Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 566 › Conversation 566-012

Nixon & Woods on Knights of Columbus and Speechwriting

Tuesday, August 17, 1971 · 2:42 PM–2:45 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose MaryConversation566-012 on Tape 566 (tape position 02:44:23–02:54:04)StartTuesday, August 17, 1971 at 2:42 PMEndTuesday, August 17, 1971 at 2:45 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 566-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, to review draft materials for his upcoming address to the Knights of Columbus. The discussion focused on refining the speech's content and phrasing, specifically evaluating drafts prepared by speechwriters Raymond K. Price, Jr. and William L. Safire. The brief meeting served to coordinate administrative priorities ahead of the President's public appearance.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 169.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 171.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 8.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 02:44:23 into the tape and ends around 02:54:04.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

2:44:55Yeah, I just want to see what he sent me last night.
2:44:56Bye.
2:45:48All right.
2:47:08and I don't know what to expect from these orchards.
2:47:53I'm just saying, sir, I'm happy.
2:48:38Well, I don't know if I have any time for our robbers.

NARA Description

On August 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:42 pm to 2:45 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 566-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 566-12

Date: August 17, 1971
Time: 2:42 pm - 2:45 pm

Location: Oval Office

The President met with Rose Mary Woods.

     President's forthcoming speech at Knights of Columbus meeting
          -Drafts
                 -Content and phraseology
                 -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
                 -William L. Safire

Woods left at 2:45 pm

Also recorded on August 17, 1971

  • 566-008 2:12 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:12 pm and 2:23 pm.
  • 566-009 2:23 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:23 pm to 2:25 pm.
  • 008-025 2:25 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 2:25 pm to 2:28 pm.
  • 566-010 2:25 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:25 pm to 2:28 pm.
  • 008-120 2:28 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:28 pm and 4:12 pm.
  • 566-011 2:28 PM · 58 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:28 pm and 2:42 pm.
  • 566-013 2:45 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:45 pm and 2:55 pm.
  • 566-014 2:55 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:55 pm to 3:23 pm.

All 48 conversations from August 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 566-012, August 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/566-012 (accessed October 12, 2026).