Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 176 › Conversation 176-004

Nixon, Cox & Camp David Operator on Illinois State Fair and George McGovern

Thursday, August 17, 1972 · 6:08 PM–6:13 PM ET · Camp David Study Desk · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Camp David Operator; Cox, Tricia NixonConversation176-004 on Tape 176StartThursday, August 17, 1972 at 6:08 PMEndThursday, August 17, 1972 at 6:13 PMRecording deviceCamp David Study DeskSourceNixon Library record for 176-004 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417174905 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon called his daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, to discuss her recent appearance at the Illinois State Fair and compare the crowd sizes to those for George McGovern's visit to Wisconsin. They also discussed Nixon's upcoming Republican Party acceptance speech, with Cox advising him to highlight his record and the differences in policy choices rather than directly naming opponents.

Audio

Download MP3 · 10.5 MB

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

NARA Description

On August 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Camp David operator, and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at Camp David from 6:08 pm to 6:13 pm. The Camp David Study Desk taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 176-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 176-4

Date: August 17, 1972
Time: 6:08 pm - 6:13 pm
Location: Camp David Study Desk

The President talked with the Camp David operator.

[See Conversation No. 203-26]

     Request for a call to Tricia Nixon Cox

The President talked with Tricia Nixon Cox.

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 11/08/2017.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal returnable]
[176-004-w001]
[Duration: 4m 28s]

     Tricia Nixon Cox’s appearance on August 17, 1972 at the Illinois State Fair
          -Reaction

     George S. McGovern
         -Racine, Wisconsin visit
               -Audience size at airport
               -Attendance along motorcade route
         -Crowds at Illinois State Fair

     Tricia Nixon Cox’s appearance on August 17, 1972 at the Illinois State Fair
          -Crowds
          -Senator Charles H. Percy
          -Governor Richard Ogilvie
          -Senator Charles H. Percy
                -Sharon Percy Rockefeller
          -State office candidates
          -Speeches
          -Location

           -The President’s popularity in Illinois

     The President's Republican Party acceptance speech
          -Substance
                -Foreign policy
                -Defense policy
                      -Law and order
                      -Justice
                -Economics
                      -Taxes
          -Differences with George S. McGovern
          -Tricia’s opinion
                -Approach
                -The President’s record
          -Differences with George S. McGovern
                -Choices
                      -New majority
                -Tactics

*****************************************************************

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.

