Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 18 › Conversation 018-102

Nixon, Boggs & Ford on State of the Union and House of Representatives

Tuesday, January 18, 1972 · 12:41 PM–12:44 PM ET · White House Telephone ·3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Boggs, [Thomas] Hale;  Ford, Gerald R.;  O'Neill, Thomas P. ("Tip"), Jr.Conversation018-102 onTape 18 (tape position 04:58:32–05:01:30)StartTuesday, January 18, 1972 at 12:41 PMEndTuesday, January 18, 1972 at 12:44 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 018-102 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a brief, informal call with House leaders Hale Boggs, Gerald Ford, and Tip O'Neill to coordinate the logistics of his upcoming State of the Union address. The participants discussed the President's plan to deliver a live address on Thursday combined with a supplementary written message to keep the presentation concise. The conversation also included lighthearted banter regarding the recent Super Bowl and a joking remark about the lack of presidential candidates within the House compared to the Senate.

Audio

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Mr. President, Congressman Boggs, Ford, and O'Neill to talk to you.
Fine.
There you are.
Hello.
Hey, Mr. President.
Well, how are you?
Well, we're glad you're all back in town and in good health and on such a beautiful winter day.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Jerry Ford right here and Tip O'Neill coming in in just a minute.
How many did you properly reimburse for that wager we made?
Oh, that's right, that's right.
Well, I'll tell you, we'll contribute it to some good cause, like the athletic fund of the University of Michigan so they can buy a
No, no, no, I mean compensate an adequate quarterback.
No, that quarterback was all right.
I thought you were coming down to the Super Bowl.
I saw it on TV.
It was a good thing, wasn't it?
Boy, those Texans, they were magnificent.
You know why we're calling you.
Right.
We all assemble and we're ready to communicate.
Fine.
Well, I've got quite a mass of stuff we're going to do.
We're going to do, I'll be down, I would like to come down Tuesday, I mean Thursday at 1230, as you know.
I'm not going to hold you, I mean, I'm not going to, hello, hi, how are you?
Glad to have you back.
I was down there in New Orleans waiting for that pass, that play that you sent.
Yeah, that tell you.
The only trouble was that they didn't have enough of them.
I was rooting for Miami only because you were with them.
That's right.
That's the way it went.
I'm always for the home team.
This fellow's a great strategist.
Yeah, but the Cowboys, nobody's going to beat them for two or three years.
Well, we'll announce that, Mr. President, that you will speak to John Sessions at 1230.
Fine.
Also, I'm going to do something that's different.
I'm going to give...
So that my...
message will not be as interminable length.
We're going to give you a written message, too.
You remember, until Woodrow Wilson, except for Jefferson, all messages, as you recall, were written.
But this instance, I think the combination will be good.
I think so.
We'll give you that tomorrow and the other one on Thursday.
Fair enough.
Well, we look forward to seeing yours, Jared.
All right.
Fine, Mr. President.
Okay.
Well, we'll look forward to seeing all of you, and don't do anything until I get there, please.
Okay?
Well, we've got a couple of matters.
Fair enough.
Handling the routine, but we're looking forward to Thursday.
You know, it's one thing I want to say to all you folks that's very surprising to me, though, and it is the House is a much bigger body than the Senate.
You've got 435.
They've only got 100.
And yet they got ten times as many presidential candidates.
Now, what's the matter with you guys?
Well, you don't want us to dredge up anymore, do you?
No, I think you've got it out.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
Nice to talk to you.
Bye.
Thank you.
Bye, Mr. President.

NARA Description

On January 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, [Thomas] Hale Boggs, Gerald R. Ford, and Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr. talked on the telephone from 12:41 pm to 12:44 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 018-102 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 18-102

Date: January 18, 1972
Time: 12:41 pm - 12:44 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with [Thomas] Hale Boggs, Gerald R. Ford, and Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill,
Jr.

[See Conversation No. 650-12A]

     Greetings

     Super Bowl

     Assembling of the House of Representatives
         -State of the Union message
               -Timing

     Super Bowl
          -Dallas Cowboys

     State of the Union message
           -Written message
                 -[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
                 -Thomas Jefferson

     The US House of Representatives
          -Presidential candidates
                -The US Senate

Also recorded on January 18, 1972

  • 018-113 10:58 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:58 am and 12:33 pm.
  • 650-007 11:27 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:27 am.
  • 650-008 11:27 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:27 am to 11:31 am.
  • 650-009 11:31 AM · 60 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Arthur F. Burns, John B. Connally, Rose Mary Woods, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:31 am to 12:31 pm.
  • 650-010 12:31 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:31 pm and 12:33 pm.
  • 018-101 12:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Hugh Scott, and Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield talked on the telephone from 12:33 pm to 12:34 pm.
  • 650-011 12:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Hugh Scott, and Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:33 pm to 12:34 pm.
  • 650-012 12:34 PM · 1 hr 55 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, Gerald R. Ford, [Thomas] Hale Boggs, Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:34 pm to 2:29 pm.

All 30 conversations from January 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 018-102, January 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/018-102 (accessed September 18, 2026).