Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 683 › Conversation 683-017

Nixon & Ehrlichman on Busing and Raymond K. Price Jr.

Monday, March 13, 1972 · 3:41 PM–3:48 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation683-017 on Tape 683 (tape position 05:27:05–05:30:26)StartMonday, March 13, 1972 at 3:41 PMEndMonday, March 13, 1972 at 3:48 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 683-017 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman met to discuss the President's upcoming public statement on busing, specifically reviewing a draft prepared by Raymond K. Price, Jr. They also coordinated scheduling for an upcoming meeting with Nassir Assar concerning the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). The discussion centered on balancing policy substance with the rhetorical tone of the busing announcement.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 164.4 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 05:27:05 into the tape and ends around 05:30:26.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

5:27:05I'm serious about this.

5:27:05Do you order your class with flash files?

5:27:14What do you have a lanty cloth in your pocket on your phone?

5:27:16I know that.

5:27:17It's going to be over there.

5:27:19Where does it go?

5:27:21It's not that old.

5:27:23Honeycage.

5:27:24What honeycage is it?

5:27:25I don't know that.

5:27:27Yeah.

5:27:27It'll be 90 years old.

5:27:29Well, it has.

5:27:30Can I send that to you?

5:27:31It was a coat here somewhere.

5:27:33It's about honeycage length.

5:27:37One second.

5:27:37May I have that, sir?

5:27:39Sure.

5:27:39I want to present you with a solid gold anti-hunting case watch.

5:27:43And it will be meant perfect.

5:27:45Sometime you can buy these watches.

5:27:47They're all 80 years.

5:27:48Original price tag.

5:27:49Solid gold hunting case.

5:27:51And it'll come with a chain.

5:27:53This stuff I'm giving to you is in solid gold.

5:27:55That's a trouble.

5:27:56Well, we're going to be in gold a few years if we don't stop just giving our wealth away in the place of getting custom gold plates.

5:28:03Let me see.

5:28:05He's just telling Joe, I'm trying to get you something here that I can find.

5:28:08I can find it.

5:28:10I can get it.

5:28:12I have it on my schedule.

5:28:14This may be a different person.

5:28:18I can't do it on that day.

5:28:25I'll do another one for you.

5:28:27Now, this is my wife and son in Beijing.

5:28:32You can get it better.

5:28:36It's in Chinatown, but not in the present.

5:28:42All right, all right, all right.

5:29:03He said now that tomorrow would probably be a better time than today.

5:29:09Any time.

5:29:10If he wants, he can come down.

5:29:16I agree now that Steve just said he didn't think he wanted to talk about it.

5:29:25If he thought it would all just drop down, I don't think he would.

5:29:44and nothing more important than this to do with the point.

5:29:48Second point, are there any, is Ray,

5:30:12Well, we'll uh, I'll uh, you think the best use of my time this evening would be to look at his draft agenda.

5:30:26The substance thing is, I just got a lot of new phones, so uh, but there's not anything to say to me.

5:30:32But the rhetoric, I suppose I ought to...

NARA Description

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 3:41 pm and 3:48 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 683-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 683-17

Date: March 13, 1972
Time: Unknown between 3:41 pm and 3:48 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with John D. Ehrlichman.

     The President’s schedule
          -Meeting with Ehrlichman
          -The President’s forthcoming busing statement
               -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
                      -Draft
                           -Wording
          -Meeting with Ehrlichman
               -Time
                      -Forthcoming meeting with [Nassir Assar]
                           -Central Treaty Organization [CENTO]

Also recorded on March 13, 1972

683-015 3:15 PM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Otto E. Passman, Henry A. Kissinger, Richard K. Cook, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:15 pm to 3:41 pm.
683-016 3:41 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:41 pm and 3:48 pm.
683-018 3:41 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 3:41 pm and 3:48 pm.
683-019 3:41 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:41 pm and 3:48 pm.
683-020 3:48 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Kenneth W. Clawson, James Keogh, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:48 pm to 4:58 pm.
684-001 3:48 PM · 1 hr 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Kenneth W. Clawson, White House operator, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:48 pm and 6:03 pm.
021-054 3:50 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and James Keogh talked on the telephone from 3:50 pm to 3:52 pm.
021-055 3:52 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:52 pm and 5:11 pm.

All 72 conversations from March 13, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 683-017, March 13, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/683-017 (accessed October 3, 2026).