Conversation 763-008

On August 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Edwin Edwards, Mrs. Edwin Edwards, Albert E. Hole, Victoria E. Edwards, Stephen R. Edwards, David E. Edwards, Mrs. Errol Schwartzenberg, Lynn Diamant, Russell B. Long, Thomas C. Korologos, William E. Timmons, White House photographer, Manolo Sanchez, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:32 am to 10:04 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 763-008 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 763-8

Date: August 7, 1972
Time: 9:32 am – 10:04 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon and Stephen B. Bull.

                                        (rev. Nov-03)

       The President’s schedule
            -Forthcoming meeting
                  -Presidential gifts
                         -Cuff links
                         -Pins
                         -Bow pins
                         -Tie bars
                         -Number of attendees
                  -Russell B. Long
                  -Elaine (Schwartzenburg) Edwards
                  -Edwin W. Edwards

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:34 am.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 31s        ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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Bull, Edwin Edwards, Elaine Edwards, Anna Edwards Hensgens, Victoria E. Edwards, Stephen
R. Edwards, David E. Edwards, Mrs. Errol Schwartzenburg, Lynn Diamant, Long, Thomas C.
Korologos and William E. Timmons entered at 9:34 am. The White House photographer and
members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting.

       Greetings

                                        (rev. Nov-03)

       Introductions

       President's remembrance
             -Mardi Gras

       Introductions and greetings
             -Long

       Photographs
            -Private photographs
            -Formal photographs
            -Arrangements
            -[Photograph session]

       Seating Arrangements

       Long’s camp
            -Compared to Camp David

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 9:34 am.

       Refreshments

Sanchez left at an unknown time after 9:34 am.

       Senate
            -Upcoming votes
                  -Domestic issues
                  -National defense
                        -Long
                        -Republicans
                        -Southern support for national defense
            -Foreign policy
                  -The President’s votes while in Congress

                                  (rev. Nov-03)

                  -Aid for Greece and Turkey
                  -Marshall Plan
            -Democratic support for President's policies
            -Compared to domestic matters
      -Long
            -The President’s view
      -John C. Stennis
            -The President’s previous conversation with Stennis
                  -Defense appropriations bill
            -Long’s remembrance
                  -Gen. Douglas MacArthur
                         -Dismissal from command in Korea
      -Southern Democratic Senators
            -Support for the President in foreign policy
            -J. William Fulbright
            -South
                  -Richard B. Russell
                         -Civil War
                  -Support for national defense
                         -Patriotism, voluntarism
      -Elaine Edwards
            -Office space
            -Allen J. Ellender's staff
                  -Retention by Elaine Edwards
                  -Need for trustworthy staff members

President's schedule
      -Previous trip tp Ellender's funeral

The presidency
     -Responsibilities
           -Letters of congratulation
           -Commendations
                 -Example of Iowa case
                        -Unknown person rescued from drowning

                                  (rev. Nov-03)

                        -Publicity of commendation in local newspapers

Ellender
      -Length of service
      -Reputation
      -Service as President pro tem of Senate

President's travels in the country
      -The President’s trip to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
             -Flood damage
      -Ability to interact with public
             -Member of House of Representatives
             -Senator
             -President

Long
       -Trips to Louisiana
       -Age

Presidential gifts
      -Edward Edwards
      -Men
            -Presidential seal
                   -Ceiling
                   -Rug
                   -Flag
                   -Cuff links
                         -Long
      -Women
            -Pin
      -Boys
            -Tie bar
      -Ash trays
            -Presidential seal and signature
            -Edwin Edwards

                                        (rev. Nov-03)

                   -Long
             -Cuff links

       Road construction project in Louisiana
            -Possible federal assistance

       Federal bureaucracy
            -Long’s view

       Oval Office
            -Edwin Edward’s view

       Virginia Senators

       Edwards's daughter
           -Mardi Gras ball gown
           -Photograph in the Washington Post
           -School

       Elaine Edwards’s swearing-in ceremony

       Farewells

       Elaine Edwards
             -Hometown
                  -Marksville, Louisiana
                         -Proximity to Alexandria, Louisiana
             -Votes in Senate

       Louisiana

Elaine Edwards et al. left at 10:02 am; Mrs. Nixon remained.

