Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 590 › Conversation 590-004

Nixon, Clausen & Lockwood on Freemasonry and White House Meetings

Wednesday, October 13, 1971 · 12:03 PM–12:14 PM ET · Oval Office · 11 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Clausen, Henry C.; Clausen, Henry C. (Mrs.); Lockwood, R. Lee; Lockwood, R. Lee (Mrs.); Shepard, Joshua K.; Kleinknecht, C. Fred; Newbury, George A.; Witter, Donald L.; Doane, Harvey R.; Hone, Ralph (Sir); Hone, Sybil (Simond) (Lady); Clark, R. A. Ingham; McFarland, Basil (Sir); Johnson-Gilbert, Ian A. (Sir); Burnett, Robert; Timmons, William E.; Cashen, Henry C., II; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation590-004 on Tape 590 (tape position 03:12:39–03:24:24)StartWednesday, October 13, 1971 at 12:03 PMEndWednesday, October 13, 1971 at 12:14 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 590-004 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417179201 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with a large delegation of Masonic leaders, including international representatives and American officials, to discuss their organization's activities and provide a ceremonial audience in the Oval Office. The conversation centered on the group's patriotic contributions, their government training programs at George Washington University, and brief commentary on global economic conditions. The meeting concluded with an exchange of commemorative mementos and an offer from the President for the group to receive a private tour of the White House.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 13, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry C. Clausen, Mrs. Henry C. Clausen, R. Lee Lockwood, Mrs. R. Lee Lockwood, Joshua K. Shepard, C. Fred Kleinknecht, George A. Newbury, Donald L. Witter, Harvey R. Doane, Sir Ralph Hone, Lady Sybil (Simond) Hone, R. A. Ingham Clark, Sir Basil McFarland, Sir Ian A. Johnson-Gilbert, Robert Burnett, William E. Timmons, Henry C. Cashen, II, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:03 pm to 12:14 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 590-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 590-4

Date: October 13, 1971
Time: 12:03 pm - 12:14 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Henry C. Clausen, Mrs. Clausen, R. Lee Lockwood, Mrs. Lockwood,
Joshua K. Shepherd, C. Fred Kleinknecht, Mrs. Kleinknecht, George A. Newbury, Donald L.
Witter, Harvey R. Doane, Sir Ralph Hone, Lady Hone, R. A. Ingham Clark, Sir Basil McFarland,
Sir Ian A. Johnson-Gilbert, Robert Burnett, William E. Timmons and Henry C. Cashen, II.

     Introductions

     Wilbur D. Mills

     Masonic headquarters
         -Washington, DC
               -The President's schedule
                    -Drug control

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

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 03/16/2020.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[590-004-w001]
[Duration: 24s]

       The President’s 1950 campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas
              -Harvey Hancock
              -Art Dolan

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

     Photographs

     Masons
         -William E. Timmons
         -Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
         -Timmons
              -Fellow, George Washington University
                     -Training in government
         -Activities
     Memento

     World economics
         -Strength of the dollar
         -British

     White House tour

     The President's forthcoming foreign trips

     Texas

Clausen, et al. left at 12:14 pm.

Stephen B. Bull entered at 12:14 pm.

