Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 739 › Conversation 739-010
Nixon, Rockefeller & Volpe on Mass transit and New York City
Wednesday, June 21, 1972 · 12:38 PM–1:22 PM ET · Oval Office · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with New York political and business leaders, including Nelson Rockefeller and John Volpe, to discuss federal mass transit grants and funding for new subway cars in New York City. The conversation expanded into a wide-ranging policy discussion covering international relations, the defense budget, and the procurement of military hardware like the F-14 fighter jet. In the final portion of the meeting, Nixon and John Ehrlichman reviewed legislative priorities, specifically focusing on welfare reform, the higher education bill, and political strategy regarding the 1972 presidential campaign against George McGovern.
- Mass transit
- New York City
- Defense spending
- F-14 fighter jet
- 1972 presidential campaign
- Higher education policy
- Welfare reform
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 19% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.
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Well, here he is.
I can't make for being late, but I'll tell you, anybody that's late can think of me.
He makes good money.
92?
92?
Well, I tell you, John, why don't you get someone else?
Somebody to be here on time.
Well, I'm not too worried.
I'm sure he'll be waiting to hear you explain.
Mr. President, we are just thrilled and
Let me say, give a lot of credit to our friend John Bolton.
Now, he pushed us into the Congress.
and he advocated and so forth.
I hope you can get some of the money spent soon.
Well, Bill's got a very old suggestion.
Maybe... We're getting ready to work.
Listen, Paul, if you could, at that time where I... You ready to get what you got?
Maybe, Mr. Paul, you could come up for it.
They're not breaking the second man with your stuff, are you?
And riding the first car, the new Christian car in the neighborhood.
Tell John...
We wait and they're still running.
We wait and they're still running.
We wait and they're still running.
way back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Up and down.
There's money to be used for part of that.
Part of the second half or so.
No, the cross-connection.
The cross-connection.
We have authorized for this.
1917, that's all we're going to talk about it.
and the rest of the $66 million will be to buy 320 new, yet commissioned subway cars for the whole system.
For the IMEV&T system, the present system.
Tell my boys to turn up at the Old Street and allow us.
We have 1,000 cars, and we'll have enough money to buy another 300.
We'll probably do 720.
We have 7,000 cars in all of this.
You know, I used to think, I had a question, you know, you always ask me that question, but I remember when I was in the fire, I used to go to the church, and I recall going there just before going into the service, and I was here, and I was here, and I said, of course, being there, I can't believe it's I who's going to go to the church, and I used to go to the church, and I went to the church, and I was like,
Thank you.
NARA Description
On June 21, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, John A. Volpe, Jacob K. Javits, James L. Buckley, John D. Ehrlichman, William L. Gifford, William A. Ronan, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:38 pm to 1:22 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 739-010 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 739-10
Date: June 21, 1972
Time: 12:38-1:22 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Nelson A. Rockefeller, John A. Volpe, Jacob K. Javits, James L.
Buckley, John D. Ehrlichman, William L. Gifford, William A. Ronan, and Alexander P.
Butterfield.
[Members of the press and the White House photographer were present at the beginning of this
meeting]
Greetings
Mass transit grant in New York
Bond issue
Mass transit grant
-Purchase of new subway cars
-New York City transit
-Compared to Moscow transit system
-Need for leadership
-John V. Lindsay
-Ronan
-Business community
The President's previous conversation with Arthur F. Burns
-Burns's trip
-Importance of leadership
-Relation of political stability to capital investment
-Cuba
-Fidel Castro
-Chile
-Stability
-Effect on investment
-Brazil
-Emilio Garrastazu Medici
-The President’s previous conversation with Luis Echeverria Alvarez
Grumman aircraft
-F-14 fighter plane
-Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.
