Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 739 › Conversation 739-003

Nixon & Welch on U.S. Conference of Mayors and Vietnam War

Wednesday, June 21, 1972 · 9:23 AM–9:25 AM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Welch, LouieConversation739-003 on Tape 739 (tape position 00:17:59–00:26:05)StartWednesday, June 21, 1972 at 9:23 AMEndWednesday, June 21, 1972 at 9:25 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 739-003 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Houston Mayor Louie Welch to congratulate him on his appointment as head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and to solicit continued support for administration policies. The discussion focused on securing political backing for the war in Southeast Asia and navigating the legislative hurdles facing revenue sharing initiatives in the Senate. Nixon further emphasized the necessity of his foreign policy stance and engaged in a brief, informal exchange regarding the performance of the Houston Astros.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello?
Yeah, hello?
Hello?
Mr. Mayor?
I just wanted to congratulate you on your, uh, your, uh, assignment as, uh, head of the Council of Mayors.
Well, I think this is one I can predict.
Yeah, I hear from all, everything I hear, and I just wish you the very best.
And also, I want to tell you that I'm very appreciative of the way that, uh,
You and, uh, you, technically, and many of your colleagues have supported our policy in Southeast Asia, and I can assure you it's going to come out all right.
Right?
Yeah.
Right.
And you can be sure we're, uh, the best, uh, the worst thing we could do, of course, is to, is to basically, uh, do what some well-intentioned people say, is that, uh, just to, uh, to, to, well, abandon our boys, abandon our POWs, and, uh,
and give this enormous encouragement to the communists to take over any place else.
So this is the only way to have peace, is to stop aggression when it rears its head.
Well, I appreciate it very much, and we're still working, as you know, Mr. Mayor, on revenue sharing, and they're doing some
and a lot of gobbledygook on it, you know?
But if we can get it through the House, and then the Senate is responsible.
Yeah, well, I've been sure to under Russell, and I will be talking to him after we get through with the House, and the difficulty that he has is that once he gets to the floor, you see, the House, you know, the Wilburn Houses and others have given him a closed rule, which makes it work, but they go over to the Senate,
They have that open room.
They can put on non-geranium stuff.
They can hang all sorts of silly amendments on.
That's the problem they've got there.
Yeah.
Right.
Well, he's a very shrewd and able leader, I'm sure.
And he's got a lot of help on the other side, too.
Well, we wish you the very best.
And I see the Astros are doing pretty well on that nationally race, aren't they?
That's it.
Yeah.
They're a young team.
They're moving along.
They've got a lot of, I don't call this much, but David, like Dave Eisenhower, someone who's trying to do it.
He's a great baseball fan, and he thinks the Astros, if they can, you know, stand up in the heat of the summer, might take it all.
Be something for them.

NARA Description

On June 21, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Louie Welch met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:23 am to 9:25 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 739-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 739-3

Date: June 21, 1972
Time: 9:23 - 9:25 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Louie Welch.

[See Conversation No. 25-97]

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 10/18/2022.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[739-003-w002]
[Duration: 31s]

[See Conversation No. 25-97]

*****************************************************************

Also recorded on June 21, 1972

  • 739-001 9:02 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:02 am and 9:10 am.
  • 025-095 9:05 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:05 am and 9:10 am.
  • 025-096 9:10 AM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:10 am.
  • 739-002 9:10 AM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 9:10 am.
  • 025-097 9:23 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Louie Welch talked on the telephone from 9:23 am to 9:25 am.
  • 739-004 9:30 AM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Alexander P. Butterfield, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:30 am to 10:38 am.
  • 025-098 10:13 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Charles W. Colson, and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:13 am and 10:22 am.
  • 025-099 10:22 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:22 am.

All 47 conversations from June 21, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 739-003, June 21, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/739-003 (accessed September 30, 2026).