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                                         (rev. Nov-03)

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration:    58s     ]

Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 10:02 am.

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 10:02 am.

       Greetings

       Mrs. Nixon’s Schedule

Mrs. Nixon left at 10:03 am.

Butterfield and Sanchez left at 10:04 am.

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.

Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Good company, sir.
Thank you, sir.
The head is for the ladies, including the older lady, the mother.
And the old head is for the children.
And, uh, I guess we'll give that back to him, sir.
I'm here, sir.
I'm here, sir.
I'm here, sir.
I'm here, sir.
Come on.
I'm out there, sir.
Well, we're out there.
Hey, we'll just do the same.
There you go.
I'm a present bearer.
Except for their young kids, it should be open.
If their girls are young, only the adults are allowed.
Did she want to spend some time with Senator Long?
Well, I think that I should spend some time with Senator Long, the new senator and the governor, and I should see them.
Senator.
Senator.
Let's just let them all come in.
Let them all come in.
I'll sit down, Mr. Raines, and we all sit down and have a cup of coffee.
Mr. President.
Well, you do?
They do.
I'll call you Senator.
That's it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
They're the oldest.
Yeah.
Russell, I'm already included.
It would be great to see you.
All right, over here.
Over here, over here.
Now, you stand here.
Now, Governor, I mean, Senator.
Yes, I do, now, Senator.
This will be number one.
This is a regulation that we must have.
We've got to get under this here.
Now we're going to have one in the back.
Get a voice right here.
Right there.
That's right on.
That's right.
All right.
I can call Russell.
All right.
Oh, thank you.
They all do.
They all do.
All right, fine.
Now, other members can step out now.
Now, if you step right over there, that would be easy.
Step over there.
Step over there.
Step over there.
Step over there.
Step over there.
Step over there.
That's where we're at.
You got enough bills to give the people all these people tickets?
All right, there you go.
Yeah, there you go.
This is a wall copy.
Oh, wow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
There we are.
I don't know.
Are you okay?
Thank you.
Why don't we just have her just sit here?
Why don't we just sit here?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Of course.
Of course, you were in the house.
Right.
Well, I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
That's right.
It's like you, David.
That's right.
The names of the people I met, they were fine.
The names of the people I used to do it with happened.
So I'll leave it out.
I'll leave it out.
Well, I was thinking that I think these Felicia people might make good coffee.
Sure.
Say, would you like a Coke, sir, or some incredible coffee or a Coke, sir?
How many folks?
How many folks?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
What I do want to say, what I want to say, sir, is that you're not just as well-informed and coherent as I am, because I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time, and I've been in the Senate for a long time,
And, you know, basically what the policy of the time is going to be in terms of the scoring, in relation to the four accounts.
On that, the thing that is always, where Russell and I have always been,
I guess we vote more, we vote more together than some other republics that are voting.
I'll say it was the 11th in Syria.
They go and say to the country, I've got better records than the African Republic.
The African Republic.
On that, it's been a great tradition, particularly of our, most of our, of Southern states.
You know, they're very strong for nationals.
cut that's going to make this country weaker than any other country.
The Russians, that's what this is all about.
You know, it isn't just whether you're going to save money.
We all want to save money, but you want to be weaker than the other people.
The other thing is that on the board of policy area, we, like when I was leading the Congress the way I remember supporting the Green 30-Shade program in Washington, now we have to depend on, frankly, Democrats.
the Senate to help us over some of the hard places.
So as far as we're concerned, you can be sure, we'll never bother you on a vote that involves divesting matters because those are matters where we have differences of opinion sometimes, and both, we subscribe to all and agree.
There are some times when we have national defense, and on those cases, why, we have to call you.
You can be sure we'll be trying to make that happen.
I'd like to write a speech tonight, but I want to say there hasn't been a man that's been better than Russell, because he's strong, he's outspoken, he's not afraid to go down the line in any sense.
In fact, you know, as a matter of fact, it's a funny thing.
I have never had to call.
I've called many Democratic senators on key things like national events and everything over the last few years.
I've never called them.
