Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 012-062
Date: Thursday, October 21, 1971 at 8:40 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/012-062

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] This means we will have appointed, John, four good men.
[0:04] Everybody recognizes Berger's a good man, Blackman's a good man, Powell, everybody will recognize.
[0:10] And Rehnquist, of course, is the smartest of the whole goddamn bunch.
[0:17] And he's on our side, isn't he?
[0:24] Thank God.
[0:25] Before I left the office, I talked to the reporters and they were flabbergasted.
[0:45] Yeah?
[0:45] Yeah, because the commentary was completely flabbergasted.
[0:47] After the speech?
[0:47] Yep.
[0:47] They were out of their minds, huh?
[0:48] Yeah, not to let them go get the bar behind them.
[0:49] What did Walt say?
[0:49] He must have about died.
[0:50] He died a little bit about my letters, and he was very enthusiastic about these letters.
[0:52] Well, it doesn't help because he's impressed that he's first in the small class.
[1:00] I'm not a goddamn bet.
[1:01] I'm more interested in the man.
[1:12] That's right.
[1:12] I really built him up.
[1:13] You know, and I talked about respect for law, whether you agree or not, obey the law and all that.
[1:18] And they ought to appreciate it, the bastards.
[1:32] Yeah, I think, too, that it was good to get across by law and order point.
[1:36] That got across, don't you think?
[1:38] Yeah.
[2:00] Yeah.
[2:00] Right.
[2:00] Right.
[2:00] Yeah.
[2:01] Well, we'll fight it through now.
[2:03] By God, I'm telling you now, we're not going to take a damn bit of crap from these people.
[2:07] They ought to put this through in a week.
[2:12] How's Eastland feel?
[2:17] Ruska, I saw tonight.
[2:17] He was there down at the White House.
[2:19] He said he was bored all the way.
[2:27] How'd Bob take it, okay?
[2:29] Be sure to emphasize to all the southerners that Brennquist is a reactionary bastard.
[2:43] Which I hope to Christ he is.
[2:53] Right.
[2:53] Good.
[2:54] Good.
[2:57] Right.
[2:57] One thing that's really interesting though, John, is that
[3:00] In a pure press sense, it's like China, in a lesser degree of magnitude, but China, Soviet, the other things.
[3:10] The bastards, we completely took them by surprise.
[3:13] They didn't know what the hell was going to hit them.
[3:16] Didn't that amuse you?
[3:19] It amused the hell out of me.
[3:31] We kept it quiet.
[3:32] You know, Ron did a great job.
[3:32] He really did a great job.
[3:34] They were running around with their headphones on.
[3:35] That's right.
[3:35] Anyway, you tell Martha to calm down.
[3:40] Well, incidentally, we've got to have a woman, John.
[3:49] That's right.
[3:50] She understands it, doesn't she?
[3:52] She can't go in.
[3:53] Look, if she'd have gone in 11 to 1 against her, the Senate couldn't have approved her.
[4:00] I know you did.
[4:01] It must have been terrible.
[4:03] Friday would have understood, but I bet she was tough, wasn't she?
[4:09] But how did she feel?
[4:11] Did she take it all right finally?
[4:14] 11 to 1.
[4:16] God damn, damn.
[4:18] Right.
[4:29] Good.
[4:29] Okay, John.
[4:31] Bye.
[4:32] Give Martha hell.
[4:34] It's the other way around.