{"conversationCode":"921-016","tapeNumber":921,"conversationNumber":16,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-921-016","startDateTime":"1973-05-17T16:13:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1973-05-17T16:21:00.000Z","startDate":"17-May-1973","startTime":"12:13 PM","endDate":"17-May-1973","endTime":"12:21 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;","description":"On May 17, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:21 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 921-016 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":"5.5","chronRelease":"Fifth Chronological Release: Part V","chronReleaseDate":"21-Aug-2013","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 921-16\n\nDate: May 17, 1973\nTime: Unknown between 12:13 pm and 12:21 pm\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.\n\n       Watergate\n             -Doctor’s letter to Haig\n                    -Set-up\n\f                                          -32-\n\n                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM","filename":["921-016.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Haig, Alexander M., Jr."],"prevCode":"921-015","nextCode":"921-017","transcript":[{"start":11.97,"end":12.13,"text":"Oh."},{"start":16.18,"end":16.3,"text":"Oh."},{"start":17.96,"end":18.84,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":19.54,"end":19.72,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":22.02,"end":22.92,"text":"Well, it's from New York."},{"start":22.94,"end":24.09,"text":"It's a clear phony, then."},{"start":25.33,"end":25.65,"text":"Clear phony."},{"start":25.73,"end":26.75,"text":"All right."},{"start":26.79,"end":27.87,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":28.41,"end":33.05,"text":"It's a crank letter, of course, then."},{"start":40.28,"end":44.93,"text":"You think that somebody's trying to set somebody up?"},{"start":44.95,"end":45.07,"text":"I see."},{"start":45.69,"end":46.73,"text":"All right."},{"start":46.75,"end":47.79,"text":"Fine."},{"start":47.81,"end":48.31,"text":"I have time."},{"start":49.58,"end":50.14,"text":"Okay."},{"start":50.36,"end":50.6,"text":"Fine."},{"start":51,"end":51.22,"text":"Fine."},{"start":51.38,"end":52.42,"text":"Do whatever you like."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander Haig consult regarding a suspicious letter sent to Haig from New York, which the President dismisses as a \"phony\" crank communication. The two speculate that the letter may be part of a deliberate setup designed to manipulate or implicate individuals involved in the Watergate scandal. Nixon ultimately instructs Haig to handle the matter as he sees fit, deferring to his Chief of Staff's judgment on how to dispose of the document.","topics":["Watergate","Alexander Haig","Political intrigue","White House operations","Correspondence"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-09T00:17:33.908Z"},"topicSlugs":["watergate","alexander-haig","political-intrigue","white-house-operations","correspondence"],"audioDurationSec":59,"audioFiles":[{"file":"921-016.mp3","bytes":1898496,"durationSec":59.21,"bitrate":256495,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:20:06.647Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:45:03.339Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/921-016.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/921-016","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/921/conversation-921-016","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}