Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 35 › Conversation 035-116

Nixon phone call with Romney on Housing subsidies and Public speaking

Tuesday, January 9, 1973 · 3:24 PM–3:25 PM ET · White House Telephone · 54 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Romney, Lenore L.Conversation035-116 on Tape 35StartTuesday, January 9, 1973 at 3:24 PMEndTuesday, January 9, 1973 at 3:25 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 035-116 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon called Lenore Romney to convey his personal praise for a recent speech given by her husband, HUD Secretary George Romney, at a National Association of Home Builders conference. Nixon commended Secretary Romney’s courageous decision to address controversial housing subsidy policies, framing the move as a necessary action for the administration. Lenore Romney acknowledged the effort her husband put into the speech and promised to relay the President’s appreciation upon his return.

George W. Romney
Housing subsidies
Public speaking
HUD
Executive praise

Audio

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NARA Description

On January 9, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Lenore L. Romney talked on the telephone from 3:24 pm to 3:25 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 035-116 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 35-116

Date: January 9, 1973
Time: 3:24 pm - 3:25 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Lenore L. Romney.

[See Conversation No. 401-16A]

       The President's attempt to call George W. Romney

      George Romney’s housing speech [at National Association of Home Builders meeting in
Houston, January 8, 1973]
            -The President's congratulations
            -Subsidies
            -Necessity

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Mr. President, I have Mrs. Romney now.

Hello.

Thank you.

Mrs. Romney, the President.

Hello.

I tried to reach George, and he's on his way back from Texas, but you can pass the message to him.

I just wanted to tell him that that was a fine, courageous speech he made on housing down there.

And we had to bite that bullet, and I appreciated his doing it for us.

Thank you, Mr. President.

He'll really appreciate it.

I know that he'd worked on it all day yesterday with, you know, working out the things with the people here, but we had to do subsidies and so forth.

And I know he became convinced it was the right thing to do, but it was still a darn courageous thing to do.

And he didn't have to do it, so I appreciated it.

Thank you.

I appreciate your calling, and I know he will.

All right.

Thanks very much.

Also recorded on January 9, 1973

035-114 3:02 PM · 2 min — Julie Nixon Eisenhower and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 3:02 pm to 3:03 pm.
401-012 3:02 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:02 pm to 3:03 pm.
401-013 3:03 PM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:03 pm and 3:04 pm.
035-115 3:04 PM · 22 sec — the White House operator and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at 3:04 pm.
401-014 3:04 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:04 pm.
401-015 3:04 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:04 pm and 3:09 pm.
401-016 3:09 PM · 1 hr 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Charles W. Colson, unknown person(s), Manolo Sanchez, Lenore L. Romney, White House operator, Stephen B. Bull, John D. Ehrlichman, White House operator, and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 4:25 pm.
035-117 3:25 PM · 2 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:25 pm and 4:11 pm.

All 45 conversations from January 9, 1973 →

Nixon & Ehrlichman on George Romney and HUD August 11, 1972 · 2 min
Nixon, Romney & Ehrlichman on HUD and second term reorganization November 24, 1972 · 37 min
Nixon, Van Dusen & Cole on HUD and Career transition December 19, 1972 · 12 min
Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Busing and John B. Connally December 25, 1971 · 3 min
Nixon phone call with McClure on 1972 elections and Political endorsements November 4, 1972 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Lynn on Cabinet confirmation and Housing policy January 11, 1973 · 1 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 035-116, January 9, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/035-116 (accessed November 8, 2026).