Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 015-165
Date: Monday, November 29, 1971 at 5:35 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-165

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yeah.
[0:02] Yes, sir.
[0:03] Did they get the story right or right with your one-line announcement?
[0:07] Yes, sir.
[0:08] Yeah.
[0:10] It is moving, I think, very well.
[0:12] They expected it, of course, but the date was probably a little earlier than they thought.
[0:17] Well, they were surprised.
[0:19] Yeah, that's what I said.
[0:19] And they didn't necessarily expect it today.
[0:21] Yeah.
[0:22] They knew it would come sometime soon.
[0:24] Before Wednesday, right.
[0:26] So now that's...
[0:28] But it's moving.
[0:29] And you said all details will be answered tomorrow.
[0:32] Right.
[0:33] What I said was within the next 24 hours, we would be giving the other surrounding details, like the length of the trip and the stops and so forth.
[0:44] Then I referred to...
[0:45] It'll create a great deal of interest.
[0:47] I'll tell you, what they're going to be very surprised about is the length.
[0:52] Yeah.
[0:52] And the stops, I think.
[0:53] Seven weeks.
[0:54] Seven days.
[0:55] Right.
[0:56] But it's playing very well.
[0:58] I referred just very briefly to what you had said in July.
[1:05] Mm-hmm.
[1:05] We're running for peace, yeah.
[1:07] Right.
[1:08] Good.
[1:09] And also indicated that the reason you're going is to, as you said at that time, is to seek normalization of relations.
[1:24] Right, right, right, right.
[1:24] Well, Henry is doing a background, or this is the right time for him.
[1:29] Don't you think he can cover all the other trips?
[1:33] He can cover this one, India, Pakistan, and so forth.
[1:36] And it will allow him to do something that I couldn't have done.
[1:40] It will allow him to limit himself to that and not get into all the domestic things that we don't want to have override this.
[1:46] I mean, I think he'll get a good story.
[1:48] Don't you think so?
[1:48] Yes, sir.
[1:49] I think it's the right time to do it.
[1:51] The only other point I referred to, you know, I read the one-sentence announcement, made it clear that that was the extent of the joint announcement.
[2:02] I indicated that the president's purpose for the meeting was to seek a new direction in our relations between the two countries and then the isolation of the two great peoples from each other.
[2:12] So those are the only two quotes I gave him.
[2:14] And then they're filling in from your past statements or from what Henry said.
[2:17] So it's played all right.
[2:19] It played very well.
[2:20] As a matter of fact, the tax bill is playing well, too.
[2:23] Oh, I was going to say if I knew it would, I don't.
[2:26] I don't know if you've seen the star.
[2:29] It didn't knock the market down, at least.
[2:30] No, the market's great today.
[2:32] It stayed up, but it may go down a little more.
[2:34] It'll probably knock it tomorrow, but we'll see.
[2:36] What are the Democrats saying as a result of it?
[2:40] Well, they say, but key Democrats in Congress said it probably would not be possible to pass another tax bill before adjournment.
[2:51] Mr. Mills told reporters it would be almost impossible to push a new bill through before the end of this year.
[2:59] So they may get a surprise if they don't get moving.
[3:02] You mean the special session?
[3:04] Yes, sir.
[3:07] You're damn right you're going to get a surprise.
[3:10] But I'm not referring to that.
[3:11] We shouldn't be hinting at it.
[3:13] Let's wait until we come and see the whites of their eyes.
[3:19] Right.
[3:20] I think this will play well on TV tonight.
[3:24] Of course, the banner and the star says, Nixon warns on tax bill.
[3:28] It's played very heavily on the wires and on radio today, and I think that combined with the China announcement tonight on TV should give us a good night on TV.
[3:36] Right, right, right.
[3:38] No other news of consequence today, huh?
[3:42] Not really.
[3:43] Those are the two.
[3:44] They had a good time in California, didn't they?
[3:47] Well, they had a lot of news.
[3:48] They had big stories.
[3:50] They were on the front page every day.
[3:51] Good stories, that's right.
[3:52] And the Bob Hope thing was a nice color story.
[3:55] Yes, sir.
[3:55] Here, I want to get that.
[3:59] The only other thing in the star this afternoon is the fact that Jurgensen's arm isn't rebroken.
[4:05] It's only bruised.
[4:07] Yeah.
[4:09] I talked to Alan about it.
[4:10] He told me he thought it was a muscle.
[4:12] Oh, I did?
[4:12] Yeah.
[4:13] Mm-hmm.
[4:14] Okay.
[4:15] Okay, sir.
[4:16] Right, bye.