{"conversationCode":"717-008","tapeNumber":717,"conversationNumber":8,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-717-008","startDateTime":"1972-05-02T15:16:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-05-02T15:17:00.000Z","startDate":"2-May-1972","startTime":"11:16 AM","endDate":"2-May-1972","endTime":"11:17 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Johnson, Lyndon B.;","description":"On May 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:16 am to 11:17 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 717-008 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 717-8\n\nDate: May 2, 1972\nTime: 11:16-11:17 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President talked with Lyndon B. Johnson.\n\n[See Conversation No. 23-109]","filename":["717-008.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:20:49","tapeEnd":"00:22:55","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Johnson, Lyndon B."],"prevCode":"717-007","nextCode":"717-009","transcript":[{"start":15.49,"end":20.48,"text":"I tried to reach you before, but you were out in some place, right?"},{"start":25.14,"end":40.93,"text":"Well, one thing about it, you know, they were accurate, and a lot of people were trying to get me to fire them, and I told them earlier this year, I said, look, I said, this is no time to change directors because we have a hell of a fight in the Senate, and a political fight, and so at least the outfit is detractors."},{"start":42.07,"end":42.45,"text":"I hope..."},{"start":51.08,"end":53.73,"text":"Oh, I know that."},{"start":54.31,"end":54.87,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":54.89,"end":55.07,"text":"Bye."},{"start":55.09,"end":55.21,"text":"Bye."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and former President Lyndon B. Johnson engaged in a brief discussion regarding the political risks of replacing leadership within a specific government agency during a contentious legislative period. Nixon expressed his reluctance to remove the current director, citing the need for institutional stability while facing a significant political struggle in the Senate. The conversation served as a moment of informal political alignment between the two presidents regarding the management of federal appointments.","topics":["Presidential appointments","Senate relations","Political strategy","Executive leadership","Lyndon B. Johnson"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-07T03:10:58.905Z"},"topicSlugs":["presidential-appointments","senate-relations","political-strategy","executive-leadership","lyndon-b-johnson"],"audioDurationSec":57,"audioFiles":[{"file":"717-008.mp3","bytes":2274530,"durationSec":56.74,"bitrate":320719,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:57.687Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/717-008.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/717-008","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/717/conversation-717-008","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}