Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 009-012
Date: Tuesday, September 14, 1971 at 8:56 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Keyes, Paul W.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/009-012

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:01] Hello?
[0:01] Mr. Paul Keyes, sir.
[0:03] Hello?
[0:04] Yes, sir.
[0:05] Paul?
[0:05] Yes, sir.
[0:06] Well, how did your program rate?
[0:08] Well, we beat everything in sight.
[0:10] We not only led our time period, but we...
[0:15] We beat Hope, who fought.
[0:17] We were the highest rated show all night.
[0:18] Good, good.
[0:19] It was a smash.
[0:20] Good.
[0:20] How was the reaction?
[0:22] I only saw about 15 minutes of it because I was busy and caught just the last, well, about 15 minutes before it was over.
[0:29] Oh, yeah.
[0:30] Well, everybody's been very good about it.
[0:32] We've had marvelous reaction and the network called me and
[0:35] You know, this thing was canceled without me, and now they said that this could go on another five years.
[0:41] I mean, they're ecstatic.
[0:42] Are they really?
[0:43] Right.
[0:43] Of all sets in use, of all television sets that were tuned on, I had 40% of the audience.
[0:50] Right.
[0:50] And, you know, that leaves six other stations to divvy it up.
[0:53] So you can see, we beat the opposition two to one.
[0:56] We had a marvelous rating.
[0:58] Great.
[0:58] So it'll be in the, you know, it hasn't been in the top ten for two years.
[1:04] And now it'll be right up there.
[1:06] Right.
[1:06] Depending on what happens the rest of the week.
[1:08] You mean the reviews and all that?
[1:10] Well, no, the rating.
[1:11] I mean, it depends.
[1:12] See, this is premiere week, and when you think of all the new shows that are coming on this year, and they will still tune into a show that's on for its fifth year, it's got to be good.
[1:21] Right.
[1:21] You know, so depending on what happens later in the week, if somebody draws more than we did, but right now we're number one.
[1:28] Great.
[1:28] So it was a personal victory for me.
[1:30] Great, great, great.
[1:32] I appreciate your... Well, I'm delighted, and I just hope they give you your due.
[1:35] Well, thank you, sir.
[1:37] Thank you.
[1:37] One thing I meant to say the other night, you might pass it around to the television guy.
[1:42] Right.
[1:42] is I think when they deal with the First Lady,
[1:46] She is much more at ease and better when the camera observes what she's doing with other people than when they confront her with questions.
[1:57] Yeah, yeah.
[1:58] You know?
[1:59] I agree, yeah.
[2:00] I think that's the key.
[2:01] She was marvelous, and she tends to be a little uneasy in the direct question and answer, but if they can just film her like coverage of what she's doing, she'll win every time.
[2:13] Right.
[2:14] It's great.
[2:14] Right, right.
[2:15] Well, I appreciate your call.
[2:16] Well, fine.
[2:17] The program, she's had very good reactions to it, a lot of wires and all that sort of thing.
[2:21] Yeah, well, that's marvelous.
[2:23] Right.
[2:23] I couldn't be happier.
[2:24] Right.
[2:25] I loved it, and I talked to people, and I checked around, and they liked it.
[2:29] Right.
[2:30] Well, ABC, to their credit, made it very positive that nothing was negative in the whole thing.
[2:37] but they promoted it very well.
[2:38] Good ads out here and good, you know, people will tune in if they know it's there, but they really promoted it, which was good.
[2:47] I thought it was a very positive thing.
[2:49] Good.
[2:49] Well, Paul, I just hope you had a great success.
[2:51] Mr. President, I appreciate your thought.
[2:53] Okay, boy.
[2:54] Thank you.
[2:54] Bye, sir.