Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 607 › Conversation 607-020

Nixon, Scowcroft & Hughes on White House Staffing and Military Aides

Friday, October 29, 1971 · 1:00 PM–1:06 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hughes, James D. ("Don"); Scowcroft, Brent G. (Gen.)Conversation607-020 on Tape 607 (tape position 04:25:21–04:32:43)StartFriday, October 29, 1971 at 1:00 PMEndFriday, October 29, 1971 at 1:06 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 607-020 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with James D. ("Don") Hughes and General Brent G. Scowcroft to discuss administrative transitions, specifically Hughes's forthcoming military assignment at Bergstrom Air Force Base and his departure from the White House staff. The conversation touched upon the management of military aides, including the recent addition of a Coast Guard representative, and the importance of maintaining staff relations with key personnel like H.R. Haldeman. Additionally, the group briefly addressed preparations for the President's upcoming trip to the People's Republic of China, confirming the inclusion of personnel to ensure continuity.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yes, how are you?
How are you?
Nice to see you.
Nice to see you.
Sit down.
Sit down.
Well, we've got to get Don back on the fire.
I guess if he stays in this room long, maybe he can socialize.
Yes, sir.
I know, sir.
It's an awesome taxi.
That's an awesome taxi.
That would be nice.
It's a nice place to live to, you know, the universities.
And, uh, really hope, uh,
And then you're going to be, you've got an assignment.
Yes, sir.
The number of the vice commander of the Air Force.
In other words, vice commander of the base, of the Air Force, of the 9th Air Force.
It's one of the two, three tactical Air Force in tactical Air Force.
Oh, I see.
It is a good station.
Yes, sir.
It was.
All right.
Where do you live?
Do you have some headquarters?
Well, I'm sure that we have a base.
I haven't checked in those guys.
They involve many of them.
Yes.
But they do .
Well, we're .
He's got this thing set up in a very fine way in the organization .
carried on, and a lot of my, especially the good of his situation, is that he's got some well-organized people, he's got all these girls in the camp, they're cabin officers, you know, and they've made trips and so forth and so on to do virtually the plans of everything you can possibly imagine.
The man carrying on our staff, that he has done, I'm sure there is, he must work most closely with his hall, I think, but he's actually,
and you sat right down.
Yes, sir.
And over at the White House, you've got various problems.
But you've got to work with all of them.
You've got to work with Connie Stewart.
Connie Stewart.
And Ms. Lanchester, and so forth and so on.
It's a job for them, and we keep them all happy.
Do you know how?
Certainly give it my attention, sir.
You've got an excellent group of second men.
Which one's your stay?
Well, I keep Brandon.
Brandon Brandon's stay.
He just got his shirt handled.
Yes, sir.
Talking with that lead consultant about us.
And he goes to school right over here.
August of next year, this is.
And then we have, I think Ron told you, we now have something that's been an oversight for many years.
In fact, forever.
The Coast Guard's never been represented.
Oh, yeah.
And they wanted to, so I want a Coast Guard man on board.
We've changed it.
We haven't met him yet.
He's ready to go.
Oh.
And the Coast Guard was standing with their tongues hanging out, just waiting to be asked.
But what would we do?
Well, of course, we'd go on the floor and count more.
We'd be the same as the rest of them.
I'm thinking that we can do it.
Yeah, we're on a close-knit base.
They support us tremendously.
They deserve to give that much attention.
So we work with them.
He's got to hold back on their expectations so he knows that they won't miss him.
Well, that's fine.
Well, they're good men.
The second men are excellent.
I have great confidence in all of them.
You know, socializing is just an interesting thing.
It's just such a beautiful job.
Your wife will be here, is she?
Yeah, I'll still be here.
Yeah.
And where do you live next?
We live in Bethesda.
All right.
Yeah.
All right.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's good to hear.
Well, if it's all right, sir, I've been thinking about the 1st of February and bringing up Colonel Peter.
He's actually in general.
He will be.
He's been promoted.
That's all right.
Yes, sir.
I'd like to bring him on board about the 1st of January on the 1st of January.
Good.
That's all right.
I'm going to pop off the safer chapel.
The next time I advance, you might, I don't know whether you want to...
I think you can call me with that.
Yeah, I know, but I can't tell you.
We do what you want.
It comes, and it ends when it comes.
But there would be no, I would see no objection, for example, if you just, if he needs to be there, if Sarah needs to get a feel of it, just put them along.
You know, we get the ride, you know, we're, you know, we're, you know, we just do the, you do the,
You know what he needs to know.
He doesn't need to know.
You know what I mean?
It's going to be a little more comfortable for him to have been there.
I don't know.
I don't know how to... Well, I wish you well.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Good.
It's been a great one, sir.
Yeah.
Oh, well, wait.
You're not reading the calendar, are you?
You've got to go home and just watch everyone else, sir.
Yes, sir.
She might not.
She might not.
She doesn't.
All right.
Thank you, Fred.
Goodbye, sir.

NARA Description

On October 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, James D. ("Don") Hughes, and Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:00 pm to 1:06 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 607-020 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 607-020

Date: October 29, 1971
Time: 1:00 pm - 1:06 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with James D. (“Don”) Hughes and Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft.

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

     Hughes's forthcoming assignment
         -Bergstrom Air Force Base
                -Austin, Texas
                -9th Air Force
                -University of Texas
                -Bette Hughes

     Hughes's role on White House staff
         -The President’s view
                -Camp David
                -Cabinet officers
         -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
         -Constance M. Stuart
         -Lucy A. Winchester

     Military aides
           -John V. Brennan
           -Vernon C. Coffey, Jr.
           -Coast Guard
           -Duties
                -Florida
                -California

     Scowcroft’s domestic situation
         -Wife
         -Home
               -Bethesda, Maryland

     Hughes's schedule
         -Timing of departure
         -Scowcroft’s promotion

     The President's forthcoming trip to People's Republic of China [PRC]
          -Coffey
          -Scowcroft

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

                 -Henry A. Kissinger

Scowcroft and Hughes left at 1:06 pm.

Also recorded on October 29, 1971

  • 607-017 12:35 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:35 pm and 12:36 pm.
  • 607-018 12:36 PM · 23 min — John D. Ehrlichman, John R. Price, Jr., White House photographer, President Richard M. Nixon, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:36 pm to 12:59 pm.
  • 607-019 12:59 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:59 pm.
  • 607-021 1:06 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:06 pm to 1:28 pm.
  • 013-028 1:29 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:29 pm and 2:39 pm.
  • 302-001 1:30 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:30 pm to 1:31 pm.
  • 302-002 1:31 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:31 pm and 2:39 pm.
  • 302-003 1:31 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:31 pm and 2:39 pm.

All 65 conversations from October 29, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 607-020, October 29, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/607-020 (accessed September 30, 2026).