Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 596 › Conversation 596-008

Nixon with unidentified visitors in the Oval Office

Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 12:23 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation596-008 on Tape 596 (tape position 02:10:13–02:10:20)StartTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 12:23 PMEndTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 12:23 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 596-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiates a brief administrative contact with a White House operator to place an outgoing call. This interaction serves as a functional step in facilitating the President's telephonic communications from the Oval Office. No substantive policy matters or political discussions are recorded during this brief exchange.

Audio

part B, 7:57

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 124.8 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 02:10:13 to 02:10:20 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 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:23 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 596-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 596-8

Date: October 19, 1971
Time: 12:23 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 11-123]

Transcript (AI-generated)

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

Also recorded on October 19, 1971

  • 596-005 12:14 PM · 1 min — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:14 pm to 12:15 pm.
  • 596-006 12:15 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:15 pm and 12:17 pm.
  • 596-007 12:17 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:17 pm to 12:18 pm.
  • 596-009 12:23 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:23 pm.
  • 596-023 12:23 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. V. Meares, Sylvia Lawry, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:23 pm and 12:30 pm.
  • 596-010 12:30 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:30 pm and 12:31 pm.
  • 596-011 12:31 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Ross Tomkins, Charlton (Rink) ("Rink") Reynders, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:31 pm to 12:33 pm.
  • 080-003 12:33 PM · 11 min — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:33 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 95 conversations from October 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 596-008, October 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/596-008 (accessed November 12, 2026).