I've talked about some other matters.
You're listening to that.
You're right.
In fact, he used to code it.
He couldn't code it.
Funny thing, I called a great father yesterday.
I didn't use a great father.
I called John Stats.
Russell was right.
It's his birthday.
He's 71 years old and I can't believe it.
And I just thanked him for the work he'd done, you know, with the domestic appropriation stuff.
And, you know, he's such a gentleman.
He was saying, well, he said, I just thank you very, very awful hard.
I want to congratulate you on your birthday and thank you for what you've done for me.
He said, well, I was just doing it for the country.
And that's the way it is, right?
That's the way it is.
That's the way it is.
That's the way it is.
That's the way it is.
That's the way it is.
That's the way it is.
That's the way it is.
That's the way it is.
There might be some war secrets come out, but it might hurt you.
So Johnston, he said, you know, sometimes you have to go to save your country, even if it's not popular.
I think that the Southern Democrats as a whole, Mr. President, no matter what comes down to the ticket, somebody has to take charge and run this thing.
I'm not going to say you're not going to do anything, but I think somebody has to take charge.
And so when you can't,
There's no way that you can have a successful foreign policy with 435 congressmen and 100 senators talking about it.
You've got to unite behind one man.
And that's what we have across the United States and in that area.
So I think that if you just take the role of these southern senators, even if you put Bill Ford right among them, I think we'd probably have a higher percentage of support of you than, not even on the Republican side, yeah.
Okay.
Well, there's a reason I'm saying that.
that basically it's an interesting thing about yourself and not sort of a student.
One of the great poets, Dick Russell, Dick was a great scholar in Huntington.
He was a great arpenturian.
Dick was a student of the Civil War and the War of the Main States, I should say.
Anyway, how he used to talk about
Father, everything that I've done for my children, I'll send you back to you soon.
What has happened is that in the South, there is a very strong and incredible logistic hatred and so forth.
That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of hatreds in our country.
And the country is not all that different.
Believe me, Senator, when you see the things that our Congressmen and Senators are directing, it's really great.
Well, anyway, you know what they're doing.
Will you take the same, or they'll give you a different office, won't they, than the Senator on your behalf?
No, I... Because they didn't take your office.
It's a matter of...
I can't believe it.
It's a new building.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know.
You'll keep saying it.
Yeah.
How about staff?
Will you get to... Will you be able to change your staff?
No, I can keep...
So that's the thing, because I've closed it a while ago.
I need them.
Yeah.
You should, of course, ask the doctor and get your advice.
You should have at least one person.
Do you agree?
I agree.
You shed a ground that you can bring along because there will be, when I'm here, there may be naps of confidence that, not much you can trust us to have, but you agree with me that we've all had through.
You've got that one person in the office that you can talk to with confidence, you know?
In spite of the dissatisfaction that was sent by some of the college students, they went on to the English Christmas party, and the students sat there as well.
Wasn't it all grateful, the fact that you came?
Well, you know, after all, you know.
So one of the things about this position, I often say, try to think, you know, like, they say 40 scouts do 50 every day.
Well, like that, here it's all right.
These other guys just do all the right jobs.
But the main thing about the presidency is that
that what you can use in the office for the purpose of showing compassion for somebody, or helping somebody, or congratulating somebody.
You know, the number of letters we write out of here that, oh, for example, I saw something that you'd never see in a dresser.
We have our own system, and it's best that you should remember this one way to find somebody here in your state.
I had a sister where I had a little kid with a child.
And when I see a child, it's about less than 18 years of age or so forth.
That's something that as a risk community or an act of heroism and so forth, we probably wouldn't be nervous to actually give them a presidential accommodation, at least not under 800 schools.
What happened is that I had always someplace an 11-year-old kid about one day
A four-year-old had gone on a very cold day, had gone out in the swimming pool, or I don't know why they didn't have water, and had frozen over.
And the four-year-old had cracked through the ice and fell from the swimming pool.
The 11-year-old went out.
And I couldn't pull the kid out and had to get in and drag him out and save his life.
So one of our competitions went out.
I would like to say I didn't know all that stuff with my staff.
Of course, my parents went out and helped me go and save the kid.
