Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 642 › Conversation 642-030

Nixon, Hoffman & Colson on Driver of the Year award

Monday, January 3, 1972 · 12:07 PM–12:13 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hoffman, Clarence C.; Hoffman, Clarence C. (Mrs.); Colson, Charles W.; McGill, John P.; [Unknown person(s)]; White House photographerConversation642-030 on Tape 642 (tape position 05:06:25–05:12:09)StartMonday, January 3, 1972 at 12:07 PMEndMonday, January 3, 1972 at 12:13 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 642-030 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon hosted Clarence C. Hoffman, his wife, and associates including Charles W. Colson and John P. McGill to honor Hoffman with the American Trucking Association's 'Driver of the Year' award. The meeting served as a ceremonial event featuring a photo session with the White House press corps and the exchange of presidential gifts, such as cufflinks and pins. Discussions also touched briefly on Hoffman’s distinguished driving record and general conversation regarding current events and weather conditions in Minnesota.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 148.0 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 05:06:25 into the tape and ends around 05:12:09.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
5:06:22You're laying in the water now.
5:06:23That'd be nice.
5:06:23So we have a startling shift in that interview, so it's...
5:06:29He asked you that question about the differences between black and white, and you could see the way he asked it that he thought he had really nailed you.
5:06:37And that one, you know, he just hit right out of the ballpark.
5:06:42He just sort of left it.
5:06:43It's a rather stupid question.
5:06:48It was, you know, he had this line.
5:06:49Why don't you begin with that?
5:06:51I'll put barrels in one of the openings.
5:06:56Frequently, they give you a quote that wasn't ever made before and ask you to comment on it.
5:06:59That's very, very dirty business.
5:07:00Well, that's how it is.
5:07:01In some cases, where you see what I did, blacks and whites, which probably was part of the interview where I was talking about, they grow up in different schools and different neighborhoods and so on and so on.
5:07:16They're different.
5:07:25and everybody's the same.
5:07:25And everybody's the same.
5:07:26I mean, whites are not the same.
5:07:27You know, what is that ad on television, you know, the literature?
5:07:29There's this boy that was speaking at the back of the lab, where they show the pool there, and the golf player, and all the rest.
5:07:50The rich are very different from the rest of us.
5:08:20I don't know if you can see George Allen, but he's George Allen.
5:08:22I don't know if this is not me or it's the bad George.
5:08:25You know, the one with the smarts, the one with the smarts.
5:08:28And now the, there's several, one of them is in the back on the street, one of them is on the right side.
5:08:37The other one is George Allen.
5:08:55He was the fellow that, uh, prisoned Eisenhardt in July, playing bridge with him.
5:09:05He was a criminal.
5:09:10He was a criminal.
5:09:14He was a criminal.
5:09:18He was a criminal.
5:09:19He was a criminal.
5:09:22He was out playing golf with the person in the car, though, just before the arm attack.
5:09:26Yeah.
5:09:27He doesn't play at all.
5:09:28He's too down.
5:09:28Too back.
5:09:31Sorry.
5:09:37Oh, shoot.
5:10:04That's a lot of figures.
5:10:06I see you've got the best driver of the year.
5:11:19That's a great record.
5:11:19That's a great record.
5:11:43Have you ever worked on them?
5:11:44Yes.
5:11:44Have you ever worked on them?
5:11:45Yeah, we have done a lot.
5:11:46We look out for your problems, and we congratulate you.
5:12:12All right.

NARA Description

On January 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Clarence C. Hoffman, Mrs. Clarence C. Hoffman, Charles W. Colson, John P. McGill, unknown person(s), and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:07 pm to 12:13 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 642-030 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 642-30

Date: January 3, 1972
Time: 12:07 pm - 12:13 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Clarence C. Hoffman, Mrs. Clarence C. Hoffman, Charles W. Colson,
John P. McGill and an unknown man; the White House photographer was present at the
beginning of the meeting.

     Introductions

     Hoffman's driving record

     Arrangements for photographs session

     Presentation of "Driver of the Year" award sponsored by American Trucking Association,
          Inc.
          -Retention of award
          -Use

     Arrangements for photograph session
          -Sunlight

     Press

Members of the press entered at an unknown time after 12:07 pm.

     [Photograph session]

     [General conversation]

     Presentation of gifts by the President
          -Cufflinks
          -Pin with presidential seal

The press left at an unknown time before 12:13 pm.

     Clarence Hoffman’s comments about the President

     Phone

     Minnesota
         -Weather

     Washington, DC

Hoffman, et al. left at 12:13 pm.

Also recorded on January 3, 1972

  • 018-008 12:13 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George E. Allen talked on the telephone from 12:13 pm to 12:15 pm.
  • 642-031 12:13 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George E. Allen met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:13 pm to 12:15 pm.
  • 018-009 12:16 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:16 pm.
  • 018-010 12:16 PM · 55 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, and Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:18 pm.
  • 642-032 12:16 PM · 59 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:16 pm.
  • 642-033 12:16 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:18 pm.
  • 642-034 12:16 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, and Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:18 pm.
  • 642-035 12:16 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:18 pm.

All 105 conversations from January 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 642-030, January 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/642-030 (accessed September 30, 2026).