Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 020-009
Date: Monday, January 31, 1972 at 4:04 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); McKinney, Stewart B.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/020-009

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Congressman McKinney, sir.
[0:02] Hello.
[0:03] Mr. President, how are you?
[0:04] When Clark McGregor was in here, he was telling me that you had a birthday yesterday, and I just wanted you to know that when I saw how young you were, I thought, gee whiz, he's got 30 years left to be in the Congress.
[0:16] Well, thank you very much.
[0:17] I stopped counting, I think.
[0:19] You stopped counting at 39.
[0:21] While I have you, sir, I wanted to tell you your speech was fantastic.
[0:24] Oh, well, I hope it went over well up in your part of the country.
[0:28] You did, and I think you answered a great many questions.
[0:30] One thing that you want to remember is this.
[0:35] Tell all your friends.
[0:36] I mentioned this to three fellows when I was talking to them the other day.
[0:40] Don't be concerned about the enemies turning it down in the first instance.
[0:45] Well, they haven't actually rejected it yet.
[0:47] They're just knocking it around.
[0:48] Because basically, that's the way these things go.
[0:52] There will be a period of a few months where they're going to have to try their military prowess probably one more time.
[1:00] But now we have a basis for negotiation that is very, very hard for anybody to resist.
[1:05] I mean, you can't go much further than what we have done.
[1:08] And so I would say that we've made a good offer, and we think this is one that the American people ought to back, and it is one that we think eventually can lead to a successful resolution of the conflict, and particularly the return of our POWs.
[1:27] A great many of us signed a letter today in the House, which I think you'll be receiving shortly, supporting you, and I think it's great.
[1:35] I think we're all with you.
[1:36] Well, anyway, keep young G. When I was 41, I was a real tiger.
[1:41] We're trying to be one.
[1:43] Okay.
[1:43] Right.
[1:43] Thank you very much, sir.