Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 725 › Conversation 725-019

Nixon & Tkach on Medical prognosis and Walter Reed Medical Center

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 10:00 AM–10:05 AM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan); Tkach, Walter R.Conversation725-019 on Tape 725 (tape position 02:04:49–02:14:05)StartTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 10:00 AMEndTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 10:05 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 725-019 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, First Lady Pat Nixon, and White House physician Walter R. Tkach discussed the medical condition and potential recovery prospects of an unnamed individual facing significant spinal mobility concerns. The participants evaluated the patient's prognosis and debated whether to pursue treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center or a facility in Alabama. Additionally, the President inquired about public and staff reactions to a recent, unspecified event, though the conversation remained brief as the President concluded the meeting to attend to other obligations.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 100.2 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 02:04:49 into the tape and ends around 02:14:05.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
2:04:53All right, fine.
2:04:54Good.
2:04:54Great.
2:04:56Great.
2:05:02Good.
2:07:21and the air force would all know that but why don't we say that we will we will uh he's apparently
2:07:46The little guy thinks there's a 50% chance that he's going to lose mobility in his legs.
2:07:49What do you think?
2:07:49Is it breathing?
2:07:50Of course, it's an ovation.
2:07:55It's too bad.
2:07:57Why?
2:07:57Because of the mobility.
2:07:58Because of the mobility, he's going to have a lot of lives in his spine.
2:08:30Guess what?
2:08:30I'm sorry.
2:08:35Well, he'll do that the one he is.
2:08:37The prospect should put it on him.
2:08:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:08:49Yeah, exactly, yeah.
2:08:49Captain, he should just leave at the end.
2:08:52I can't do that.
2:09:09Yeah.
2:09:09And so he'd prefer Walter Reed or Alabama.
2:09:11But I will often say that we have offered the president just a, yeah, fine.
2:09:16I'll make another one.
2:09:20I'll talk to you soon.
2:09:29Oh, I just wanted to get sort of a more .
2:09:32How did everybody think about providing things to look at, of course, or something?
2:09:37Great.
2:09:38How did the rest of the people think about how they react to it?
2:09:54Well, it was sort of, well, not so bad, but I mean, they just said the usual, uh, certain names included, and it was real.
2:10:08Right, right.
2:10:14And what'd they say?
2:10:28Oh, well, I've got to go.
2:10:39I've got to go.
2:10:40I've got to go.
2:10:43I've got to go.
2:10:44I've got to go.
2:10:45I've got to go.
2:10:46I've got to go.
2:10:55Tonight, I mean, in fact, as I am going to

NARA Description

On May 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and Walter R. Tkach met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:00 am and 10:05 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 725-19

Date: May 16, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:00 am and 10:05 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Mrs. Nixon.

      [See Conversation No. 24-146; one item has been withdrawn from
       this conversation.]

The President talked with Walter R. Tkach at an unknown time.

The President talked with Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon.

Also recorded on May 16, 1972

  • 024-142 9:50 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 9:56 am.
  • 024-143 9:56 AM · 25 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 9:56 am to 9:57 am.
  • 024-144 9:57 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 9:57 am to 9:59 am.
  • 725-017 9:57 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:57 am and 9:59 am.
  • 024-145 9:59 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:59 am and 10:00 am.
  • 725-018 9:59 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:59 am and 10:00 am.
  • 024-146 10:00 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and Walter R. Tkach talked on the telephone from 10:00 am to 10:05 am.
  • 725-020 10:05 AM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:05 am and 10:11 am.

All 113 conversations from May 16, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 725-019, May 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/725-019 (accessed October 9, 2026).