Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 596 › Conversation 596-020

Nixon with unidentified visitors in the Oval Office on Howard Baker

Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 1:37 PM–1:39 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation596-020 on Tape 596 (tape position 03:18:49–03:19:12)StartTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 1:37 PMEndTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 1:39 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 596-020 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with the White House operator regarding the potential public perception of Senator Howard Baker. The President engaged in an informal assessment of Baker’s character and reputation, specifically questioning whether he would be viewed as a distinguished figure. No formal policy decisions or specific action items were recorded during this brief evaluative exchange.

  • Howard Baker
  • Political assessment
  • Public image
  • Personnel evaluation

Audio

part B, 1:16:33

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 03:18:49 to 03:19:12 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 an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 1:39 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 596-020 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 596-20

Date: October 19, 1971
Time: Unknown between 1:37 pm and 1:39 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 11-134]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.

I think that if he passed Buster, burgers might not have been something to eat.
My view is this, that if you get the, I think, if you see Howard Baker, they're not going to say he's distinguished, but he's certainly not too undistinguished either, is he?

Also recorded on October 19, 1971

  • 011-134 1:37 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 1:39 pm.
  • 596-019 1:37 PM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 1:39 pm.
  • 011-135 1:39 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld talked on the telephone from 1:39 pm to 1:44 pm.
  • 596-021 1:39 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:39 pm to 1:44 pm.
  • 011-136 1:44 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:44 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 011-137 1:44 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:44 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 292-001 1:45 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:45 pm and 2:53 pm.
  • 292-002 1:45 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:45 pm and 2:53 pm.

All 95 conversations from October 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 596-020, 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/596-020 (accessed November 12, 2026).