Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 918 › Conversation 918-021

Nixon, Parris & Goodnough on Manassas and Centennial

Tuesday, May 15, 1973 · 12:19 PM–12:21 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Parris, Stanford E.; Goodnough, Robert G.; Parrish, Harry; Friedersdorf, Max L.; White House photographerConversation918-021 on Tape 918StartTuesday, May 15, 1973 at 12:19 PMEndTuesday, May 15, 1973 at 12:21 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 918-021 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Congressman Stanford E. Parris and a group of Virginia representatives to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Manassas, Virginia. The participants discussed the history of the Manassas battlefield and exchanged ceremonial gifts, including commemorative coins for the presidential library and presidential cuff links. The meeting served as a brief formal engagement to acknowledge the delegation's support for the administration.

  • Manassas
  • Centennial
  • Presidential Library
  • Gift Exchange
  • Virginia politics

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

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Mr. President, I'm from St. Paris.
How are you?
President, nice to be here.
Thank you.
We're a hundred years old in St. Paris.
Yeah, Paris.
Nice to see you again.
How are you?
Good to see you.
I thought Manassas was older than that.
We were just older than that.
Yeah, this is a hundred years.
It is.
Oh, I say we're a hundred years old.
That's right.
You don't do that.
It's a solid book of books.
Ha ha ha!
Well, uh, shall we go over to our visitor here?
We'll try to give you some information about the area at the time, and we certainly do appreciate it.
Oh, I have 300 of them.
I've got a study from, uh, Massachusetts University.
So, it's a couple hundred years old.
Oh, a hundred years old.
That's about it.
You've got some flat ears.
Yes, I have.
I've got some distorting heads here, two sizes, so I'm going to settle with you.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
You are going to go ahead and pre-fit the, uh, it has a, both sides of the book, that's number one on the, grade on the side.
I see.
It's a limited issue.
Haha, yeah, yeah.
Well, you know where these go, they go to the presidential library, and they're very proud to have it there.
People would go like that.
That's just, it'll be there for a couple of years.
I don't even ask you to get everybody in the line of work.
Thank you very much.
Well, we wish you the best.
Let's give these gentlemen a hug.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate your support out there too.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 15, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Stanford E. Parris, Robert G. Goodnough, Harry Parrish, Max L. Friedersdorf, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:19 pm to 12:21 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 918-021 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 918-21

Date: May 15, 1973
Time: 12:19 pm - 12:21 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Standford E. Parris, Robert G. Goodnough, Harry Parrish and Max L.
Friedersdorf. The White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

     Introductions

     Centennial
          -Manassas, Virginia
                -Civil War

     [Photography session]

     Manassas
         -Battlefield site
               -President’s visit
         -Partisanship

     Presentation of coins to President
          -Presidential library

     Presentation of gifts by President
          -Cuff links
          -Ladies [golf ?] club
                                              -31-

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                           Conversation No. 918-21 (cont’d)

      Support for President

Parris et al. left at 12:21 pm.

Also recorded on May 15, 1973

  • 918-018 12:13 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:19 pm.
  • 918-019 12:13 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:19 pm.
  • 918-022 12:21 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:21 pm and 12:24 pm.
  • 918-023 12:21 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:21 pm and 12:24 pm.
  • 918-024 12:21 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:21 pm and 12:24 pm.
  • 046-052 12:24 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:24 pm and 1:00 pm.
  • 918-025 12:24 PM · 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:24 pm to 1:00 pm.
  • 918-026 12:24 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:24 pm and 1:00 pm.

All 67 conversations from May 15, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 918-021, May 15, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/918-021 (accessed October 1, 2026).