Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 006-051
Date: Wednesday, June 30, 1971 at 2:32 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Garment, Leonard; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Garment, Leonard
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-051

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello.
[0:01] Yes, sir.
[0:02] I thought you'd be interested by a little call.
[0:05] I called Rangel today right after making that announcement.
[0:09] You know, you remember the Black Caucus meeting?
[0:11] Yes.
[0:12] And I said, I called him and, boy, he's quite overwhelmed.
[0:15] He said, of course, he said that was, well, that was wonderful.
[0:18] And he said he was so pleased.
[0:20] And I said, well, he said, you
[0:22] I just want you to know, we didn't agree with everything, but I want you to know that I was very impressed with what you said and that we listened and that we were trying already, but we tried harder as a result of your being there and we've got it done.
[0:32] That's terrific.
[0:33] Then he went on to say a very interesting thing.
[0:35] He said, you know, he said, I just wish my grandfather could have lived to see.
[0:41] His grandson getting a call from the President of the United States, he wouldn't have believed it.
[0:44] And I said, well, I said, Congressman, my grandfather wouldn't have believed it if he'd seen me making the call.
[0:49] He kind of laughed.
[0:51] Then he went on to say, too, that they said, I hope Buck Krogan, your other people, because he's been talking, I guess Krogan talked to him.
[0:58] You know, just keep talking.
[0:59] As you know, we're not Democrats or Republicans when it comes to some of these things.
[1:04] We just want to.
[1:06] But I thought you might.
[1:08] I don't know Rangel, of course.
[1:10] Rangel, you remember him at the meeting.
[1:12] He's very bright.
[1:13] He's one of the ablest of the group.
[1:15] He's an awfully good-looking guy.
[1:16] I remember he was very handsome and very intelligent.
[1:19] And, of course, naturally, if I'd been born in Harlem, I'd be a Democrat.
[1:26] But anyway, I thought when we can do something for them, let them know and never get mad when they're against us.
[1:32] Yeah, of course, they've taken a bit of a...
[1:34] bruising from the democratic leadership who wouldn't meet with them and he said that he was going to report to the caucus and i said that's fine i just want them to know that on we didn't agree with everything but we did on some and when we did we we followed up well i think i think so i thought that's terrific so they used to i was incidentally very impressed with uh hootney young's successor now he's naturally a new boy in town he'll be aggressive and he will knock his future but
[2:00] He's a very intelligent man.
[2:02] Oh, he's going to be a very good fellow for us to work with.
[2:04] Let me tell you this about Vernon.
[2:06] You know, an interesting thing, I don't know whether you noted it, but did you notice if you just sat there and marked his color away how much he looked like my younger brother, Eddie?
[2:16] That's interesting.
[2:17] I really hadn't thought of that.
[2:19] I mean, there's very fine features and delicacy.
[2:22] And it's sort of his eyes, you know, the way he kind of, his smile, I was just really impressed.
[2:28] Well, that's interesting.
[2:29] Sort of the same attitude, you know, sort of that.
[2:32] Really very.
[2:32] And he dug out that picture.
[2:34] He's a very, very, very sharp guy.
[2:36] But we've worked with him in the past.
[2:38] Have you?
[2:38] Including Harry Dent.
[2:40] On the Negro College Fund.
[2:41] No, no, this was on voting rights.
[2:43] And he and Harry did some business together.
[2:45] Right.
[2:46] And he's very practical.
[2:48] And I think he knows what we want to do here.
[2:51] The thing that he has to, as I told him, in order to keep his constituency, he's got to complain about some things.
[2:58] But on the other hand, just give us our due where we're right.
[3:02] I think the pieces are starting to come together.
[3:05] The Wall Street Journal, I think, may do a major piece on all of the civil rights programs and how this really works.
[3:11] It is beginning to take shape very quietly and very effectively.
[3:13] Well, you might think this little wrangle story is not a bad one to sort of feed in.
[3:19] Not blatantly, but it's rather nice.
[3:21] No, that would be a nice one to place around.
[3:22] Okay.
[3:23] Bye.
[3:23] Thank you.