Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 682 › Conversation 682-005

Nixon, Brock & Hanson on Prisoners of War and Senate Joint Resolution 189

Friday, March 10, 1972 · 12:38 PM–12:45 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Brock, William; Hanson, Carol; Grubb, Evelyn; Ray, Janice; Hunt, Olive; Scowcroft, Brent G. (Gen.); Sievers, Frank A.; Shields, Roger W.; Nidecker, John E.; White House photographerConversation682-005 on Tape 682 (tape position 00:49:05–00:55:08)StartFriday, March 10, 1972 at 12:38 PMEndFriday, March 10, 1972 at 12:45 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 682-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Senator William Brock and a group of visitors, including relatives of prisoners of war, for a ceremonial photograph and gift presentation session. The primary purpose of the gathering was the formal signing of a proclamation and Senate Joint Resolution 189 regarding American POWs. During the session, the President emphasized his administration’s commitment to securing the return of all captives and acknowledged the courage of the families involved.

  • Prisoners of War
  • Senate Joint Resolution 189
  • William Brock
  • Ceremonial Signing
  • POW Wives

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 165.4 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 00:49:05 into the tape and ends around 00:55:08.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
49:49Mr. President, Senator Brown.
49:50Come on by.
49:53How are you?
49:54Nice to see you.
49:54Nice to see you.
49:56How are you?
49:56Good morning.
49:57Good morning.
50:07Good morning.
50:08Good morning.
50:08Good morning.
50:09Good morning.
50:15Well, see, you can kind of set this up in a little bit of a picture, you know, these, you know, beauty kind of things.
50:24That's what I'm saying.
50:25That's what I'm saying.
50:26That's right.
50:26I'll sit down.
50:28If you don't mind, you know, if I can put the present in each leg.
50:31In each side.
50:32Let's go to the other side.
50:48I'll use four, so each of the ladies can have one.
50:54Senator's already got some.
50:57You can all get one, too.
51:02Now, Mr. Atkins, this is all for the day.
51:08I'll start signing it.
51:14And here is the bill.
51:15I mean, oh, here's the current resolution.
51:18The current resolution states the sense of the Congress and the President's proclamation.
51:45Your husband?
51:46I was thinking of that.
51:52Well, we haven't done enough.
52:01And we will never done enough to bring it back.
52:03I'm worried.
52:11We've never done a proclamation, you know, and all the rest.
52:16Prayers and so forth.
52:17They help because they really care.
52:18As far as I'm concerned, I don't consider anything after we've gotten back.
52:34That's our goal.
52:35We're working on it.
52:37Here's yours.
52:37The bill, I can't get it.
52:40I don't see it.
52:40I don't see it.
52:42Yes, sir.
53:04We've been saying that for a long time.
53:06It's coming along.
53:08Sure, sure.
53:08That's right.
53:09Appreciate your courage.
53:16Thank you, sir.
53:24Thank you.
53:32Take a moment to set up a camera.

NARA Description

On March 10, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, William Brock, Carol Hanson, Evelyn Grubb, Janice Ray, Olive Hunt, Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft, Frank A. Sievers, Roger E. Shields, John E. Nidecker, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:38 pm and 12:45 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 682-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 682-5

Date: March 10, 1972
Time: 12:38 pm - unknown before 12:45 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull, William E. Brock, III, Carol Hanson, Evelyn Grubb,
Janice Ray, Olive Hunt, Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft, Frank A. Sieverts, Roger E. Shields, and John
E. Nidecker; the White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

     Introductions

     Photograph session

Bull left at an unknown time before 12:40 pm.

     Gifts
             -Pens

     Photographs
          -Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins

     Proclamation and Senate Joint [SJ] Resolution 189
          -Signing
          -Prisoners of war [POWs]
                -Effort for return
                -Wives
                     -Effort

Brock, et al. left and Bull entered at 12:40 pm.

     Cabinet Room
          -Forthcoming signing ceremony

Bull left at an unknown time before 12:45 pm.

Also recorded on March 10, 1972

  • 682-004 12:33 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 12:33 pm and 12:38 pm.
  • 682-006 12:40 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:40 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 682-007 12:40 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:40 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 682-011 12:40 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:40 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 094-004 12:45 PM · 33 sec — during the signing of contributions to International American Development Bank [S. 748], Asian Development Bank [S. 749], and International Development Association [S. 2010], President Richard M. Nixon, George D. Aiken, Wright Patman, William B. Widnall, William P. Rogers, John B. Connally, Henry A. Kissinger, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Peter M. Flanigan, Galo Plaza, Carlos Sanz de Santamaria, Ortiz Mena, Henry J. Costanzo, Artemis Weatherby, Robert S. McNamara, J. Burke Knapp, John M. Hennessy, James E. Smith, Robert D. Hormats, John E. Nidecker, and the White House photographer met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 12:45 pm to 12:50 pm.
  • 682-008 12:50 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, White House photographer, Dianne C. Matthews, United States Secret Service agents, Stephen B. Bull, Arthur K. Watson, White House operator, and J. William Fulbright met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:50 pm to 1:10 pm.
  • 021-042 1:00 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and J. William Fulbright talked on the telephone from 1:00 pm to 1:02 pm.
  • 682-009 1:11 PM · 2 hr 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, Charles W. Colson, unknown person(s), Ronald L. Ziegler, White House operator, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, John D. Ehrlichman, and Edward L. Morgan met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:11 pm to 3:53 pm.

All 17 conversations from March 10, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 682-005, March 10, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/682-005 (accessed October 23, 2026).