 563-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with a group of female appointees and administration officials, including Frederic V. Malek and Herbert G. Klein, to participate in an official White House photograph session. Beyond the scheduling of the photos, the conversation turned toward the potential use of Wolf Trap National Park for large-scale, ecumenical, or religious-themed pageants and performances. The group also engaged in general discussion regarding the role of women in professional careers and historical observations concerning Charles de Gaulle.

  • Wolf Trap
  • Women in the workforce
  • Presidential photography
  • Religious programming
  • Public events

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 5 minutes of this recording (about 55% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Oh, that's your friend.
We'll do this very quickly.
John, off to our side.
All right.
Thank you for watching.
You will basically get color in the background.
In fact, I think I'll put both on one side.
That's right.
Now, make an informal sentence, or whatever.
I'll just sort of turn this way.
One second.
One second, we've got to go get the slide.
We've got to fly it right now.
That's right.
Hey, no offense, but this is an absolute hit.
All right.
All right, let's have a look.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Bring it on, Simon.
Bring it on.
I think so.
I think so.
I think so.
I think so.
Yes, they're right here.
I can see them right inside, and it's like they're probably in a vigil, you know.
I think those would be their lifeguards.
Hey, sure.
I'm not talking about them.
I'm talking about you.
I'm not talking about you.
I'm not talking about you.
I'm not talking about you.
Yeah, I kept trying to steal it from you, but I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm pretty much all of it.
Thank you very much.
And then mine was just going through the strings.
And my mother liked it so much.
She was busy.
She's coming at me today.
She's got her eye.
I don't want to get blue with my head.
She wears a jacket, so I don't know.
But they don't know him.
He's going on to challenge him.
They're not going to ask him to have an alibi.
He's going to send her to God.
He's going to send her to God.
He's going to send her to God.
He's going to send her to God.
Oh, this is a better girl.
I'm sorry.
This is the flyer on the ground here.
Mr. Conference, if you'd like to speak up, you're on to me while we make two shots.
I was out of here.
Oh, great.
That sounds like a village.
I told them my name and that I was part of the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh,
or a religious production.
It's like a cathedral together.
You could have a religious, you know, the original pageantry stuff, you know, like the European pageantry.
Is there a reason they can't?
Because this is because...
I didn't think the technical magic would be perfect.
You could have a terrible room, I mean...
We could put on a huge choir and, uh, or, uh, and, because I, the, uh, the thought occurred to me that I had never been in a building, a theater, that felt more like a cathedral.
It's an outdoor cathedral, you know, with huge ceilings.
And this time again, I get to run it like that, and, uh, I think that it just might, might, might just, uh,
Of course, they've been in an armistice to get people to be portrayed as not Jewish.
Why don't you take a look at it?
Sure, you know, I just have to... You can take something out that is totally, you know, all kind of sort of ecumenical, and it's all kind of... Well, they are bringing in ceremonial answers to, you know, the Illuminati people coming from Hawaii and coming in through many fields, and I hope that isn't a religious thing.
Right, sure.
You know, like, look at the European religious festivals, the famous ones over there, one of those great plays.
They have been held when you do this, or do that, or places like that.
And they're just snagged.
It's, you know, where people go, not because they're religious, but because it's a great thing.
You know, it's like the great theme, you know, religious, most religious things.
but mostly heathens liked it because it was very much a mystery to them.
And the gospel singers, et cetera.
Well, this one's just super, super, super, super.
I hope they use the picture.
We got some of our lawyers to cut a packet of dope and they're doing a good job.
More and more lawyers are making a big break for these guys.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I read that on a t-shirt.
Yeah.
It's quite true, you know, that, well, you have to rank two percent during the general election, I must say, because the great majority of them would not end up as career women.
You know, it seems like they did in an intentional sense.
you have to leave your building.
In fact, some of our students, they must have been out there, you know, I'm sure all of them, but they're out in Pennsylvania, and I'm confused to say how many of them have been out there, but we can't say.
I mean, there are a couple of them.
Like their brothers who won't have it at all.
Here's this lonely, austere, giant of a man.
I don't know what he thought of him, but most probably the influential person on him was his wife.
But that was normal.
And the world was normal.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Well, thank you.
We wish you well.
And, uh, with, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
She was always a child to me.
She's doing well because I'm working at a bar.

NARA Description

On August 13, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Frederic V. Malek, Herbert G. Klein, Jayne B. Spain, Patricia R. Hitt, Helen D. Bentlye, Barbara H. Franklin, Elizabeth Hanford, Nancy Hanks, Sallyanne Payton, Ethel B. Walsh, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:19 pm to 12:27 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 563-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 563-5

Date: August 13, 1971
Time: 12:19 pm - 12:27 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

      President's schedule

Frederic V. Malek, Herbert G. Klein, Jayne B. Spain, Patricia R. Hitt, Helen D. Bentley, Barbara
H. Franklin, Elizabeth Hanford, Nancy Hanks, Sallyanna Payton and Ethel B. Walsh entered at
12:19 pm; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

      Arrangements for photograph session
     General conversation

     Wolf Trap
          -Possible use
               -Religious programs
          -Design
               -Comparison to cathedral
          -Hawaiian pageant
          -Religious programs
               -Europe
               -California
               -“Jesus Christ Superstar”

     Women
        -Careers

     Charles A.J.M. De Gaulle
          -Wife

     General conversation
         -Speech

Malek, et al. left at 12:27 pm.

Also recorded on August 13, 1971

  • 563-003 11:57 AM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Diana Billings, Robert Buchanan, Christopher Chapin, Patricia Clifford, Thomas Davis, Arthur Ferguson, Marsha Gilman, Scoll Gleason, Douglas Hallett, Harding Jones, Dale Kinsella, Jeanne Luboja, Loretta Lungren, Chris Marshall, William Olson, Michael Schatzlein, Linda Scheuplein, Robert Sutcliffe, Blair Wilson, Frederic V. Malek, Stephen B. Bull, Herbert G. Klein, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:57 am to 12:15 pm.
  • 563-004 12:16 PM · 57 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:16 pm to 12:18 pm.
  • 563-006 12:29 PM · 1 hr 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Rose Mary Woods, White House operator, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, Manolo Sanchez, John N. Mitchell, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, Edward L. Morgan, and Bruce A. Kehrli met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:29 pm to 1:45 pm.
  • 007-114 12:32 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 12:32 pm to 12:33 pm.
  • 007-115 12:33 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:33 pm and 1:47 pm.
  • 563-007 1:45 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:45 pm and 1:47 pm.
  • 563-008 1:45 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:45 pm and 1:47 pm.
  • 563-009 1:45 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:45 pm and 1:47 pm.

All 18 conversations from August 13, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 563-005, August 13, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/563-005 (accessed October 9, 2026).