Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 20 › Conversation 020-131

Nixon phone call with Scott on China and Mike Mansfield

Tuesday, February 29, 1972 · 9:13 PM–9:17 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Scott, HughConversation020-131 on Tape 20 (tape position 04:25:12–04:27:54)StartTuesday, February 29, 1972 at 9:13 PMEndTuesday, February 29, 1972 at 9:17 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 020-131 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott discussed the upcoming trip to the People's Republic of China by Scott and Senator Mike Mansfield. Nixon instructed Scott to mitigate friction with the House of Representatives by emphasizing that future trips would likely include House members. Additionally, the President advised Scott to maintain a measured diplomatic stance regarding Taiwan to avoid provoking a negative reaction from Chinese officials.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Hello.

Senator Scott, sir.

Hello.

There you are.

You.

Some of our friends on the House side are a little pissed off that you and Mike are going.

And they say, why the hell don't we have any people from the House going?

When you're handling it, you could just say, well, you're going and others will go, too.

Would you do that, please?

You can see the problems.

Basically, the reason that John Lai is inviting you and Mike is that they know that you were interested in China, that you've been there, and that you wanted to go, and you'd applied, and all that sort of thing.

And the House guys, you know, really haven't, you see.

What do you think about this issue?

But don't, if you could help me by pointing out, well, sure, other House members, people from the House will go also, huh?

See, you and Mike will be the first

Anytime you want.

Incidentally, it'll take about two weeks before we get the channel set up, and then we'll get it all worked out.

But I think you should know that it took me about three hours with Joe and I to work this out, and I don't tell Mike this, but, boy, we really got it.

I mean, I just said these are the guys that ought to go, and he agreed, finally.

You should be the first.

yeah yeah the leaders thing worked out well did you think what worked out okay right we don't want to we don't want to hit that let me say that we don't want to hit that few

so hard that we make the Chinese react to it, just say, well, our commitments are there, and that's that, and just leave it lay.

You see?

Right.

Good.

Well, you and Mike are going to have a great time, I can assure you.

Right.

Not kind.

It was just the right thing to do for the country.

Okay, Mike.

Okay.

Brian, it's you.

NARA Description

On February 29, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Hugh Scott talked on the telephone from 9:13 pm to 9:17 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 020-131 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 20-131

Date: February 29, 1972
Time: 9:13 pm - 9:17 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Hugh Scott.

     Scott’s and Michael J. Mansfield’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China
            [PRC] trip
           -House of Representatives objections
                -Scott rebuttal
           -Timing
           -Preparations
                -Channels
                -President's discussion with Chou En-lai to set up trip
                      -Duration

     Leadership conference
          -Taiwan, Republic of China

                -US defense commitment
                     -Administration line
                          -PRC reaction

     Scott and Mansfield’s forthcoming PRC trip
           -Benefits

Also recorded on March 1, 1972

020-125 8:49 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 8:49 pm to 8:52 pm.
020-126 8:52 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:52 pm and 8:57 pm.
020-127 8:57 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:57 pm and 9:05 pm.
020-128 8:57 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:57 pm and 9:05 pm.
020-129 9:05 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Hobart D. Lewis talked on the telephone from 9:05 pm to 9:08 pm.
020-130 9:08 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:08 pm and 9:13 pm.
020-132 9:17 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 9:17 pm to 9:19 pm.
020-133 9:19 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:19 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 40 conversations from March 1, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 020-131, March 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/020-131 (accessed October 3, 2026).