President Nixon and John Ehrlichman met to coordinate the administration's response to the politically sensitive issue of school busing. They discussed the reaction of the Black Caucus to current policies and reviewed a draft of the President's upcoming public statement on the matter. The discussion resulted in a specific decision to excise a controversial paragraph from the final version of the announcement to better manage the political fallout.
On March 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:54 am and 9:41 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 683-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 683-1
Date: March 13, 1972
Time: Unknown between 8:54 am and 9:41 am
Location: Oval Office
The President talked with an unknown person [John D. Ehrlichman?].
Busing
-Black caucus comments
-The President’s forthcoming statement
-Paragraph removalNo transcript is available for this conversation. The audio may not contain audible speech, or the recording may not yet have been processed.