Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 003-052
Date: Friday, May 14, 1971 at 1:45 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-052

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yeah.
[0:05] Hello?
[0:05] Yeah.
[0:06] Mr. President?
[0:06] Yeah.
[0:07] Can you talk to Secretary Rogers?
[0:08] Yeah.
[0:08] Fine.
[0:10] Hello.
[0:11] Hello.
[0:11] Hello, Mr. President.
[0:12] Hi.
[0:12] Hi.
[0:13] Are you going to leave this afternoon?
[0:15] Yeah, as a matter of fact, I just hear the helicopter now.
[0:17] I'm just going to go out and see.
[0:19] It's a pretty nice day to be leaving Washington, isn't it?
[0:22] Isn't it nice?
[0:23] Just going down for Saturday and Sunday.
[0:24] Good.
[0:25] I was just going to make this suggestion.
[0:26] I just came back from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
[0:29] I've been testifying on public television.
[0:33] I don't know if it's going to come out, but we had a lot of wrangles.
[0:35] But the one thing I did want to suggest, and I think you might pass the word around, I think we've got to be careful on how we handle Mike Mansfield because there's beginning to be some sympathy developing for him.
[0:47] I was questioned in public about Dean Acheson's comment that it was asinine.
[0:51] And I could sense that even some of the ones who were with us were offended by that.
[0:58] I disassociated myself from it.
[1:01] But I think we've got to be careful.
[1:03] Dean is such a crotchety old fellow.
[1:06] He's a sharp tongue.
[1:07] And Mike Mansfield is such a nice fellow.
[1:09] Everybody's popular.
[1:10] He's popular.
[1:11] That's right.
[1:12] So I think we've got to be sure that we don't sound as if we're attacking him personally.
[1:17] Yeah, I get your point.
[1:17] And if you could just tell your... Oh, yeah, sure, sure, sure.
[1:20] Well, we always try to treat him nice.
[1:22] Dennis is...
[1:24] Well, we're really just talking about votes now.
[1:26] That's all that matters.
[1:28] All that matters.
[1:29] I had a long talk with Stennis last night.
[1:31] He called me at home, and I think we're making some progress.
[1:33] We just don't get people sympathizing with me.
[1:37] Yeah, yeah.
[1:38] When is the vote?
[1:39] Wednesday.
[1:40] Definite Wednesday.
[1:42] So I think we're... And I'm going to meet with quite a few senators this afternoon.
[1:47] Boy, that's like having a boxing match going up there.
[1:51] Must be just unbelievable.
[1:52] Yeah, from every angle.
[1:54] Case and all those people.
[1:57] Everybody's got their own pet projects.
[1:59] What kind of things did you go into?
[2:02] I went up to talk about war powers.
[2:05] Oh, the war powers thing, yeah.
[2:06] And I had a long, prepared statement.
[2:08] But then we talked about everything.
[2:10] Thank God they talked about the Mansfield thing, and all talks, and Vietnam, and Laos, and over Cambodia.
[2:21] Oh, God.
[2:21] You know, it's an obsession with them.
[2:24] Well, it's sort of an obsession because they feel they should be consulted.
[2:28] Is that it?
[2:29] Running it?
[2:29] Yeah, they really think they should be running it.
[2:32] Mm-hmm.
[2:32] I'm not sure, but...
[2:34] It's always been the case.
[2:36] The Senate has always had that feeling.
[2:37] It was true in the Civil War and World War I, World War II, you know.
[2:41] It's one of those things.
[2:42] It just won't work.
[2:43] That's the problem.
[2:44] It just won't work.
[2:45] That's right.
[2:46] All right, have a good time.
[2:47] Well, anyway, we'll try to see that...
[2:50] I don't think...
[2:50] I don't think anybody is taking him on at Mansfield, but I think the Atchison segment would have him.
[2:55] I got the point.
[2:56] Yeah, there was criticism of having, you know, that old gang down there, the old Cold Warriors, and attacking poor Mike, who's such a gentleman.
[3:04] Why the hell did you do that?
[3:05] And that sort of thing.
[3:06] Is that right?
[3:07] Yeah.
[3:08] Okay.
[3:08] Okay.
[3:08] Thanks, Mr. Benson.