Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 17 › Conversation 017-011

Nixon phone call with Chancellor on A Day in the Life of the President and NBC

Friday, December 24, 1971 · 1:56 PM–2:01 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Chancellor, John W.Conversation017-011 on Tape 17 (tape position 00:13:32–00:17:55)StartFriday, December 24, 1971 at 1:56 PMEndFriday, December 24, 1971 at 2:01 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 017-011 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417191785 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiated this call to NBC newsman John Chancellor to express his appreciation for the television documentary 'A Day in the Life of the President.' The conversation transitioned from reflections on the broadcast to a geopolitical discussion regarding the India-Pakistan conflict and the Middle East, noting the influence of major powers. Nixon also shared his personal views on women in leadership roles, arguing that female heads of state like Indira Gandhi often demonstrate greater toughness and risk-taking than their male counterparts.

Audio

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NARA Description

On December 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Chancellor talked on the telephone from 1:56 pm to 2:01 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 017-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 17-11

Date: December 24, 1971
Time: 1:56 pm - 2:01 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John W. Chancellor.

[See Conversation No. 309-10]

     Christmas greetings

     Congratulates Chancellor and staff
         -"Day in the Life of the President", National Broadcasting Company [NBC] program
               -Program’s length
               -Audience
               -Depth and perspective
               -Number of calls
               -President in operation
                     -Chancellor grateful for opportunity
               -Second term for President
               -Vietnam War

     India-Pakistan conflict
           -Compared to Middle East

          -India, People’s Republic of China [PRC]
          -Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR], US
          -Chancellor's lunch with Golda Meir
          -Meir's visit with President
          -United Nations [UN]
                -Indira Gandhi

     Women
        -Liberation movement
        -Chancellor commentary
        -Leaders
              -War
              -Toughness
              -Willingness to take risks
              -Gandhi
              -Sirimauo D. Bandaranaike of Ceylon
        -Fidel Castro
              -Successor

     "A Day in the Life of the President" NBC television show
         -President's gratitude

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I have two purposes for my call.
First, to wish you a very Merry Christmas, and second, to thank you for the very fine job that you and your staff did on the
day in the life of the President.
Well, you're very kind to call.
And I hope you survived it.
Yes, we did.
I'm sorry, it couldn't have been longer.
I wanted it to be an hour and a half, but we didn't clear the time.
Oh, of course.
Well, I think probably leaving the audience wanting a little more is fine.
And of course, the
When some say, well, why couldn't we have seen in depth more things?
You've got a lot more film, but you can't put it all on.
But I think you gave a feel of it such as perhaps nobody's ever had before of a day.
And that came through, and that was a great number of calls we got here on it.
Well, I just thought it was a magnificent opportunity to see the President in operation, and we were immensely grateful to have had the chance to do that.
Well, we enjoyed it.
Sorry we couldn't...
Couldn't have done a little more, but I think we gave you enough on the plate for one time.
You certainly did.
Maybe in a year or two we'll try it again.
Let's see what it's like in the second term, sir.
Perhaps we get the damn war over with and a few other things.
We'll have more pleasant things to talk about.
You know, one good thing about it that occurred to me is that...
It was very timely with regard to India-Pakistan because apparently in my talk with you so late at night, remember I said that if that thing could be over by the time this program was on, and by golly it is.
It's not a happy ending in any event, but there's no way.
That part of the world will ever be happy, I'm afraid.
No, and you said that.
I thought you said that very well.
You've been down there before, haven't you?
Oh, I have indeed.
And you know that the hatreds that are there, the only place they're equaled is in the Mideast.
That's the only place they're equaled.
I mean, I think the religious and other hatreds in the Mideast make that problem virtually insoluble.
And the same is true of India-Pakistan.
And when you get the great powers involved...
particularly in India, Pakistan, India, and China, and then in the Mideast, the Soviet Union, the U.S.
It's a real tough titty.
Well, you know, we had lunch with Golda Meir in New York after you had seen her.
Oh, yeah.
And the very first thing she said to me was, she said, I'm going to take my view of the U.N. from Indira Gandhi from now on.
Ooh.
And that's not good.
And we said that.
I hope you did.
I hope you told her that.
You see, the difficulty is that
just for your private information, don't quote me on this, but you realize that women's lib, and maybe sometime when you're doing a little commentary or one of your editorials, you might sort of in a nice way handle this.
Women's lib intends that if only we had women in positions of power, we'd have no war.
You look at the history of nations, and when you have had women in positions of power, women...
are really tougher than men.
Very curious, isn't it?
But you look back.
Now, in this instance, when you look around the world, the two basically strongest in terms of willingness to take risks in the world happen to be two women.
That's right.
Curious, isn't it?
Indira Gandhi, you know, has this great background and the rest, and she's an enormously able woman.
I have great respect for what she is doing.
She's tough.
She's tough.
Well, even Mrs. Bandaraniaki in Ceylon.
Oh, yes.
She's very strong.
Well, I would just hope that Fidel Castro would not be succeeded by a woman.
Oh, boy, a Cuban woman.
That'd be something.
That'd give us a lot of trouble.
Yeah, we've got enough trouble with him.
He's awfully kind of you.
Well, anyway, I know that so many members of the crew and the rest I couldn't speak to, but I do know what a misery it is to produce such a thing.
But they did a fine job, and I appreciated it very much.
Well, I'm terribly grateful.
Okay.
All right.
Goodbye.
Thank you.

Also recorded on December 24, 1971

  • 017-008 1:50 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:50 pm.
  • 017-009 1:50 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and James D. ("Don") Hughes talked on the telephone from 1:50 pm to 1:51 pm.
  • 309-008 1:50 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and James D. ("Don") Hughes met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:50 pm to 1:51 pm.
  • 017-010 1:51 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:51 pm and 1:56 pm.
  • 309-009 1:51 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:51 pm and 1:56 pm.
  • 309-010 1:56 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Chancellor met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:56 pm to 2:01 pm.
  • 017-012 2:01 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:01 pm and 2:06 pm.
  • 309-011 2:01 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:01 pm and 2:06 pm.

All 74 conversations from December 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 017-011, December 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417191785). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/017-011 (accessed November 2, 2026).