Well, they sent me a copy of some of the paper on my eight column head, you know, with this sort of picture of this boy with the clutter that you've got, you know.
Well, that's one of the events.
But in the case of Senator Eleanor, of course, you have a man who's somewhat of a legend in the Senate.
I mean, he's been there so many years, and he's, of course, he's made a reputation for doing more traveling than perhaps any senator.
I mean, all over the world, and had an enormous fight all the way back to the end.
And, of course, the powerful position of the president for 10 percent, the fourth in line for the presidency.
Of course, you know, we've got to go back to this.
And we're glad to go.
Another thing that's nice, it's nice to get out on a night like this.
You know, a lot of people are out.
And, you know, we have a lot of blackers around.
And these people are making that noise.
That's right.
They realize that we're starting to need to care about people.
We like to get likes from them.
That's why another thing that I'd like to do, if you can, I don't do as much as this, but we might.
The other day, without any press at all, I went up to Harrisburg, it was in this terrible flood, and they found the store right there.
Just walking through the high school gymnasium, hundreds and hundreds of beds and tables in the halls, walking through their room, shaking hands with people.
Well, we all remember when we ran into the house, you know, when you're after the house, you're very close to people, and even when we went to the center, pretty close, but...
By the time you run nationally, it's all just a big blob of people.
But it's just good to get back to your folks.
Don't you find it .
If you have to get back to go down and see your friends, you go back with them.
I'll be going back a lot more in the next couple of years.
But it's hard to keep winning an election if you go back.
It's good for you to have that.
I can remember when I was 44.
I'm just to show you that we haven't forgotten about it.
We've got to give the governor something special too.
Let's see.
No.
Give him an answer.
Now, for the men.
You all have to be in the heart of this room.
See the seal.
See the floor.
There it is, the flag over there.
That's the seal of the president.
And here it is in the cockpit.
And it's in the cockpit.
It's yours.
Well, Russell, you're going to have one of these new ones.
I think you said you had a couple of us there, but I don't know.
I sent the old ones.
Now, there's a, if you, this is your, if you can just give them one of your cards.
Keep it in your library.
Yeah.
Alright, do you want to give me those, please?
Now, for ladies, we have the same thing in a little tent.
That's new, too.
That's for adult ladies.
Alright, you can put that down there.
Now, for boys, we've got a little time bar.
You can see the seals on this side.
You can use that to get a time bar.
And that is, what is that?
That's one of them.
That's right here.
Now, here's your present.
I'll show you what this is.
This doesn't look expensive.
Did you see it's a seal with a little signature in it.
It's an ashtray.
Shall I give it to you or does your wife?
All right, okay.
That's right.
It's really pretty.
Good job.
Oh, yeah.
That's right.
You'll get it.
Yeah.
That's great.
Russ, do you have an extra?
You don't have one.
Give one to the senator, too.
All right.
I might have to call it a vote.
I've got to have a senator.
All right.
No, you just need to go ahead.
That's one of the few living things we can do around here.
And these cup legs were made, finished about a month ago.
We had some others in the house.
And then, Mr. President, we're going to have to call you for some help because we want to build a road down here.
We've got to have people on the road.
We want to build a toll road.
We want to make sure the federal government can't help us pay what I'm out.
And I think that's...
I think we're...
I think we're...
That's it.
That's it.
That's it.
That is beautiful.
It is a nice room.
I mean, it's just so beautiful.
I just love it here.
That worked for Russell.
Maybe that's where I sued somebody.
I think it was.
I'm just going to find the important thing to do.
I think that's what they're supposed to do.
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure.
I'll tell you.
See?
Wait, Russell.
Yeah.
I think that's it.
But you know, she made the, she made the train for her daughter, and the daughter couldn't let my girl go out.
It was quite a job, it was a beautiful thing that she did, just had a beautiful daughter's train, and she said, oh, listen up, Rick, you have to pretend to be a daughter of mine.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Are you in school now?
I'm getting ready to go back.
Well, you've got to get down here, right?
We'll be there today.
We're glad to meet you.
Well, we wish you well.
I hope you enjoy your session.
You'll find it's not as difficult as it is.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Are you from Cardinal?
Which is me?
What's up?
Oh, Mark.
Mark.
Yes.
Oh, yes.
I've been there.
Well, well, I've been there.
I've been there.
I've been there.
Well, thank you, Governor.
Thank you.
I'll see you later.
Okay.