On October 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and George E. Allen talked on the telephone from 10:18 pm to 10:30 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-024 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
Mr. Allen, sir.
Oh, hi, Mr. President.
How are you feeling tonight?
Oh, I feel good after a win.
You know how that is.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Well, I saw it on television.
Oh, did you?
Yeah, I was at Camp Dubit doing some work, and I had to come down to speak to the Italian Columbus State dinner tonight.
That's when you dropped by.
I was just getting ready to go over there.
Well, I had my family, and we just finished dinner, and I saw the helicopter.
Right.
Well, I just wish you could have come in.
Well, it's a further woman's day.
Right.
Right.
By the way, I was...
But that was a good one.
Actually, frankly, both weeks, I mean, the gear team was so far superior.
I mean, the one week before was just one of those darn things.
At this time, you know, except for those two interceptions in that first half, it had been
35 to nothing, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Well, Reeves has a lot of potential, but I would imagine in five or six years he's going to be quite a boy, don't you think?
It's going to take quite a while, yes.
Yeah, take a while.
But how do you feel about the way things went today?
I thought our defense was coming around again, and that's where we had last year a great defense.
Oh, gosh, yes.
You have to have that.
Yeah.
And Sonny,
a little jittery in there.
So you think that's what it was?
Just a little rusty, huh?
You know, just pushing, pushing.
Here's a guy, 38, and he's played 17 years, but it just shows that no matter how much experience you have, that you get those butterflies and you're jittery.
And for the second half, he didn't throw an incomplete pass, you know.
Oh, I know, I know.
And of course, what you have, it seems to me, isn't it?
It seems to me that the offensive line...
are blocking as better than last year.
I may be wrong about that.
No, you're correct.
They are.
There's something there.
And my God, I think Haraway is stronger than he was last year.
He's either heavier or something.
I don't know what.
He's running harder and he's lower.
Oh.
And he's taking off better.
See, last year he was a slow starter.
That is right.
But Brown, God, he is something else, isn't he?
Yeah, yeah.
He really moves.
He really moves.
What about his health?
Is he going to— Yeah, he takes—you see, Mr. Bresni's only—this year we got him up to 2.4, which is heavy for him, and his normal weight's about 195 grams.
He takes it to beating because of his size, you see.
Yeah.
So what about this—I saw in one of the exhibitions, I saw a little of George with Knox's name.
You know what?
He looked awfully good.
This is the next move I'm going to make.
In fact, it's interesting you mention that because I just wrote it on the back of my play-by-play.
See George Knox tomorrow morning.
I'm going to activate him, but again, I won't mention it until his game time.
What would you do, alternating with Brown or Haraway?
With Haraway.
Can he block as well as Haraway?
No, not as good a blocker, but Haraway's a terrific blocker.
He's a tremendous blocker, but he can play both positions.
And he's a better runner than Haraway.
Yeah, he'll give us the long gainer.
What has he got, speed?
He's elusive, and he's got...
If you watch when he's tackled, he's got a late kick.
He breaks tackles.
We got him from the Jets.
He's only about 26.
I think he's got a chance to help us.
I want to give him some work this week before Dallas.
Otherwise, we'll put him in against Dallas and he'll make some mistakes.
Who do you play this week?
This week we go to St. Louis.
And they upset Minnesota today.
Oh, no.
Yeah, they beat Minnesota.
What in the dickens is wrong with Minnesota?
I can't understand.
I tell you what, the league is so balanced now that if you think that you can go out and show up and win, you're in trouble.
And I predicted that Buffalo would beat Boston because Boston would have a letdown, you know.
They had a tremendous letdown, didn't they?
Yeah, after beating Atlanta and the Redskins.
Yeah.
And the 49ers had a big letdown today.
I was surprised.
Of course, Gabriel seemed to be throwing again, didn't he?
Yeah.
When does Dallas come, George?
When they come, Mr. Allen and I were talking.
They're two weeks.
They're a week from this next Sunday at Redskins Park.
They're at Dallas State Stadium.
And with you and your family, we'd love to come.
I'll tell you, I think what I'll do, I think I'm deliberately going to wait until after the election so that everybody's going to read something into it.
I know it.
And I'm just not going to give them a chance.
No, listen, I think you're doing everything just great, Mr. President.
Well, we're good.
I'm going to...
But I'll come afterwards.
As I told you, I'll come when you need me.
Okay.
Tell me one other thing.
What about your defensive halfbacks and so forth?
Yeah, he's playing as well as he did last year.
Is it because they're a little slower?
