Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 658 › Conversation 658-033

United States Secret Service agents on Secret Service and Higher Education

Thursday, January 27, 1972 · 3:46 PM–3:49 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsUnited States Secret Service agentsConversation658-033 on Tape 658 (tape position 05:25:28–05:25:54)StartThursday, January 27, 1972 at 3:46 PMEndThursday, January 27, 1972 at 3:49 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 658-033 ↗

AI Summary

Secret Service agents gathered in the Oval Office to engage in a brief, disjointed discussion regarding political leadership and the perceived inadequacy of university administrators. The participants criticized the leadership qualities of college presidents, contrasting them with an unnamed individual who reportedly addressed problems directly. No formal policy decisions or official actions were recorded during this brief exchange.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 131.3 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 05:25:28 into the tape and ends around 05:25:54.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

5:25:28And I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I,
5:25:31I said, he cuts through all this hand and direction and gets to the heart of the problem.
5:25:36And he had his business plan.
5:25:37I said, I had eight college presidents in there at one time.
5:25:40Not one of them had the guts to face up to the problem.
5:25:43Not one.
5:25:44And I said, you cannot allow them to run.
5:25:46I said, you tell your Democratic candidates
5:25:49They, whoever sits in his arms, I said, you've got to read all these people first.

NARA Description

On January 27, 1972, United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:46 pm and 3:49 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 658-033 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 658-33

Date: January 27, 1972
Time: Unknown between 3:49 pm and 11:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

Unknown people [Secret Service agents] met.

     [Unintelligible]

The unknown agents left at an unknown time before 11:59 pm.

Also recorded on January 27, 1972

  • 019-144 3:00 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:07 pm.
  • 658-027 3:00 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:07 pm.
  • 658-028 3:00 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:07 pm.
  • 019-145 3:07 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:07 pm.
  • 658-029 3:07 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:07 pm.
  • 658-030 3:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:07 pm and 3:13 pm.
  • 658-031 3:13 PM · 33 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:13 pm to 3:46 pm.
  • 658-032 3:46 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:46 pm and 3:49 pm.

All 57 conversations from January 27, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 658-033, January 27, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/658-033 (accessed October 12, 2026).