Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 639 › Conversation 639-004

Nixon & Ziegler on Public relations and Media management

Saturday, December 18, 1971 · 12:42 PM–12:43 PM ET · Oval Office · 50 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation639-004 on Tape 639 (tape position 00:04:23–00:05:12)StartSaturday, December 18, 1971 at 12:42 PMEndSaturday, December 18, 1971 at 12:43 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 639-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler coordinated the public messaging for an upcoming courtesy call to ensure the event remained low-key. Nixon explicitly instructed Ziegler to manage media expectations by limiting press coverage and declining requests for official photographs to prevent a build-up of publicity. The two agreed on a strategy to control the narrative by providing specific talking points to the press.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Yeah.

If you would announce the press picture.

Yeah.

I think this is going to be a low-key situation.

I mean, you know, it's one of those things where you're just making a brief courtesy call.

And he's got... Well, there'll be a problem.

I'm not having a picture.

I'll take one.

They ask for it, and you say, here's what you want.

You see what I mean?

So they're even not kind of covered, but they just don't have it.

Go ahead and get on with it.

I don't want them to build it up.

So we'll tell all of you, and we'll cut a page, and we'll tell you what to say, OK?

It's a lot of things.

NARA Description

On December 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:42 pm to 12:43 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 639-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 639-004

Date: December 18, 1971
Time: 12:42 pm - 12:43 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 16-107]

Also recorded on December 18, 1971

016-106 12:37 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:37 pm and 12:42 pm.
639-001 12:37 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:37 pm and 12:42 pm.
639-002 12:37 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:37 pm and 12:42 pm.
016-107 12:42 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 12:42 pm to 12:43 pm.
016-108 12:43 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:43 pm.
639-005 12:43 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, White House operator, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:43 pm to 12:50 pm.
016-109 12:44 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 12:44 pm to 12:45 pm.
016-110 12:45 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:45 pm and 1:40 pm.

All 52 conversations from December 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 639-004, December 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/639-004 (accessed October 11, 2026).