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OperatorYes, please?
NixonTricia, please.
OperatorThank you, sir. Go ahead, sir.
CoxHello?
NixonHello?
CoxDaddy?
NixonHi, Trish. How are you?
CoxFine. I just got back from the fair.
NixonOh, I hope it went all right.
CoxYeah, it was really great. [crosstalk] A lot of people remembered seeing you last year, you know, and they're so excited. But I was going to tell you something funny.
NixonFine. And it has [unintelligible]
NixonMhm.
CoxI was coming back and I had the news on, so I was listening to the news about McGovern's day in Racine, Wisconsin.
NixonYeah.
CoxGuess how many people greeted him at the airport there.
NixonHow many?
Cox30, including newsmen.
NixonI'll be darned.
CoxAnd guess how many people were in were along the motorcade route to the town.
NixonYeah.
CoxTwo to 300.
NixonI'll be darned.
CoxIsn't that bad?
CoxSo, it's really something. And, apparently, last uh yesterday at the fair it was just as bad, as far as crowds go. You know, there was only about 4,000 people or something.
NixonNow your crowds were better than that, I bet.
CoxYeah.
CoxYeah.
CoxSo it's really incredible.
NixonYour crowds were good and friendly?
CoxYeah, everybody was really friendly.
NixonI bet Percy was friendly, wasn't he?
CoxYeah, he really was. His whole family was there.
NixonOgilvie?
CoxAnd Sharon.
NixonOgilvie?
CoxOgilvie was there with his whole family.
NixonThat's nice.
CoxAnd a lot of other people who are running for state office. And they had a, you know, we gave a talk in front of someone's lawn.
CoxA lot of people had gathered, you know.
NixonWho did?
CoxYeah. And then, Percy talked, and Ogilvie talked.
NixonWhere was this, on a lawn, you say?
CoxYeah, well, you see, someone owns a house there. Yeah.
NixonYeah.
NixonOh, you didn't do it at the fairground.
CoxRight. Cuz you know that's supposed to be nonpolitical. I walked from the fair to the house, and gave the speech.
NixonI see.
NixonAnd you went there? Well, that's great. All sure that's great, glad you could do it.
CoxSo, a lot of great support in Illinois.
NixonYeah. Incidentally, I'm just trying to work on the acceptance, and, boy, it's the hardest work. Do you think it should be uh one where I should uh
CoxYeah.
Nixonpartly point up the choice, you know, on on the uh on the three areas, the only three areas I've had planned to discuss: naturally, foreign policy and defense policy, the whole area of law and order and justice, you know, where I've been and, of course, the the the economics, basically, taxes and so forth and so on.
NixonNow, do you think I should do that, or do you think that pays too much attention to him?
CoxLet me see.
NixonAnd, uh, you see, Well, it's a little it's a little hard to say. You don't got a hell of a lot to say unless you talk about something. You could simply go on and say, well--
CoxWell, what's your other What would you
CoxWell, in other words, you're just talking about the positive issues, right?
NixonThe other thing you could do is just simply say we we think we're right and we ask for your support. But, you know, it would be sort of a bland speech unless you unless you point up the differences.
CoxWell, frankly, I think you can get positive and like, if you want my honest opinion.
NixonTo do what?
CoxYes, I do. I think that, you know, you are the president first, but that you have a record that you can be proud of, and I would mention the record.
NixonYeah.
CoxAnd that you I wouldn't just I would I would I'd make it a a real combination, but I would definitely mention the record.
NixonOh, yeah. Well, we're going to mention the record, but do you think we should mention uh that our differences with him, in other words, that this It's not the idea that uh that uh that uh here is the great choice. There are three there are three great choices: one, the economic policy, that is, he
CoxIn other words, would you
CoxOh, I see what you mean. In other words, would you mention his name, or
NixonOh, God, no! I'm not going to mention the name, but they should I would never That's never the thing. No, you you say, "Our opponents do this, that, or the other thing." But, but here's the choice that we have to do: We believe this. They believe that.
NixonAnd we ask you to join us. I'm going to say, "We ask you to join a new majority."
CoxI like it.
NixonMhm.
CoxI like it. I like the idea of "We ask you to join the new majority."
NixonYeah, that's good, but what do you think about What do you think about the fact Should we Should we do it on the basis of simply stating what we believe in, and only tangentially the other?
CoxI understand. In other words, do you do you say what you believe in, or do you draw a comparison?
NixonYeah.
CoxLine-in-line.
NixonWell, or you might actually
CoxI can see I mean, it is the choice, yeah.
NixonHere is the choice. We believe this. We believe that.
CoxRight. Can I think about it and call you back in 10 minutes?
NixonAll right, fine. Fine.
CoxOkay, I'd really like to think about it.
NixonAll right, thank you.
Cox'Kay, bye.

Also recorded on August 17, 1972

  • 203-026 6:08 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Camp David operator, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 6:08 pm to 6:13 pm.
  • 203-027 6:13 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 6:13 pm and 6:18 pm.
  • 176-005 6:18 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Camp David operator, Manolo Sanchez, and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at Camp David from 6:18 pm to 6:23 pm.
  • 203-028 6:18 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Camp David operator, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 6:18 pm to 6:23 pm.
  • 203-029 6:23 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 6:23 pm and 6:25 pm.
  • 176-006 6:25 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Camp David operator, and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at Camp David from 6:25 pm to 6:26 pm.
  • 203-030 6:25 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Camp David operator, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 6:25 pm to 6:26 pm.
  • 204-001 6:26 PM · 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 6:26 pm and 7:35 pm.

All 62 conversations from August 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 176-004, August 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417174905). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/176-004 (accessed November 6, 2026).