Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 585 › Conversation 585-009

Nixon White House recording on Presidential expertise and Geopolitics

Tuesday, October 5, 1971 · 5:12 PM–5:15 PM ET · Oval Office

Participants[Unknown person(s)]Conversation585-009 on Tape 585 (tape position 02:07:38–02:07:57)StartTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 5:12 PMEndTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 5:15 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 585-009 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417179103 ↗

AI Summary

An unidentified participant discusses an individual with significant expertise regarding a specific region of the world. The speaker suggests that this person's background is unique among those who have occupied the Oval Office. Due to the poor audio quality and brevity of the recording, no further substantive policy discussions or specific actions were identified.

Audio

part B, 5:03

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 54.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the players above hold the full tape, shared with neighbouring conversations. By the archivists' log it runs from 02:07:38 to 02:07:57 into the tape; their log often drifts a minute or two from the audio, so listen for the subjects in the finding aid.

NARA Description

On October 5, 1971, unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:12 pm and 5:15 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 585-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 585-9

Date: October 5, 1971
Time: Unknown between 5:12 pm and 5:15 pm
Location: Oval Office

Unknown people met.

**************************************************************************

[Previous archivists categorized this section as unintelligible. It has been rereviewed and
released 07/23/2019.]
[Unintelligible]
[585-009-w001]
[Duration: 19s]

[This portion of the tape is mostly room noise with some muffled background conversation.]

**************************************************************************

Unknown people left at an unknown time before 5:15 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Timestamps are positions within the full tape; click one to play the tape from there.

So we are very strongly, you could say too, there's another factor they can bear in mind, and perhaps this is just one of the absence of history, that I don't think the
He's probably the first one who's occupied this office and knows that part of the world very well.

Also recorded on October 5, 1971

  • 585-010 5:15 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:15 pm and 5:19 pm.
  • 585-011 5:15 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:15 pm and 5:19 pm.
  • 585-012 5:15 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:15 pm and 5:19 pm.
  • 585-013 5:15 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:15 pm and 5:19 pm.
  • 010-046 5:18 PM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 5:18 pm to 5:19 pm.
  • 585-014 5:18 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:18 pm to 5:19 pm.
  • 585-015 5:19 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John B. Connally, White House operator, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Richard H. Poff met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:19 pm to 5:39 pm.
  • 010-047 5:20 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 5:20 pm to 5:21 pm.

All 40 conversations from October 5, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 585-009, October 5, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417179103). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/585-009 (accessed November 12, 2026).