Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 585 › Conversation 585-016

Nixon White House recording on Oval Office and White House Tapes

Tuesday, October 5, 1971 · 5:39 PM–11:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 35 sec

Participants[Unknown person(s)]Conversation585-016 on Tape 585 (tape position 02:30:26–02:30:58)StartTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 5:39 PMEndTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 11:59 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 585-016 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417179117 ↗

AI Summary

This recording consists primarily of room noise and unintelligible background conversation between unidentified participants in the Oval Office. No substantive policy discussions, historical developments, or executive decisions were captured during this brief segment. Consequently, the audio provides no meaningful insight into the operations or deliberations of the Nixon administration.

Audio

Download MP3 · 0.8 MB

This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 02:30:26 – 02:30:58

part B, 27:50

585a.mp3
585b.mp3

NARA Description

On October 5, 1971, unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:39 pm and 11:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 585-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 585-16

Date: October 5, 1971
Time: Unknown between 5:39 pm and 11:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

Unknown people met.

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

[Previous non-historical (H) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 07/23/2019. Segment
cleared for release.]
[Non-Historical]
[585-016-w001]
[Duration: 32s]

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

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

Unknown people left at an unknown time before 11:59 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

No speech has been transcribed for this recording. An AI model that listened to the whole recording reported: Tape contains only room noise, microphone hum, and indistinct background sound; no intelligible speech.

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.
  • 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.
  • 010-048 5:21 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:21 pm and 5:29 pm.
  • 010-049 5:29 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard H. Poff talked on the telephone from 5:29 pm to 5:33 pm.
  • 010-050 5:33 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:33 pm and 9:25 pm.

All 40 conversations from October 5, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 585-016, October 5, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417179117). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/585-016 (accessed November 12, 2026).