Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 007-081
Date: Monday, August 9, 1971 at 8:06 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/007-081

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello.
[0:02] Good evening, Mr. President.
[0:04] Hi.
[0:04] Well, anything new today?
[0:10] Well, we had Norris Cotton quite exercised today.
[0:19] I don't know whether you heard about it.
[0:19] No, I didn't.
[0:20] Well, I called him this morning to just tell him about the ABC report.
[0:22] And he's a crusty old Yankee.
[0:22] Yeah.
[0:22] He's not given to overstatement.
[0:23] Well, he said...
[0:24] He said, I can't tell you this.
[0:41] He said, I don't know what the feeling is around the state, but he's been in the two most Democratic cities in the state of New Hampshire.
[0:44] He said, I would say it was a mixed country.
[0:45] He said that was the damnedest turnout I ever saw.
[0:46] And the people were warm and cordial.
[0:46] And he followed off the television, ABC, which made very extensive coverage.
[0:48] Correct.
[1:12] What do you think?
[1:15] Yeah.
[1:16] I will tell you, because those people really were turned down.
[1:37] I've seen a lot of political rallies.
[1:38] I've seen a lot of people come to New Hampshire.
[1:39] The President has always been a favorite up there.
[1:40] That's what I'm going to say as we get a lot more.
[1:41] I'm proud to say he asked for New Hampshire people who were not remonstrative types.
[1:44] Yeah, that's great.
[1:44] Good job.
[1:44] Good job.
[1:44] He was great.
[1:45] Raised a little hill, a little building up there.
[1:47] What'd he say?
[1:50] Did he see you?
[1:54] Saw Ziegler?
[1:59] Well, he must have been goddamned embarrassed about that.
[2:14] Bullshit.
[2:15] Somebody told him to do it.
[2:30] Well, it's good to shake him up a little.
[2:44] Yeah.
[2:45] Yeah.
[2:45] I think he's caught an uphill, and I'll tell you, he made my second line.
[3:01] I would sniff it in a mutation.
[3:02] And that's unfortunate, because he's the fellow that...
[3:04] The only man that ever gets any balance to ABC.
[3:07] ABC basically has a far left orientation with Bill Lawrence.
[3:08] Well, I was reading that the material that... Did you see it?
[3:10] What did you think of it?
[3:11] Worse than you thought, wasn't it?
[3:13] Don't you think that's going to be a bombshell when it hits?
[3:18] Oh, of course.
[3:19] That's going to be hard.
[3:20] She's been with time, life, with look, and all the rest, right?
[3:26] Right.
[3:34] I suppose it's rather than 10 to 1, it's 5 to 1.
[3:37] Or 3 to 1.
[3:39] Right.
[3:41] Sure.
[4:00] Well, that's because of Bill Lawrence.
[4:09] Yeah.
[4:09] That's right.
[4:10] Did you see times that?
[4:11] No, I didn't see it.
[4:18] Well, I didn't think the cover was bad, but I didn't think the article would be bad.
[4:25] Not as bad as they expected, no.
[4:26] Yeah.
[4:26] I thought it would be good.
[4:27] I thought it would be good.
[4:27] The Haldeman thought that they did better in the article than they anticipated.
[4:37] What they do doesn't matter, really.
[4:48] Time, news, week, the comms don't matter.
[4:51] All that matters is TV.
[4:51] That's right.
[4:52] You just keep up with TV.
[4:52] And this book, Chuck, you've got to ride those sons of bitches.
[4:53] They've never been written on this one.
[4:54] This is going to really kill you.
[5:15] the more the credibility of the networks will be raised and the more people will raise questions about it.
[5:23] See, what we want, you're not going to change the men.
[5:29] They're going to still lie.
[5:30] But on the other hand, the people, look, you realize that the people must not have believed in too much or we wouldn't have won the election.
[5:37] That's right.
[5:38] And the same in 60 when it was worse even because then the networks really weren't for Humphrey but they were striking people
[5:48] because they have more sets, more color, and all the rest.
[6:14] But we're coming a little way.
[6:15] I'm more encouraged to have a situation like that.
[6:16] I called him, that's right.
[6:16] Yeah, I told him about the end of the flight.
[6:21] What do you think about conchite?
[6:53] Didn't used to be, did he?
[7:05] He was with Eisenhower, pretty much, wasn't he?
[7:07] What's happened to him?
[7:20] His wife?
[7:21] Right.
[7:21] And they just go 180 degrees, so it's very far in the rain.
[7:42] You can shake them up.
[7:42] Oh, and you're shaking them up right now.
[7:43] Right.
[7:43] All right.
[7:47] Sure.
[7:57] Well, we'll pull the rug up at the right time.
[8:05] That's coming.
[8:05] That's coming.
[8:06] Oh, Norris really took him on, didn't he?
[8:09] Did he get some play?
[8:27] Good.
[8:38] Great.
[8:39] Then Gil will be reacting to it.
[8:44] Crying.
[8:45] Good.
[8:45] Well, keep him crying.
[8:49] Good.
[8:51] Right.
[8:52] Well, he had to be impressed.
[8:54] And Margaret must have been impressed by Maine.
[8:57] It was really something they'd never seen up there.
[9:17] 3,000.
[9:17] Well, I know Bangalore, and I know Bangalore people very well.
[9:19] Well, they were demonstrative, though.
[9:19] They were terrific.
[9:27] OK. All right.
[9:47] And what did it show?
[9:49] About the same level.
[9:50] Yeah.
[9:50] But that's above last year, though.
[9:56] So is it a positive story, then?
[9:57] Good.
[10:19] Good.
[10:19] Good.
[10:19] Good.
[10:19] Good.
[10:19] Good.
[10:19] He's doing a fine job.
[10:20] Good.
[10:20] Right.
[10:20] It's good to have the Congress out of town, isn't it?
[10:23] Right.
[10:23] Good.
[10:24] Well, tell Cotton I appreciate it, Lee.