Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 1 › Conversation 001-023

Nixon phone call with Woods on Southeast Asia speech and Public relations

Wednesday, April 7, 1971 · 10:28 PM–10:32 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose MaryConversation001-023 on Tape 1 (tape position 00:57:02–01:00:47)StartWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 10:28 PMEndWednesday, April 7, 1971 at 10:32 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 001-023 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and his personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, discuss the positive feedback received from various associates following the President's recent television address regarding Southeast Asia. Woods relays laudatory comments from figures including Spiro Agnew, Nelson Rockefeller, and Freeman Gosden, noting their appreciation for the President's sincere and effective delivery. Nixon coordinates follow-up calls to several of these individuals and instructs Woods to schedule a meeting with James E. Bassett for the following day.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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yeah hi well i just wanted to be sure that i i did talk to agnew so i did that okay now let me tell you a couple other people hold back my notes did not call so yes he did but you were eating and he said you didn't have to call him all he wanted was for you to know how great he thought it was yeah he called back but you were eating or something they didn't want to bother you
And I talked with him again, and he was just so thrilled by it all.
He really is, huh?
Yeah.
What thrilled him?
The conclusion, I suppose?
Pardon me?
At the conclusion and at the whole thing.
And Governor Roxhaw called.
Called you?
Yep.
Well, that's nice.
And he said he just wanted to call up having watched the program.
He said it was tremendously able handling of a very, very difficult situation.
Nice, nice.
You had the courage to stick with your basic principles.
These are tough times.
And he just warned you, you know, he thought it was absolutely splendid.
Then he gave me his private number in New York.
He said you didn't need to call him, but he gave me the number where he was calling from to say that you were great.
I better call him.
Okay, I'll give you the operator the number.
Then Jack Drown called, and he was terribly cute.
He waited 20 minutes on the line.
He thought it was marvelous that everything was, you know, really great.
He's a great friend.
Oh, he is a good friend, you know.
He told me he saw Agnew today.
Poor old Fred Schroeder, but his heart called me.
He thought you were marvelous.
Freeman Gosden called.
He said, I just wish he would tell the president that that was the most sincere and effective talk that he's made in a long, long time.
He said it was the soft sell.
he thought that i might call him back he said i frankly ended up with a tear in my eye yeah i might call him back he talked to a couple of people who felt the same way now you know i don't know whether you know because i silence him he's been ill oh we've sent him a couple of letters and tonight is one of the first nights he's out and he's at floyd odlums all right for dinner put a call through to him all right i'll tell him and i'll put a call through to rockefeller
Okay.
And Tim Bassett called me.
He's here in town.
He was out at the Maison.
Have him come in and say hello tomorrow, will you?
Okay.
No, tomorrow at noon, you know, in the noon hour, I want to say hello to him because he's never been in the office when I've been there.
Oh, he hasn't?
I didn't realize that.
He thought it was very good, and he thought that the comments afterwards were, you know, he thought you really...
you know even with the people who would be hatchet type people he thought you did have jim come in you know you know how we do it new yeah and uh and he used to come in because he's got he's never been in the president's office and i've been there and god damn it he deserves it because he was with us in the tough you know the other thing he said he said he asked me to tell you that he felt that it was really great that part of the charm and the greatness of the whole thing that was not oversold in advance
No, I tried.
He thinks this is terribly important.
He wanted me to pass that on.
We're right.
We didn't know we saw that.
Okay, well, now, you don't need to talk with Hope, do you?
Bob Hope?
No, Hope Lewis.
Oh, yes, yes, I think.
All right, I'll tell him.
He's been so good, so good.
And Freeman Gosden and Hope.
Okay, thank you.
All right, fine, bye.

NARA Description

On April 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 10:28 pm to 10:32 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 001-023 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 1-23

Date: April 7, 1971
Time: 10:28 pm - 10:32 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Rose Mary Woods.

     Reactions to President's speech on Southeast Asia
          -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
          -Hobart D. Lewis
          -Nelson A. Rockefeller
           -Jack Drown
           -Frederick H. Schroeder
           -Freeman Gosden
                 -Health
                       -Floyd Ablum
                 -Forthcoming telephone call
           -James E. Bassett
           -Lewis
           -Gosden
           -Rockefeller

Also recorded on April 8, 1971

  • 001-019 10:20 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:20 pm.
  • 001-020 10:20 PM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 pm and 10:21 pm.
  • 001-021 10:21 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:21 pm to 10:27 pm.
  • 001-022 10:27 PM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 10:27 pm to 10:28 pm.
  • 001-024 10:34 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:34 pm.
  • 001-025 10:34 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 10:34 pm to 10:35 pm.
  • 001-026 10:35 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:35 pm to 10:37 pm.
  • 001-027 10:38 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo, and Manolo Sanchez talked on the telephone from 10:38 pm to 10:45 pm.

All 67 conversations from April 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 001-023, April 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-023 (accessed October 12, 2026).