Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 32 › Conversation 032-128

Nixon phone call with Eisenhower on Les Arends and Gerald R. Ford

Wednesday, November 1, 1972 · 9:13 PM–9:19 PM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Eisenhower, Julie NixonConversation032-128 on Tape 32StartWednesday, November 1, 1972 at 9:13 PMEndWednesday, November 1, 1972 at 9:19 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 032-128 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417194151 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon spoke with his daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, about remarks she could make regarding two key Republican leaders in Congress, Les Arends and Gerald R. Ford. Nixon provided specific praise for Arends's leadership on national defense and peace with honor, and for Ford's role as Chairman of the 1968 and 1972 Republican Conventions, highlighting their loyalty and strength as political allies.

Audio

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This clip of the conversation was cut from the tape by the National Archives (catalog record ↗).

NARA Description

On November 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 9:13 pm to 9:19 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 032-128 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 032-128

Date: November 1, 1972
Time: 9:13 pm - 9:19 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 376-6]

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[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 01/24/2018.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[032-128-w001]

[Duration: 5m 51s]

       Julie Nixon Eisenhower's schedule
               -Congressman Les Arends
                      -Geneva, Aurora, Battavia, Illinois
                      -Freshman Congressman
                      -The President’s view of Les Arends
                             -Indispensable leader in Congress
                             -Positions on national defense and peace with honor
                             -Keeping America strong
               -Congressman Gerald R. Ford
                      -Chairman of Republican Convention 1968
                      -1972 Republican Convention
                      -Grand Rapids
                             -Anecdote
                      -The President’s view of Gerald R. Ford
                             -Betty Ford
                             -Political and personal friends
                             -Top leaders
                                     -Republican leader of the House
                                     -Comparison to Les Arends
                                             -Whip
                      -Loyalty

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

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OperatorJulie is calling.
NixonYeah.
OperatorHere you are.
NixonHello.
EisenhowerDaddy?
NixonHi, Julie. Hi.
EisenhowerDo you have a minute to talk now?
NixonCourse I have.
EisenhowerGood. Tomorrow I'm going to be with Les Arends
NixonOh, yeah.
Eisenhowerin Geneva,
NixonRight.
Eisenhowerand Batavia, Illinois. Do you have Have you ever been to either of those three cities,
EisenhowerGeneva, Aurora, or Batavia?
NixonI I think I've been in Aurora.
EisenhowerYeah.
NixonYeah. And, the main thing is to say that I have
EisenhowerCan you say anything about Tell me any good stories about Les Arends?
EisenhowerAnd you've known him since you were a freshman congressman. Could I say that you've always admired him?
NixonYes, that I that I have, that I have known and admired him since I first met him as a freshman congressman 25 years ago. And that he's a he's a he's one of the and I have have always enjoyed. I've always
Nixonalways enjoyed the many visits I have paid to his district. Many I made I have made to his district. That,
EisenhowerDo you remember Have you ever played golf with him, or anything?
NixonYes. Yes.
NixonI don't know whether you want to mention that. But,
EisenhowerSomething about him being so great on national defense.
NixonYeah. I would say that, he is one of the indispensable, of our leaders of our, of,
Nixonwell, he is one of the indispensable leaders of the, Let me think. How to get to Republicans, let's see. Out of Congress,
Nixonhe is one of the indispensable leaders of our Congress, and no man in the Congress, through all the years I've known him, has been a more of a tower of strength on the great issue of national defense and peace with honor for America than Les Arends than Les Arends, something like that.
NixonAnd, a national defense Yeah, on, on, on on keeping America strong, on keeping America strong and seeking peace with honor in the world than Les Arends. And seeking peace with honor. Right. Good. And now, then the other one, Daddy, is Jerry Ford. Right.
EisenhowerCould you tell me a couple of things about him?
NixonWell, that, that he is the, I would point out first that we were proud that he presided so, with dignity and poise over our conventions in 1968.
NixonHe presided over our convention as the Chairman in 1968, and we won a great victory that year. He presided over our convention in this year in 1972, and we we think that history will repeat itself this year. You say that.
EisenhowerRight.
NixonAnd that I have, been Is it Grand Rapids?
EisenhowerYes.
NixonAnd that I've, remember speaking in Grand Rapids as a young Congressman. And I remember on that occasion that, that, one thing I do remember is the lights went off. It was a dinner. A fund-raiser, and the lights, the power went off.
EisenhowerOh, no.
NixonAnd, I'm convinced that, that this year that, well, that we're convinced this year that,
EisenhowerI could just, you know, that you've got to I can make a joke out of that.
NixonYeah, you can say, "I remember the lights went off, but they're not going to go off again." But now we've but we've turned the lights on in Washington now, and they're going to stay on, something like that.
EisenhowerYeah.
EisenhowerOh, that's good.
NixonWe've turned the lights on in the White House, and they're going to stay on.
EisenhowerIs there anything more about Jerry Ford, just that,
NixonWell, that he's, that I've Friend. that he and his wife are not only our closest political friends, but our closest personal friends. And that, he's the, perhaps one of the three or four outstanding leaders in both the House and the Senate, in other words, in the whole nation today.
NixonOne of the top one of the top leaders in the whole nation today in his position as the Republican leader of the House.
NixonAnd,
EisenhowerWhy isn't Leslie Arends the Republican leader of the House?
NixonWell, he's he's the Whip. The Whip? He's older, he's older. But he's the Whip, but he wasn't elected that. He's the second man. Uh-huh. That's very hard, too, you see.
EisenhowerYeah.
NixonAnd that Les Arends is, you can point out that with, with Les Arends that, I don't know whether you want to mention that we've we've is, he's he's been both both Ford and Arends were loyal, too. They're totally loyal. They're loyal and then in a in a fight, you can use the same thing in a in a fight,
Nixonthat that is, in any kind of In the many hard battles we've had over these last four years, then you can say that there's I have always known that I could count on Les Arends for his support, and, in all the battles we've had, I've always known that we could count on Larry, Jerry Ford. You see, you could use that both places.
EisenhowerGood.
EisenhowerGreat. You've been a big help.
NixonOkay, fine.
EisenhowerThank you, Daddy.
NixonGood luck to you.
EisenhowerOkay. Bye.

Also recorded on November 1, 1972

  • 032-125 7:38 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:38 pm.
  • 032-127 7:42 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:42 pm and 8:08 pm.
  • 376-002 8:08 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:08 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 376-003 8:08 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:08 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 376-004 8:08 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:08 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 376-005 8:08 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:08 pm and 9:13 pm.
  • 376-006 9:13 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:13 pm to 9:19 pm.
  • 032-129 9:19 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:19 pm and 10:10 pm.

All 63 conversations from November 1, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 032-128, November 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417194151). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/032-128 (accessed November 2, 2026).