     The President's schedule
          -Forthcoming meeting

Bull left at an unknown time after 12:14 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 7 minutes of this recording (about 66% 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, well, aren't you surprised you can use your eyes before I step on the ground?
Well, I'm glad to see you.
I'm glad to see you.
I'm glad to see you.
I'm glad to see you.
I'm glad to see you.
I'm glad to see you.
I know, I know, I know, you know.
But, uh, I've been there.
I've been there.
I've been there.
I've been there.
I've been there.
I've been there.
I've been there.
Sir, I was told you never believed it, but I was going to give it to you.
The Supreme Council of England is going to weigh in on this issue.
Well, we're going to be very happy to have you here.
Let's just wait and see what happens.
Well, I'm going to give you a separate tour today, sir.
Sir, I'm going to be offering a visit to the Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Ireland, and listen to what he's going to say.
Oh, what?
Ha, ha, ha.
Sir Ian Johnson-Gillard of the Supreme County Department of the Lord of Niagara City Council.
I know.
They all know you're sitting like that.
They know you're in a level party.
Robert Burnett, who's in Kansas City, I don't know if you know him.
He's very good.
We've already got the Scotts here, and then we've got John.
And I, as you've always heard about Scott, he drives my city.
He's got a couple of us around.
And I realize this is a legitimate change in the administration.
That's right.
And this is Bob.
I see.
So I'll look at the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Canada.
What is your city up there?
I've got to pick one up.
I've got to pick one up.
I've got to pick one up.
Our deputy grantee manager from Texas, Waco, Texas.
Oh, he's done a great job.
The fact that he's been down there and came off to a great day.
The fact that he's a student of ours today.
Sir, on 10-6-7-4-3-5-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6.
That's a wonderful story on how the impact came to Sweden, you know, on the covering of the land.
You know, John Lewis Shepard, I was in the Dragon Valley, he was the first person to come to the park with someone.
Mr. President, this is our headquarters here in Washington.
And, uh, oh yeah, this is Bill, something that I was going to try.
And this is our conference.
Now this is the tax exemption.
I mean, it doesn't have to be signed into law.
I don't have a great program on drugs.
This is the program.
I worked with all of you when you were down on Montgomery Street.
Do you remember that?
Yeah.
The Army Hancock and all those boys, Alan DeRae and Mark Dolan.
That was an exciting time.
We're so pleased to have the opportunity to come here.
Now let's see, would you like to get a picture at all?
We'll see if we can get a copy.
There you go.
Now, wait a minute.
Wait till everybody's lined up here.
I'll let you this way.
Hi.
You know, Bill Timmons is, uh, is a wonder to, uh, your, uh, you and Scott Shriver.
He's one of our honor men.
In other words, he's been honored with a special honor.
Thank you, man, across the water.
Uh...
You know, my friend Robozo was in Florida also, so we weren't surrounded by him.
Well, I have to say, we had a dear friend, Ed Timmons, here, one of the first, what we call, fellows that we sent on the program that he had at George Washington University for training in government.
That's why he's so efficient.
I want to say that particularly to our people in this country that in addition to all the many good things we do every day, Shriner's Hospital and so forth, there's a strong patriotic
which runs through your, I realize it's a fraternal organization, but you are afraid to wear flags.
That's right.
That's right.
And all the way, I have heard from all the years, and we need that.
Thank you, and we appreciate it very much.
Well, thank you very much, Mr. President.
We want to give you a little memento here.
It's not much, but with that freeze on, we can't give you much.
As you will note, this is the mark of the road.
built at the time of Theodore Roosevelt as the President actually sealed the ceiling and the floor and just reproduced it.
And here it is in a coupling.
So if you do this, it's a coupling.
Well, thank you very much.
Ladies can't wear couplers, so you have to pull.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
So we want to thank you.
That's the medal for distinguished visitors.
And I just want you to know that
I'm very honored to have you here.
We'll do all we can.
Surrendered here is Scott, the cardinal of the dollar.
This isn't gold, right?
We'll get along.
I mean, as far as our small fees, as far as we're concerned, I don't know.
many of our visitors have brought from the major countries, the British, the French, the Germans, the Italians, the West, and of course the Japanese.
This is a temporary matter which we, but we, but it's, but to have, it's necessary for each of the five or the six great free world powers, for each of them to have a strong, sound economy.
We have to have an address.
You should have a British address.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
We hope you do.
And publish this picture on our website.
Oh, absolutely.
It's for publication.
We're going to get the map back.
We will put it out, too.
All right.
For anyone who would like to use it, we'll send it to put on the wire for the British if they would like it.
Oh, and he should get some coffee.
Thank you very much.
I'll let you burn it.
Now we're going to give you all a special tour of the White House if you'd like.
It's not much fun to go through there when all the people are traveling through.
We have a special guy that will take you around.
Take your time.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Well, thank you very much.
It's great to see that we're meeting.
Oh, that was a huge advantage for me.
What do you want me to do?
to Russia, all right, and China.
Those are strong people down there, thanks.
Goodbye.
All right.
That was the next group, sir.
Thank you.

Also recorded on October 13, 1971

  • 590-005 12:14 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:14 pm and 12:16 pm.
  • 590-006 12:16 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John H. Buchanan, Jr., Philip M. Crane, Charles R. Jonas, William J. Scherle, Floyd D. Spence, Daniel J. Flood, John J. Ryan, Robert L. F. Sikes, Joe D. Waggonner, Jr., Clement J. Zablocki, William E. Timmons, Richard K. Cook, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:16 pm to 12:31 pm.
  • 590-007 12:31 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Kenneth Dyer, and Mrs. Dean G. Acheson met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:31 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 590-008 12:32 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 590-009 12:32 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 590-010 12:32 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 011-081 12:37 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Kenneth Dyer talked on the telephone from 12:37 pm to 12:38 pm.
  • 011-082 12:41 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mrs. Dean G. Acheson talked on the telephone from 12:41 pm to 12:45 pm.

All 31 conversations from October 13, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 590-004, October 13, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417179201). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/590-004 (accessed November 4, 2026).