{"conversationCode":"639-004","tapeNumber":639,"conversationNumber":4,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-639-004","startDateTime":"1971-12-18T17:42:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-12-18T17:43:00.000Z","startDate":"18-Dec-1971","startTime":"12:42 PM","endDate":"18-Dec-1971","endTime":"12:43 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.;","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.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 639-004\n\nDate: December 18, 1971\nTime: 12:42 pm - 12:43 pm\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.\n\n[See Conversation No. 16-107]","filename":["639-004.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:04:23","tapeEnd":"00:05:12","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ziegler, Ronald L."],"prevCode":"639-003","nextCode":"639-005","transcript":[{"start":0.63,"end":0.77,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":0.79,"end":0.97,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":2.75,"end":3.83,"text":"If you would announce the press picture."},{"start":3.85,"end":3.93,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":3.99,"end":8.02,"text":"I think this is going to be a low-key situation."},{"start":8.04,"end":15.88,"text":"I mean, you know, it's one of those things where you're just making a brief courtesy call."},{"start":18.64,"end":24.69,"text":"And he's got... Well, there'll be a problem."},{"start":24.71,"end":26.19,"text":"I'm not having a picture."},{"start":27.19,"end":27.91,"text":"I'll take one."},{"start":30.56,"end":32.6,"text":"They ask for it, and you say, here's what you want."},{"start":32.72,"end":33.68,"text":"You see what I mean?"},{"start":33.7,"end":38.42,"text":"So they're even not kind of covered, but they just don't have it."},{"start":38.44,"end":39.14,"text":"Go ahead and get on with it."},{"start":39.3,"end":42.45,"text":"I don't want them to build it up."},{"start":42.49,"end":47.05,"text":"So we'll tell all of you, and we'll cut a page, and we'll tell you what to say, OK?"},{"start":47.07,"end":48.19,"text":"It's a lot of things."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["Public relations","Media management","Press strategy","White House communications","Nixon administration"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-07T01:35:28.079Z"},"topicSlugs":["public-relations","media-management","press-strategy","white-house-communications","nixon-administration"],"audioDurationSec":50,"audioFiles":[{"file":"639-004.mp3","bytes":2000896,"durationSec":49.91,"bitrate":320750,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:54.662Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:44:11.548Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/639-004.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/639-004","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/639/conversation-639-004","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}