-Contract re-negotiation
-Space shuttle
-Number of jobs in New York and California
-McDonnell-Douglas
-F-14 contract re-negotiation
-Zumwalt
-National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA]
-James C. Fletcher
-Financial condition
-Lockheed
-Space shuttle
-Funding
-Ghettos
-Employment
-Cooperation with Soviet Union
-The President’s view
-F-14 production
-McDonnell-Douglas
-Procurement
-F-14s
-Israel
-Possible purchase
The President's previous conversation with Burns
-Israel
-Acquisition of arms
-Soviet intervention
-Role of US President
-US policy
-Defense policy
-Military forces
-Jordan crisis
-US actions
-US policy
-Summit conferences
-Reasoning
-Chou En-Lai
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Will of the US
-US interests
-Burundi
-Middle East
-Europe
-Japan
*****************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 10/24/2022.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[739-010-w003]
[Duration: 1m 54s]
The President’s previous conversation with Arthur F. Burns
-George S. McGovern
-Credibility
-Congress
-The President
-The President’s conversation with Herbert Stein
-Legislative history
-George S. McGovern’s positions
-Tax reform bill
-Nomination
*****************************************************************
Defense budget
-Congress
-People's Republic of China [PRC] and the Soviet Union
-Importance of strength
-Volpe’s trip to Soviet Union
-Catholic Church
Rockefeller’s role in New York City
-Lindsay [?]
Rockefeller, Javits, Buckley, Gifford, and Ronan left at 1:08 pm.
John A. Volpe, Jr. entered at 1:08 pm.
Greetings
Presentation of gifts by the President
Rockefeller
Volpe and Volpe, Jr. left at 1:10 pm.
Ehrlichman's conversation with Elliot L. Richardson
-Welfare reform
-Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW]
-House Resolution [HR] 1
-Higher Education bill
The President left at an unknown time after 1:10 pm.
Ehrlichman talked with an unknown person at an unknown time between 1:10 and 1:22 pm.
[Conversation No. 739-10A]
Ehrlichman's schedule
[End of telephone conversation]
The President entered at an unknown time before 1:22pm.
Ehrlichman's conversation with Richardson
-Higher education bill
-Possible veto
-Busing
-Stephen J. Roth decision
An unknown person entered and left at an unknown time before 1:22pm.
Refreshments
-Ehrlichman’s schedule
Ehrlichman’s conversation with Richardson
-Higher education bill
-Possible veto
-Irving Kristol's book
-Warren E. Burger
-Education
-The President
-George S. McGovern
-The President's conversation with Caspar W. Weinberger
-Other veto possibilities
-Higher education
-Richardson
-As an industry
*****************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 10/24/2022.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[739-010-w005]
[Duration: 2m 51s]
1972 campaign
-George S. McGovern
-John D. Ehrlichman’s conversation with Roy Wilkins
-Roy Wilkins’ leadership of movement
-Roy Wilkins’ support for the President
-Busing
-George S. McGovern
-Programs
-The President’s conversation with Herbert Stein
-Proposals of the Congressional Black Caucus
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-George S. McGovern’s endorsement
-Costs of programs
-Credibility
-Barry M. Goldwater
-The President’s credibility
-Possible campaign plan
-Media
-George S. McGovern’s positions
*****************************************************************
Busing
-Robert P. Griffin
-Richard G. Valeriani
Richardson
-Welfare reform
Ehrlichman left at 1:22 pm.Also recorded on June 21, 1972
- 025-101 12:26 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:26 pm and 12:28 pm.
- 025-102 12:28 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Vernon A. Walters talked on the telephone from 12:28 pm to 12:29 pm.
- 025-103 12:30 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:30 pm and 12:33 pm.
- 739-007 12:30 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Zosimo T. Monzon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:30 pm and 12:33 pm.
- 025-104 12:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 12:33 pm to 12:34 pm.
- 739-008 12:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:33 pm to 12:34 pm.
- 739-009 12:34 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:34 pm and 12:38 pm.
- 025-105 1:24 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:24 pm and 2:11 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 739-010, 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/739-010 (accessed October 12, 2026).