Conversation: 820-022
Prev: 820-021 Next: 820-023Start Date: 12-Dec-1972 3:17 PM
End Date: 12-Dec-1972 3:36 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); LaFontant, Jewell R.; Ehrlichman, John D.; Bull, Stephen B.; White House photographer; Monzon, Zosimo T.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On December 12, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Jewell R. LaFontant, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, White House photographer, and Zosimo T. Monzon met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:17 pm to 3:36 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 820-022 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 820-22
Date: December 12, 1972
Time: 3:17 pm - 3:36 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Jewell R. Lafontant and John D. Ehrlichman. Members of the Press,
Stephen B. Bull, and the White House photographer were present at the beginning of the
meeting.
Greetings
-60-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)
Photograph session
-Seating arrangements
Second term reorganization
-Women
-Ehrlichman’s conversations with Barbara H. Franklin and Caspar W.
(“Cap”) Weinberger
The President’s schedule
Vietnam negotiations
Second term reorganization
-United Nations [UN]
-US delegation
[Photograph session]
-[General conversation]
-Executive Office Building [EOB]
-1973 Inauguration license plate
-[J. Willard Marriott]
Lafontant’s political background
-Republican National Conventions
-1960
-1952
-[Cornelius Stadford]
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
Zosimo T. Monson entered at an unknown time after 3:17 pm.
Refreshments
-Coffee, tea, cola
-Consumme
Monson left at an unknown time before 3:36 pm.
Stradford’s political background
-61-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)
Lafontant’s political background
-Republican National Convention, 1960
-Eisenhower
Second term reorganization
-Blacks
-The President’s meeting with black administration appointees
-Black community
-Women
-Branch Rickey
-John Roosevelt (“Jackie”) Robinson
Monson entered at an unknown time after 3:17 pm.
Refreshments
-Coffee
Monson left at an unknown time before 3:36 pm.
Second term reorganization
-Blacks
-Rickey
-Robinson
-Montreal
-Brooklyn Dodgers
-World Series
-Satchel Paige
-Lafontant’s legal and political qualifications
-Lafontant’s diplomatic skills
-George H. W. Bush
-Deputy Solicitor General
-Robert H. Bork
-Erwin N. Griswold
-Departure
-Timing
-Background
-University of Chicago, Yale University
-Duties
-Arguing cases
-62-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)
-Supreme Court
-Bork’s understanding
-Possible judgeship for Lafontant
-Comment by Lafontant
-Promise
-Bork
-Timing
-Appeals court
-Compared to trial court
-District court
-Lafontant’s experience
-Supreme Court
-District of Columbia
-South
-Black judges
-Senators
-American Bar Association [ABA]
-Membership
-Fifth Circuit
-Congressional relations
-The President’s possible conversation with James O.
Eastland, Roman L. Hruska
-ABA
-North Carolina
-Unknown woman
-ABA
-Age
-Men
-Justice Department
-State Bar Association
-Lafontant’s experience
-Chicago Bar Association
-Opportunity
-Qualifications
-Lafontant’s experience
-Seconding of the President’s nomination in 1960
-Stradford’s political background
-Republican Party
-ABA
-63-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)
-Lafontant’s identity as black woman
-Supreme Court
-Deaths
-William H. Rehnquist
-Background
-Office of Legal Counsel
-Qualifications
-Justice Department
-Solicitor General, Office of Legal Counsel
-Nonpolitical status
-Timing
-Possible residence
-Washington, DC
-Real estate
-Prices
-Ehrlichman’s telephone call to Lafontant
-Lafontant’s conversation with H. Ernest Lafontant
-Ernest Lafontant’s law practice
-Chicago
-Washington, DC, New York
-Bar associations
-Jewell Lafontant’s conversation with Ernest Lafontant
Jewell Lafontant’s law practice
-Julius J. Hoffman
Second term reorganization
-Deputy Solicitor General
-Work with Ehrlichman
-Race relations
-Leonard Garment
-Stanley S. Scott
-Robert J. Brown
-Brown
-Departure
-Sally Brown
-Ambassadorship
-North Carolina
-Money making
-64-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. May-08)
Conversation No. 820-22 (cont’d)
-Conversation with Jewell Lafontant
-Meeting
Bull entered and left at an unknown time after 3:17 pm.
The President’s schedule
Bull left at an unknown time before 3:36 pm.
Second term reorganization
-Jewell Lafontant’s schedule
-Bork
-Meeting with [Joseph T. Sneed]
-Possible telephone call to Ehrlichman
-Background check on Jewell Lafontant
-John W. Dean, III
-Finances
-Possible judgeship for Jewell Lafontant
Lafontant and Ehrlichman left at 3:36 pm.