Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 017-011
Date: Friday, December 24, 1971 at 1:56 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Chancellor, John W.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/017-011
National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417191785 (NAID 417191785)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:01] I have two purposes for my call.
[0:08] 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
[0:18] day in the life of the President.
[0:19] Well, you're very kind to call.
[0:20] And I hope you survived it.
[0:23] Yes, we did.
[0:24] I'm sorry, it couldn't have been longer.
[0:26] I wanted it to be an hour and a half, but we didn't clear the time.
[0:29] Oh, of course.
[0:29] Well, I think probably leaving the audience wanting a little more is fine.
[0:34] And of course, the
[0:36] When some say, well, why couldn't we have seen in depth more things?
[0:40] You've got a lot more film, but you can't put it all on.
[0:43] But I think you gave a feel of it such as perhaps nobody's ever had before of a day.
[0:48] And that came through, and that was a great number of calls we got here on it.
[0:55] 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.
[1:04] Well, we enjoyed it.
[1:05] Sorry we couldn't...
[1:07] Couldn't have done a little more, but I think we gave you enough on the plate for one time.
[1:12] You certainly did.
[1:14] Maybe in a year or two we'll try it again.
[1:18] Let's see what it's like in the second term, sir.
[1:21] Perhaps we get the damn war over with and a few other things.
[1:24] We'll have more pleasant things to talk about.
[1:26] You know, one good thing about it that occurred to me is that...
[1:33] 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.
[1:48] It's not a happy ending in any event, but there's no way.
[1:52] That part of the world will ever be happy, I'm afraid.
[1:54] No, and you said that.
[1:55] I thought you said that very well.
[1:58] You've been down there before, haven't you?
[2:01] Oh, I have indeed.
[2:02] And you know that the hatreds that are there, the only place they're equaled is in the Mideast.
[2:07] That's the only place they're equaled.
[2:08] I mean, I think the religious and other hatreds in the Mideast make that problem virtually insoluble.
[2:16] And the same is true of India-Pakistan.
[2:18] And when you get the great powers involved...
[2:21] particularly in India, Pakistan, India, and China, and then in the Mideast, the Soviet Union, the U.S.
[2:27] It's a real tough titty.
[2:28] Well, you know, we had lunch with Golda Meir in New York after you had seen her.
[2:32] Oh, yeah.
[2:33] 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.
[2:40] Ooh.
[2:41] And that's not good.
[2:44] And we said that.
[2:45] I hope you did.
[2:46] I hope you told her that.
[2:47] You see, the difficulty is that
[2:49] 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.
[3:08] Women's lib intends that if only we had women in positions of power, we'd have no war.
[3:14] You look at the history of nations, and when you have had women in positions of power, women...
[3:19] are really tougher than men.
[3:22] Very curious, isn't it?
[3:23] But you look back.
[3:25] 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.
[3:35] That's right.
[3:36] Curious, isn't it?
[3:37] Indira Gandhi, you know, has this great background and the rest, and she's an enormously able woman.
[3:43] I have great respect for what she is doing.
[3:46] She's tough.
[3:47] She's tough.
[3:48] Well, even Mrs. Bandaraniaki in Ceylon.
[3:51] Oh, yes.
[3:54] She's very strong.
[3:56] Well, I would just hope that Fidel Castro would not be succeeded by a woman.
[4:00] Oh, boy, a Cuban woman.
[4:02] That'd be something.
[4:03] That'd give us a lot of trouble.
[4:04] Yeah, we've got enough trouble with him.
[4:06] He's awfully kind of you.
[4:08] 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.
[4:16] But they did a fine job, and I appreciated it very much.
[4:19] Well, I'm terribly grateful.
[4:20] Okay.
[4:21] All right.
[4:21] Goodbye.
[4:21] Thank you.