Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 630 › Conversation 630-012

Nixon, Holm & Hays on Women in the military and Military recruitment

Monday, December 6, 1971 · 3:08 PM–3:15 PM ET · Oval Office · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bailey, Mildred C.; Dunlap, Lilliam; Holm, Jeanne M.; Hays, Anna M.; Hoisington, Elizabeth P.; Kelley, Roger T.; Hughes, James D. ("Don"); White House photographer; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation630-012 on Tape 630 (tape position 01:20:44–01:28:23)StartMonday, December 6, 1971 at 3:08 PMEndMonday, December 6, 1971 at 3:15 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 630-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with senior military officials and personnel, including Brigadier Generals Jeanne M. Holm, Anna M. Hays, and Elizabeth P. Hoisington, to discuss the status and recruitment of women in the armed services. The discussion focused on the high quality of female college graduates entering officer training and the overall progress of integrating women into peacetime military roles. Following this, Stephen B. Bull briefed the President on the scheduling of the “Most Courageous Junior Olympian” award ceremony.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Mr. Chairman, President of the state, how do you do?
Very nice.
How do you do?
Very nice.
General Holmes, good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
General Hayes, the person I've been here to study with.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Good to meet you.
Oh, this is quite a question, isn't it?
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Here you go, sir.
Here you are.
You see the rapid-up building over there?
Yeah, right.
If they make it, he's more than one star.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
Oh, my God.
What is the situation with regard to women getting into the armed services?
It is.
It is.
Exactly.
Everybody, all services.
Oh, of course.
You know that.
And the recruiting is going to look a little confusing, but if you don't go out in the sun, it's big scale.
So if you don't know what you're trying to do, you don't know that.
And, uh...
Are there lots of, are there not good fellows?
You could probably fill us some more.
We've never talked to them, sir, did we?
Yeah.
We've never had better people.
We were planning on interchanging them anyway.
Sure.
The young college graduate, the young college woman graduate, is going to be an officer.
It's astounding how many of those we have applied.
And they're great quality.
They are, really.
Now, that was not renewed.
Oh, yeah, well, but then we had some extra.
Yeah, this month.
Well, it's great.
It's great, but not only will you sign a bill that gave them all a pay raise.
It's pretty popular.
I'm a restaurant, DC, sir, ladies and gentlemen.
We have a co-educational office training class.
The class this year, Bowdoin's graduated from the top class.
And the last class, two of them graduated from the two to three.
And the 16th graduated from the 10th and 15th grade.
I'm glad to hear that you know that to define adequate people for the peacetime services in Armstrong,
And you can tell, particularly those who bring attention to the cruise, that we need them.
And they will get them.
Because it may be, in many ways, a reality that we have a chance.
If I said it right, then you'd want more money.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Yes, yes.
Well, thank you very much.
Always good to see you.
Remember when you get a second star, come back.
Senator Allen is coming to the table.

NARA Description

On December 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Mildred C. Bailey, Lilliam Dunlap, Jeanne M. Holm, Anna M. Hays, Elizabeth P. Hoisington, Roger T. Kelley, James D. ("Don") Hughes, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:08 pm to 3:15 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 630-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 630-012

Date: December 6, 1971
Time: 3:08 pm - 3:15 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Mildred C. Bailey, Lillian Dunlap, Jeanne M. Holm, Anna M. Hays,
Elizabeth P. Hoisington, Roger T. Kelley, James D. Hughes; the White House photographer,
members of the press, and a National Broadcasting Company [NBC] film crew were present at
the beginning of the meeting.

     [General conversation]

     Introductions

     Uniforms

     Photographs

     Women in the armed services
        -Recruiting

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

            -College graduates
                  -Numbers
                  -Officer training
            -Peacetime service
            -Army nursing

Bailey, et al. left and Stephen B. Bull entered at 3:15 pm.

     The President's schedule
          -“Most Courageous Junior Olympian” award
               -Gary Washington
                      -Joseph Sisneros
                           -Coach
          -Gordon L. Allott

Bull left at 3:15 pm.

Also recorded on December 6, 1971

  • 630-010 3:04 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:04 pm to 3:08 pm.
  • 630-011 3:08 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:08 pm.
  • 630-013 3:16 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Gary Washington, Jane Harris, Gordon L. Allott, John B. Kelly, Jr., Joseph Sisneros, Richard W. McArthur, Sidney Brooks, Richard G. Kline, Henry C. Cashen, II, the White House photographer, and unknown person(s) from an National Broadcasting Company (NBC) film crew met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:16 pm to 3:28 pm.
  • 630-014 3:28 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:28 pm and 3:30 pm.
  • 630-015 3:30 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:30 pm to 3:34 pm.
  • 630-016 3:35 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Myles J. Ambrose, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:35 pm to 3:58 pm.
  • 630-017 3:58 PM · 58 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:58 pm and 4:01 pm.
  • 630-018 4:01 PM · 2 hr 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John V. Brennan, Pierre E. Trudeau, White House photographer, Henry A. Kissinger, and Ivan Head met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:01 pm to 6:10 pm.

All 62 conversations from December 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 630-012, December 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/630-012 (accessed October 11, 2026).