Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 1 › Conversation 001-136
Nixon phone call with Buchanan on J. Edgar Hoover and Foreign Policy
Saturday, April 17, 1971 · 4:35 PM–4:40 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan review the President’s recent hour-long interview with newspaper editors, focusing on the prevalence of foreign policy questions over domestic issues. Nixon reflects on his public defense of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and discusses the effectiveness of the radio format for his interactions with the press. The pair concludes that the event was a success, with Buchanan noting that the audience’s reactions and the President's deliberate pacing played well for radio listeners.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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Hello.
Yes, sir.
Well, you predicted the questions pretty good.
Yeah, they went...
They were actually, just as I thought, though, in that whole 55 minutes, about 70% were directly or indirectly on foreign policy.
Right.
And only about, well, the question about kids and the question about the economy were the only two that really were related.
You see, the Hoover question basically is foreign policy.
It's national security, and that's all.
Right.
Right.
Of course, well, Hoover was pleased he called me this morning.
Oh, he must have been.
I heard the thing on radio.
He came over well.
He was, of course, just... Well, of course, you had to defend him.
Yeah, you did a good job.
You can't run the old man out of town that way, and they've got to know that.
The more they attack him, the more he's going to dig in.
Yeah.
I think they do.
And coming to his defense personally, you know, and this guy's done all this, I think that's great, really.
And while he doesn't have the public support among many people, Pat, the people that are his enemies are never going to be my friends.
That's for sure.
Don't you think so?
I agree.
I agree.
You know, just talking to Mort, it's an interesting thing.
They all talk about, just a point you just made, they all talk about...
reordering priorities, we've got to worry domestically, but he said, too, all your questions are foreign policy.
You didn't have one on revenue sharing.
No, no.
You didn't have one on reorganization.
You didn't have one on welfare.
You didn't have one on Negroes.
That's right, that's right.
They all say, well, our main concerns are here at home, but the press conference didn't all ask you foreign policy.
And they didn't have one on the environment.
No.
Not one.
And we were prepared in all those damn fields.
They didn't have one stinking question.
That's right.
So I think that somebody ought to get that in the column.
Yeah, right.
How did you feel about that hour-long thing?
I thought it gave an opportunity to go into more, you know... Well, it was good for editors.
Basically, and the questions were the questions that editors would ask.
I mean, they weren't ones, you can't answer a question, what the hell do you think of at 3 o'clock in the morning?
What I was almost ready to say is I think of going to the bathroom.
That would have really stopped the show.
Right there.
That's right, yeah.
You might leak that out to somebody.
Okay, I will.
But what first came to his mind, he didn't quite say, what I first think about is going to the bathroom.
But on the other hand, a question like that, and what do you think about China, and what about the future of our children, and what do you think about, you can't answer those in 30 seconds.
That's right.
And also another thing, in this kind of a format,
where you've got 300 pressmen, you can flip off an answer, you can dig one, you can hit them.
But with editors, I think you have to be very active.
Every question is momentous and important because they're in front of their colleagues and you don't want to embarrass them.
Don't you agree?
That's right.
I thought it was a pretty good format for them.
At first, I was apprehensive about the radio.
being on radio because the necessity for immediacy in the response, but the delays and the answers that you gave, they really came off well, and it could start to laugh, and also the applause at the end of each answer really came over well, you know.
Yeah, the radio builds it up.
Yeah, oh yeah, it builds up the suspense, and when they asked that one question, you delayed, and you said, wait a minute, there's six other guys on the panel, you know, and that came off very well, and you get sort of the yells in the background.
It was very good radio, really.
I said, how'd you like my answer on Agnew?
And he said, you looking for an editor?
Yeah.
Right.
Because he's, it's the only way you can handle him, too.
I've got to just sort of finesse it rather than to come into labor defense of him on everything, you know.
Right.
They all know that, I mean, that I'm not going to disagree with him.
Right.
And so he had no reason to feel
You'll hear a bit, I think.
I think it's a pretty good format.
And it actually makes a good radio program, actually.
Yeah.
Oh, it sure does.
I mean, I was driving down the car, and I had to pick up something right upstairs and cut it on, and it was really something.
Yeah.
A lot of people look down at radio.
Well, at least the boys did a good job in preparing them.
Okay, thanks.
Okay, thank you, sir.
NARA Description
On April 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan talked on the telephone from 4:35 pm to 4:40 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 001-136 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 1-136
Date: April 17, 1971
Time: 4:35 pm - 4:40 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Patrick J. Buchanan.
President's interview with newspaper editors
-Questions
-Foreign policy
-J. Edgar Hoover
-National security
-Hoover
-President's support
-Buchanan's conversation with Richard A. Moore
-Questions
-Foreign policy
-Domestic issues
-Format
-Questions
-Editors
-Radio
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Format
-RadioAlso recorded on April 17, 1971
- 001-130 4:10 PM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:19 pm.
- 001-131 4:10 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:10 pm and 4:19 pm.
- 001-132 4:19 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 4:19 pm to 4:21 pm.
- 001-133 4:21 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 4:21 pm to 4:22 pm.
- 001-134 4:22 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 4:22 pm to 4:24 pm.
- 001-135 4:24 PM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:24 pm and 4:35 pm.
- 001-137 4:41 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:41 pm.
- 001-138 4:41 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan talked on the telephone from 4:41 pm to 4:42 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 001-136, April 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-136 (accessed October 12, 2026).