Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 589 › Conversation 589-001
Nixon, Mitchell & Ehrlichman on Supreme Court appointments
Tuesday, October 12, 1971 · 4:20 PM–4:37 PM ET · Oval Office
AI Summary
President Nixon met with John N. Mitchell and John D. Ehrlichman to discuss the vetting and selection of nominees for the Supreme Court, specifically Herschel H. Friday and Mildred L. Lillie. The participants evaluated the candidates' judicial backgrounds, conservative credentials, and potential obstacles to confirmation, such as past clients and political affiliations. They emphasized the importance of ensuring the nominees' ideological suitability and agreed to initiate thorough background checks while considering the potential reactions of Senate Democrats and Republicans.
- Supreme Court appointments
- Herschel H. Friday
- Mildred L. Lillie
- Judicial confirmation
- Conservative ideology
- Background investigations
Audio
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 00:00:33 into the tape and ends around 00:17:43.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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NARA Description
On October 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, John N. Mitchell, John D. Ehrlichman, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:20 pm and 4:37 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 589-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 589-1
Date: October 12, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:20 pm and 4:37 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Stephen B. Bull, John N. Mitchell, and John D. Ehrlichman.
[This recording begins at an unknown time while conversation is in progress]
The President's schedule
Congressman F. Edward Hebert
-House Armed Services Committee
Bull left at an unknown time before 4:37 pm.
-Southern oratory
-Hebert
Supreme Court appointments
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Herschel H. Friday
-Mildred L. Lillie
-Religion
-Husband's ethnic background
-John A. Volpe
-Iowa
-Volpe
-Judicial experience
-Law school
-Record
-Reversals by the Supreme Court
-Criminal cases
-Conservative stance
-Busing
-Mithcell’s assessment
-The President’s view
-California Supreme Court
-Edmund G. (“Pat”) Brown
-Friday
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 4:20 pm.
The President's schedule
-Cabinet meeting
-Bull
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 4:37 pm.
Supreme Court appointments
-Friday
-Law firm
-Arkansas
-Clerk to Judge John E. Miller
-University of Arkansas
-American Bar Association [ABA] House of Delegates
-Board of Governors
-Conservative background
-Mitchell’s assessment
-Compared with Warren E. Burger
-Clients
-School boards
-Possible problem
-Thurgood Marshall
-John L. McClellan
-Democrat
-Law practice
-Pat Mahaffey
-Klu Klux Klan
-Wife
-William H. Rehnquist
-Clients
-Missouri Pacific Railroad
-John M. Harlan
-Burger
-Harry A. Blackmun
-Knowledge of business
-Harlan
-Age
-Clement F. Haynsworth
-Background check on credentials
-Johnnie M. Walters
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Lillie
-Investigation
-Husband
-Julius Caesar
-Friday
-Confirmation hearings
-Haynsworth hearings
-Possible question
-William O. Douglas
-Conservatives
-The President’s view
-Jew
-Edward H. Levi
Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:20 pm.
The President's schedule
Bull left at an unknown time before 4:37 pm.
Supreme Court appointment
-Lillie
-Sylvia Bacon
-Friday
-Charles Clark
-Herman E. Talmadge
-Robert C. Byrd
-Submission to ABA
-Background
-US attorney in Baltimore
-Daniel B. Brewster
-[Forename unknown] Long
-Brewster, Cyrus T. Anderson, Spiegel, Inc.
-Democrats
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Lawrence E. Walsh
-Lillie, Friday
-Bar
-William French Smith
-Byrd
-Press reports
-Friday
-Reaction of Senators
-Gordon L. Allott
-Republicans
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-Robert P. Griffin
-Friday
-[Forename unknown] Rockefeller
The President et al. left at 4:37 pm.Also recorded on October 12, 1971
- 588-020 2:26 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:26 pm and 2:34 pm.
- 588-021 2:31 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:31 pm to 2:45 pm.
- 079-001 4:19 PM · 1 hr — President Richard M. Nixon and Cabinet officers and staffers, including William P. Rogers met with Charls E. Walker, Melvin R. Laird, John N. Mitchell, Rogers C. B. Morton, Clifford M. Hardin, Maurice H. Stans, James D. Hodgson, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, George P. Shultz, Robert H. Finch, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George H. W. Bush, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Henry A. Kissinger, Peter M. Flanigan, Clark MacGregor, William E. Timmons, Peter G. Peterson, Herbert G. Klein, Arnold R. Weber, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Ronald L. Ziegler, Alexander P. Butterfield, Robert J. Brown, Robert J. Dole, Paul W. McCracken, and unknown person(s), met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 4:19 pm and 10:22 pm.
- 079-003 5:28 PM — United States Secret Service agents and Manolo Sanchez [?] met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 5:28 pm and 10:15 pm.
- 079-004 5:28 PM — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 5:28 pm and 10:15 pm.
- 079-005 5:28 PM · 53 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 5:28 pm and 10:15 pm.
- 589-002 5:28 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and Elliot L. Richardson met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:28 pm to 5:53 pm.
- 589-003 5:53 PM · 3 min — unknown person(s) and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:53 pm and 11:59 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 589-001, October 12, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/589-001 (accessed October 12, 2026).