Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 725 › Conversation 725-039

United States Secret Service agents on Field operations and Foreign travel

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 11:03 AM–11:30 AM ET · Oval Office · 14 min

ParticipantsUnited States Secret Service agentsConversation725-039 on Tape 725 (tape position 03:07:16–03:21:20)StartTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 11:03 AMEndTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 11:30 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 725-039 ↗

Secret Service agents met with the President in the Oval Office to discuss the strategic placement and travel plans of an unidentified individual. The discussion focused on reassigning this person to field duty and evaluating the necessity of his potential travel to North Africa. The meeting concluded with a consensus on these personnel decisions and their integration into existing administrative plans.

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This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

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Position in tape: 03:07:16 – 03:21:20

part B, 1:05:25

725a.mp3
725b.mp3
725c.mp3

On May 16, 1972, United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:30 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-039 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 725-39

Date: May 16, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:03 am and 11:30 am
Location: Oval Office

Unknown people [Secret Servie agents] met.

     The President’s location
          -Cabinet Room

The agents left at an unknown time before 11:30 am.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I don't know.
But anyway, that's that.
But what I want to do is to tie him in.
So I'd like to have a...
He said also he'd like to go to...
He wanted to go to Africa.
He said, they're in the dominant place in Africa, so there's no use in going there.
And except, he said he'd like to go to North Africa.
We definitely ought to put him back on field.
No question about that.
Well, that explains his frantic activity last week to get involved with that decision.
All right, Mr. President.
I'm not going to this.
I'm seeing, unless it's something that you think that...
That's why we're building .
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you.

— 1 min 45 s with no transcribed speech —

Thank you.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
I know.

— 1 min 4 s with no transcribed speech —

All right.
  • 725-024 10:23 AM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:23 am to 10:52 am.
  • 725-025 10:52 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:52 am and 10:55 am.
  • 725-026 10:55 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:55 am to 11:03 am.
  • 101-009 11:03 AM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Cabinet officers and staffers, including John N. Irwin, II, John B. Connally, [David] Kenneth Rush, Richard G. Kleindienst, Rogers C. B. Morton, Earl L. Butz, Peter G. Peterson, James D. Hodgson, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, George P. Shultz, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George H. W. Bush, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Henry A. Kissinger, Peter M. Flanigan, Clark MacGregor, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., John A. Scali, Herbert G. Klein, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Ronald L. Ziegler, Alexander P. Butterfield, Charles W. Colson, Frederic V. Malek, Robert J. Brown, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, Ezra Solomon, and Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:59 pm.
  • 725-040 11:03 AM · 12 min — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:30 am.
  • 725-027 11:30 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:30 am.
  • 725-028 11:31 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:31 am to 11:35 am.
  • 024-149 11:49 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:49 am and 11:54 am.

Conversation 725-039, 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/725-039 (accessed November 2, 2026).