Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 793 › Conversation 793-014

Nixon, Booth & Jones on 1972 election and Black voter outreach

Friday, October 6, 1972 · 12:15 PM–12:17 PM ET · Oval Office · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Booth, L. Venchael; Jones, Paul R.; Brown, Robert J.; White House photographerConversation793-014 on Tape 793StartFriday, October 6, 1972 at 12:15 PMEndFriday, October 6, 1972 at 12:17 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 793-014 ↗

President Nixon met with L. Venchael Booth, Paul R. Jones, and Robert J. Brown to discuss black voter outreach efforts and support for his 1972 reelection campaign. The participants reviewed initiatives concerning black colleges, potential administration support for designating Martin Luther King’s birthplace as a national monument, and scheduling for Tricia Nixon Cox. During the meeting, Nixon expressed his commitment to the survival of black colleges and emphasized that he preferred to pursue policy actions based on merit rather than purely for electoral gain.

Download MP3 · 11.9 MB

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 6% 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.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.

Yes, sir.
Yes, I am.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
We had a meeting with our advisory committee, and these fellows did a terrific job, you know, working on the campaign.
And I stepped in for a few minutes to do it.
They're great fellows.
We want to keep them doing it.
Well, of course, they'd like it around here.
Probably too can't afford it.
Not too much to tell your wife, but tell her to tell you that I can't afford it.
Well, they do think we can pay that.
You're in a state of law.
Do we get a picture over here?
Here's a picture before the flags.
It looks like the two of us have all presented to them.
That's my daughter.
That's my daughter.
My daughter is in California today, but she's attending my first advocacy meeting.
And in addition to it,
I'm going out there this afternoon.
I'm going to try to get another water center, but we also have a fund-raising center where we're going to have $1,500 price.
I put it back at the official top of the head.
It's where we used to make our head as a lake.
Well, I think that's an interesting thing, how she showed me the way we learned these things.
I mean, she says, I'm going to a library in America.
Well, I think she didn't say it was black.
And that's good.
Well, I mean, they were a sacrifice for all families, for all the kids to have.
Thank you for having us.
I want to thank all of you for providing support to be honest all of that noise and all of that noise.
I want to ask the board, I'm very, very proud of what you're doing.
We're very, very excited.
We're thankful for what you're doing for the colleges and Dr. Warren, that is of Cincinnati, sends his greetings and that we are operating one of these universities.
We wish all of the board community
And we count on those universities and colleges to know we never had an adequate amenity here because ATW has always fought it.
And the educational establishment has fought it because they don't like what they call separate education.
And I said, well, first of all, it isn't.
But second,
You've got to remember that these black colleges have a great tradition.
They've got their own and all the rest.
And for a long time, they are going to be the college that a lot of kids are going to go to.
And they must survive.
I just don't think these people get away with this.
You know, all the kids aren't going to be able to go to Harvard or Smith or...
They're not going to make it to that species of the colleges that they are going to go to.
I am delighted that the two, that the Speedway Sports and some of the great football teams like Rams and the Reds are coming.
And this is actually, you know, that band is going to college.
They're all going to college.
They carried that on the, they said that was the big hit of the inauguration.
We had heard all over here so far about people and the opportunity to open up for them.
And although our support has been what we like, you have been most gracious.
The main thing is that we're going to go after everybody.
We will appreciate all the support we can get.
But the main thing is that when problems come up, we're going to think in terms of the people, but not in terms of on-the-job support.
We like as much as we can get.
But we're not going to say that we're not seated to say that.
But it would be easy to get that support from the Minnesota Regation.
But we want our agency to know that.
We would be happy to do that.
So do you.
Well, I want us to know that.
This is a photograph of the break of the summer.
Do you remember that?
It must have been an ax or a log.
I don't see it.
Oh, yes, of course.
I see the Russian up there.
That's so important for the future of the uh, of the planning on your crew, do you mind?
This one may be a way out of stroke, but I call it to your attention now, and I'll leave the notes just around.
And some of us believe that the person that you think should be playing this might very like it.
Right.
And we like so much that it might happen.
Let me say it in that connection.
I think it's something that we certainly want to consider, and I would love to say that I do.
I would like to say to her that it's not something I would want to do before the election because I think we will have a few other players or votes.
If we do it, we want to do it because it's the right thing to do.
But I knew Dr. King, you know.
Yeah, I know.
I'd like to say that the one thing I would hate with you, I think you're doing exceedingly well.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Well, you've got something for his wife, haven't you, Sam?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You can hear me good.
You can hear me.
I'm going to have a mic.

On October 6, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, L. Venchael Booth, Paul R. Jones, Robert J. Brown, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:15 pm and 12:17 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 793-014 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 793-14

Date: October 6, 1972
Time: 12:17 pm - 12:27 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with L. Venchael Booth, Paul R. Jones, and Robert J. Brown; the White
House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

        Greetings and introductions
            -Booth

         The President’s recent meeting with Black Executive Advisory Committee of the
         Committee for the Re-election of the President [CRP]

        [Photograph session]
            -Arrangements

        Tricia Nixon Cox's schedule

    -California
        -Funeral
             -First campaign manager
                  -[Harrison McCall]
    -Dinner for Ethel Waters

Black efforts for the Nixon re-election
    -Fundraising dinner
         -Tricia Nixon Cox’s schedule

Administration's concern with equality
   -Ismail Koontz[?][sp?]
        Unknown commission
   -Leon H. Sullivan
        -Opportunities Industrialization Centers[OIC]
        -Taped message from the President
   -Black colleges
        -Cincinnati
             -Dr. Moreland Evans
        -Health, Education and Welfare [HEW]
             -“Separate education”
             -Harvard University
             -Smith College
   -Sports
        -Grambling College
             -Band
                  -Trip to Liberia
                      -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
                      -Inauguration [of William Tolbert]

Administration
   -Support
   -Proposed actions
        -1972 election

Photograph
    -Unknown person
    -Jamaica
        -Nassau

Martin Luther King
   -Birthplace as a national monument

                  -Presidential action
                       -1972 election
              -Relationship with the President

         Presentation of gifts
             -Cufflinks
                  -Irish Foreign Minister [Patrick Hillery]
                  -Presidential seal
             -Pin

         Appointments
            -Jones [First name unknown]

Booth et al. left at 12:27 pm.
  • 031-152 12:14 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at 12:14 pm.
  • 793-015 12:17 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:17 pm to 12:27 pm.
  • 793-016 12:27 PM · 16 sec — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:27 pm and 12:29 pm.
  • 031-010 12:29 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:30 pm.
  • 354-011 12:29 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:31 pm.
  • 354-012 12:29 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:31 pm.
  • 354-013 12:29 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:30 pm.
  • 365-001 12:29 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building on an unknown date, sometime between 12:29 pm on October 6, 1972 and 1:38 pm on October 9, 1972.

Conversation 793-014, October 6, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/793-014 (accessed October 12, 2026).