Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 638 › Conversation 638-002

Nixon with unidentified visitors in the Oval Office on White House operator

Wednesday, December 15, 1971 · 8:38 AM–8:45 AM ET · Oval Office · 5 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation638-002 on Tape 638 (tape position 00:00:58–00:03:10)StartWednesday, December 15, 1971 at 8:38 AMEndWednesday, December 15, 1971 at 8:45 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 638-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiated a brief communication through the White House operator to facilitate an outgoing call. The interaction served as a procedural step to connect the President with another party for official business. No substantive policy matters or specific decisions were recorded during this brief exchange.

Audio

Download MP3 · 0.2 MB

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.

NARA Description

On December 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:38 am and 8:45 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 638-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 638-002

Date: December 15, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:38 am and 8:45 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator.

[See Conversation No. 16-103]

Also recorded on December 15, 1971

  • 016-103 8:38 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Margaret Chase Smith talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:38 am and 9:14 am.
  • 638-001 8:38 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:38 am and 8:45 am.
  • 638-003 8:38 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:38 am and 8:45 am.
  • 638-004 8:45 AM · 2 hr 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, Margaret Chase Smith, John B. Connally, Ronald L. Ziegler, John A. Scali, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:45 am to 11:30 am.
  • 016-104 9:14 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:14 am and 11:22 am.
  • 016-105 11:22 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 11:22 am to 11:25 am.
  • 638-005 11:33 AM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:33 am to 11:45 am.
  • 638-006 11:45 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:45 am to 11:46 am.

All 19 conversations from December 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 638-002, December 15, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/638-002 (accessed October 12, 2026).