Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 1 › Conversation 001-034

Nixon phone call with Woods on Southeast Asia and Public opinion

Wednesday, April 7, 1971 · 10:52 PM–11:08 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose MaryConversation001-034 on Tape 1 (tape position 01:14:48–01:18:41)StartWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 10:52 PMEndWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 11:08 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 001-034 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and his personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, discussed the positive public and internal reactions to the President's recent televised speech regarding the war in Southeast Asia. Woods relayed favorable feedback from Admiral Thomas Moorer, Paul Keyes, and an acquaintance named Louis, highlighting the effectiveness of the President's calm tone and delivery. The conversation underscores Nixon’s focus on assessing political support and his appreciation for loyal associates who remained steadfast during challenging periods.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I have Ms. Woods calling you, sir.
Yeah, she's all right.
Hi.
Hello?
Yeah.
Hi.
Wanted to tell you a couple more things.
One, Admiral Maher just called.
He just has returned, you know, from Turkey for the central meeting.
And he wanted me to tell you that he called to express his appreciation, and he felt that all the military people would appreciate what you did, what you really said about all the efforts over there.
As a matter of fact, I'm sorry, but he just thought it was so great, and he said, tell you, everything's going to be all right.
He said he thinks that you struck just the right note.
Just the right note.
Good.
Well, that's good.
Then I had a call from Paul Keyes.
Paul Keyes.
Oh, yeah, old Paul.
And he said, tell him that it was on the best speeches he ever made.
every he thought it was marvelous he thought that the calm low voice was absolutely beautiful and necessary for people that it was terribly important that because of the way you spoke and the tone of your voice as well as what you said and he went on he could he almost repeated speech he could tell you you know what you said but he said
it was really the the low voice the low tone of voice and and he was he particularly liked the way you ended it he also liked several of the other phrases one of them was the one that uniting the nation in our own nation but he he couldn't say enough about the whole
tone of what came over the attitude what came over the air good good he was he was just thrilled so i i wanted to i won't bother with any more calls you didn't uh you haven't heard from any cabinet officers have you well uh yeah except for mitchell rogers and mitchell that's all i know they're all running away uh i know i know but that's our okay
Well, maybe not.
Maybe a lot of them wouldn't, you know.
Let's face it, a lot of them might not want to talk to me.
Most of them would.
Big they would.
No.
That's right.
Well, fine.
I'm glad that Paul felt that way.
Oh, he was so thrilled.
And he just wanted you to know that the whole country, and Admiral Moore was great.
Good.
Good.
good and and your speech was and what you did with that ending you keep telling me that i'm hard-hearted or that i say everything's great but it was absolutely beautiful well actually it was pretty good actually because i did that it took me a lot of many hours to get that i know that and nobody knew i was going to do it no one knew you were going to do it and i sat here with tears streaming down my face now i watched it with louis
Oh, Louie.
Oh, great.
What did he think?
And he wanted you to know that he thought it was one of the greatest speeches you've ever given.
Wonderful.
Good.
He left.
He stayed.
He was here.
I don't know.
He was just in town and out.
He stayed.
You know, he never asked to talk.
I know.
But he liked it.
Just tell him, because I started yelling.
I said, look, I have to run.
Just tell him it was a great, great speech.
He stood up.
He was just great.
Good, good.
Well, Louie is one of our few real good friends, ain't he?
He is, because he never asks me.
There aren't many.
Well, I know, but there aren't many there with us.
There aren't many like that.
He was with us all through the tough times.
Okay, honey.
Okay.
Bye.
Bye.

NARA Description

On April 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:52 pm and 11:08 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 001-034 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 1-34

Date: April 7, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:52 pm and 11:08 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Rose Mary Woods talked with the President.

     President’s previous speech on Southeast Asia
          -Reaction
                -Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
                -Paul W. Keyes
                -Cabinet
                      -William P. Rogers
                      -John N. Mitchell
                -Keyes
                -Moorer
                -Woods
                -Louis [Surname unknown]

Also recorded on April 8, 1971

  • 001-027 10:38 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo, and Manolo Sanchez talked on the telephone from 10:38 pm to 10:45 pm.
  • 001-028 10:45 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:45 pm.
  • 001-029 10:45 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:45 pm.
  • 001-030 10:45 PM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:45 pm.
  • 001-031 10:46 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 10:46 pm to 10:48 pm.
  • 001-032 10:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 10:49 pm to 10:50 pm.
  • 001-033 10:51 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Nelson A. Rockefeller talked on the telephone from 10:51 pm to 10:52 pm.
  • 001-035 11:08 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 11:08 pm to 11:11 pm.

All 67 conversations from April 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 001-034, April 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-034 (accessed October 9, 2026).