Yeah, I tell you what, Richie Petty, when I had a tough decision to make, I put him on the move list.
It slowed down a little bit.
And when you have two of them in that secondary, you know, it— Have you got anybody you could bring up or anybody you could trade for?
It seems to me, just from what I see, that that's the one thing where they could—they've been able to pick—even today, that Reeves, that guy, he had one guy out there who shouldn't have had a touchdown.
That's exactly right.
We got a break there.
We really don't have anyone.
Monday I'm going to start calling around the league and see who's available, because we can't trade after six games.
We only have two more weeks to trade.
You know, you might just find—of course, this is rude experience—but you just might find some guy, you know,
Young and eager and fast.
That's a great specialty though, isn't it?
Boy, you've got a good one back there.
He can make all the difference, can't he?
Last year we led the league in interceptions.
Right, right.
This year we're struggling, but we changed our defenses today completely, and that's one of the things that the Eagles went to a totally different approach.
If we mix our coverages enough, then they can't pick on any one guy.
Yeah.
That's what we're trying to do.
I tell you one guy who I think is really doing an enormous job is that big defensive end you got from the Jets.
Me?
My gosh.
Yeah.
He has been outstanding.
Yes, he has.
He's in there.
I think he's as good as any of those you had in front for it already.
What do you think?
He is.
Yeah, he's doing a great job.
He has a tremendous attitude.
How is he?
Good attitude, you say?
Yeah.
Real good attitude.
I think that's the one thing we have on our team that we can't hit last year.
We've got two good guys.
Right.
Speaking, finally, of St. Louis.
I mean, you handled them rather easily last time.
Will the Bulls be up for it this time?
Oh, they better be.
Was Boston just a letdown, don't you think?
It was a letdown.
I could see it coming.
Of course, I know you said it during the week.
And I couldn't get it across.
Of course, but your team was much superior to Boston.
Apart from everything else, you should have beaten them a couple of touchdowns.
We missed that damn easy field goal, you know.
We should have had— Is Knight off a little?
He's pressing.
He's just— Is that it?
He's just pressing.
But he's a great kicker.
He's bound to come back, don't you think?
He will.
He'll come back because he'll win.
In fact, I told him today, I said, listen, you missed that one.
So what?
He'll win a couple of fourths.
Right.
We didn't need it today.
What about St. Louis, though they don't have—
They really don't have that great quarterback, though, do they?
No, they're going with Coazo, who's probably better than Hart or Van Galder and Desi Thompson, St. Louis.
And their win now puts them back in the race again.
With you?
Yeah.
What happened to Dallas?
They came from behind and they won.
I expected they would.
Yeah, they beat Pittsburgh 17 to 13.
Well, all in all, though, George, it looks to me like Dallas isn't going to be as tough for you this year as last year.
Well, I hope not.
Do you think?
I mean, it depends on who the quarterback is.
Yeah, I think if they get that.
See, Morton doesn't scramble, and that's an advantage.
And the staff probably won't play against us in two weeks.
I don't believe he will.
But the big thing is to win next week.
You've got to win next week.
In fact, if the boys get that one, then you don't have to get them up for Dallas.
No, you don't put it there.
Well, anyway, good luck.
And incidentally, you're absolutely right to keep the press out.
Those bastards were knifing you.
I mean, not you personally, but they're knifing the team.
That's right, you see.
And creating dissension, right?
Yeah, they, you know, one of them told me, he said, well, I, you know, he said, I don't care whether the Redskins win or lose.
He said,
I just want to do my job, you know.
And I said, gee, we owe something to this area.
I really feel that I'm proud to be the Redskins coach in the capital, and I think we have an obligation to the fans.
And if they're going to do something to our team, then we're not going to close it.
And it's true in politics, and it's true of some sportswriters.
They, by golly, they'd shoot their grandmother for a story.
Yeah.
Really?
Yeah.
And that many of them, I wouldn't confide in any of them.
I'd play them pretty cool.
Yeah.
I mean, they have to be with you if you win.
Yeah.
I think the team probably is with you for keeping them out there.
Well, the team appreciates it.
I think most of them realize that
all that counts is that we stick together and keep that same line.
As of now.
Oh, sure.
And you can be generous once in a while.
Yeah.
Well, good luck and good luck to your wife, too.
We'll see you after the election, George.
Right.
But don't you lose next week.
No, we won't, Mr. Cruz.
You tell those guys that I'll be around when they need me.
Okay.
Good luck to you and say hello to Mrs. Dunn.
Okay, George.
And we appreciate you calling.
Thank you.
Good night.