Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 025-043
Date: Sunday, June 11, 1972 at 3:16 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Krol, John Cardinal
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/025-043
National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417193709 (NAID 417193709)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (google/gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference. Verify against the audio before citing.

[0:00] OPERATOR: [unintelligible] [crosstalk] Mr. President. Cardinal Krol, sir.
[0:04] NIXON: Cardinal Krol. Dick Nixon here.
[0:07] KROL: Oh, yes, Mr. President. It's so good of you to call.
[0:10] NIXON: Well, listen, after all the things you said, I thought you were talking about Lou Gehrig.
[0:13] KROL: No, I wasn't. I was not doing that. No, I made the people [laughter] in Philadelphia sit through about ten minutes of my, uh,
[0:20] NIXON: Did you really?
[0:21] KROL: personal feelings and reflections on, uh, that event. And they were just, oh, extremely, uh, delighted with it.
[0:28] NIXON: Well, as I said, I've got the summary here, and I'm very, very grateful,
[0:31] KROL: Well, the point—
[0:32] NIXON: and, of course, your personal support always means a great deal, but this comes at an important time because a leader of the Church like you, speaking out as you have,
[0:41] KROL: Yeah.
[0:42] NIXON: has—has a massive effect throughout this country, and that's—that's what we need.
[0:47] KROL: Well, now, just for your encouragement, let me tell you this. When I spoke to them, I had a captive audience.
[0:52] NIXON: Right.
[0:54] KROL: And, uh, it's customary, uh, in the Church that when I speak, uh, people listen, and they accept, uh, what I have to say, even if they don't agree with it. [laughter]
[1:04] NIXON: Yes, sir. You're the Cardinal. That's better than being King, you know.
[1:08] KROL: [laughter] But you see, our paper came out with it the next day.
[1:12] NIXON: Yeah.
[1:13] KROL: And our paper has 80,000 subscribers, but is, uh—we estimate, uh, reaches about 400,000 people.
[1:21] NIXON: Wonderful.
[1:22] KROL: And that was yesterday. And that—yesterday and today, my mail, phone calls, and everything else has been nothing but enthusiastic commendation—
[1:34] NIXON: Great.
[1:34] KROL: —for, uh, speaking up. And a lot of them have said it's high time that we have someone speak up, uh, the truth.
[1:40] NIXON: Is that right?
[1:42] KROL: Uh-huh. I haven't got a single negative call, letter, or comment.
[1:47] NIXON: Well, let me—
[1:48] KROL: And so people—I think, Mr. President, they're, uh—the majority are just fed up—
[1:53] NIXON: Yeah.
[1:53] KROL: —with that minority that monopolizes the press, and the, uh, media. And, uh, they're fed up with them.
[2:01] NIXON: Well, the fact is, uh, as you know, uh, uh, that this—this whole thing—Poland was a very touching thing. As I said in a press conference the other day, Cardinal, the Polish government didn't want the crowds.
[2:15] KROL: They were scared to death of them.
[2:17] NIXON: Yeah. The Polish people made it. And it was deeply moving to us, and—
[2:23] KROL: It came across on TV, too.
[2:25] NIXON: Did it really?
[2:26] KROL: Oh, yes, yes. It was—it was something really, uh, very, uh—well, it made your heart jump, you know, to see the way people were reacting.
[2:35] NIXON: Yeah.
[2:36] KROL: And, uh, Chuck Colson said something about, uh, somebody in Poland said you must be a, uh—partly Polish to be so good. I said to Chuck, [laughter] he's a lot better than the Poles are, politically.
[2:46] NIXON: [laughter] Well—
[2:48] KROL: Because the Poles were always disorganized, you know, politically. And they ruin themselves.
[2:52] NIXON: Yeah.
[2:53] KROL: And, uh, what impressed me, uh, particularly about this trip is that, uh, you were prepared for it. And, uh—
[3:02] NIXON: Yeah.
[3:03] KROL: —you moved effectively, firmly.
[3:06] NIXON: Right. Well, I—I—I hope you saw the joint session, because I tried there to point out that we don't have peace yet, and that we can't let down our guard, and we've got to—we've got to stand fast.
[3:17] KROL: Yes. In other words, you have, uh, started, uh—as you said in your inauguration, opened a door, but you have not arrived at the final, uh, conclusion yet.
[3:27] NIXON: That's right, and they understand that. Well, let me say, Cardinal, I know your—your flock must be enormously proud of you,
[3:32] KROL: Well—
[3:32] NIXON: and I want you to know how grateful I am.
[3:35] KROL: Well, thank you, Mr. President. It's so thoughtful of you to take time out of your busy schedule just to give me a ring, and I certainly do appreciate it.
[3:42] NIXON: Well, we'll see you one of these days soon. I'm going to be out in California, and—
[3:46] KROL: California, yeah.
[3:47] NIXON: —then come on back to, uh, the—
[3:49] KROL: You take a rest.
[3:50] NIXON: —here. And after I get back here, uh, we'll get up to Camp David, and get you up.
[3:54] KROL: Oh, wonderful.
[3:55] NIXON: Good.
[3:56] KROL: Wonderful. I look forward to that.
[3:57] NIXON: You know, Brezhnev told me, Cardinal, he said, "I work hard, and now I'm taking off the next two months."
[4:03] KROL: [laughter]
[4:04] NIXON: I said, "Well, you must not have a press corps." He laughed. He thought it was funny.
[4:08] KROL: [laughter]
[4:09] NIXON: He said, "No," but he said, "nobody works in Russia in July and August." Can you imagine that?
[4:13] KROL: Is that right?
[4:15] NIXON: And I said, "Well, you've got an easier life than we have, because we work, uh, mostly twelve months."
[4:20] KROL: Yeah. Well, the climate makes some difference too, I guess, in terms of the vacation, doesn't it?
[4:26] NIXON: Well, they go down to the Black Sea, you know, and soak in the sun. But anyway, maybe I'll get a couple of days.
[4:31] KROL: Yeah.
[4:32] NIXON: I'm out in—going to be in California. I've got a lot of reading and work to do, but at least in a different spot. And then we'll see you when we get back. Okay?
[4:40] KROL: Good. God bless you, Mr. President.
[4:42] NIXON: God bless you, Cardinal. Thank you again.
[4:44] KROL: Goodbye, sir.
[4:45] NIXON: Bye.