Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 27 › Conversation 027-006

Nixon phone call with Rizzo on Frank Sinatra and Philadelphia politics

Wednesday, July 19, 1972 · 2:02 PM–2:09 PM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rizzo, Frank L.Conversation027-006 on Tape 27StartWednesday, July 19, 1972 at 2:02 PMEndWednesday, July 19, 1972 at 2:09 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 027-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon calls Philadelphia Mayor Frank L. Rizzo to commend him for a recent public statement and to discuss political support from Philadelphia operating engineers. The two leaders also deliberate on the political optics of associating with Frank Sinatra, specifically gauging how law enforcement officials might perceive potential ties between Sinatra and organized crime figures. Finally, the conversation touches upon upcoming scheduling matters, including a potential visit from Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 58% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
Well, I just wanted to thank you for that really marvelous statement you made yesterday.
By golly, you really, really have messed with it.
Well, I'll tell you, that was really good.
I was so pleased to just talk to you this morning.
It's such a pleasure.
They were all excited.
Before they heard that, they got a fight.
Yeah.
Yeah, I was going to ask you.
I hope you're not going to give me the drip bag.
Yeah, yeah.
No, of course.
It's always good.
You're going to touch that staff, your friend's staff.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I fell early.
I'm going to get after him.
He won't let him do that.
Thank you.
Well, I tell you, all we'd like to do is to cut our loss to one-fifth it.
Okay.
Yeah, a hundred-fifth it.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, well, I'll tell you, another thing that we would do is that we would, at that time, in fact, we were the mayor of a big, large city, and that's where it came out of, Boston, Missouri, and Florida.
And that really has an effect, also has a great effect on the value.
And we get very, very close.
I want you to know that.
And a very strong man.
Are they really?
In the Philadelphia area?
Terrific.
Terrific.
Well, they're a strong man.
I've seen them on those pictures.
A lot of them are TV's, remember?
I knew the TV's when a guy served in the Navy, you know, down in the Pacific, and he was following around.
I knew a lot of TV's, and a lot of them were operating in the Navy.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
That's enough.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
Let me tell you that you do know how to follow the TV days.
If you know, you are on all three networks now.
Can I ask you a question?
Yeah, can I ask you a question about something?
I'll tell you a few ones.
Carmen Cole said that you get the benefit of it.
I don't know if that's denied or not.
I don't know if that's a very important one.
I don't know if that's a very important one.
And we're trying to build them up, and we want them to be able to do it.
As a matter of fact, we decided to do it, and we're trying to do it.
So I'm going to do it.
We will be coming here either in August or September, in the middle of August, in the beginning of September, depending upon when I, when it comes, I'm going to have attendance.
And also, as trouble begins, as others get away, we're going to have to get there, and we're going to have to get across, and we're going to have to get there, and we're going to have to get there, and we're going to have to get there, and we're going to have to get there.
now here's the point I want to ask you about my answer to that is a long story Frank Sinatra has been a great friend of ours and he's also he's also a great friend of yours and he's a personal friend of yours you know
The question I ask is that, how would law enforcement people feel?
He was the best man, I think he was the best man, really, to do the program, because, you know, he's a big, he's a big man, he's a big man, he's a big man.
But law enforcement people, they would then do it, how did you not do it?
What did you do?
He took that.
But then as far as you're concerned, if I ask him and I'm going to talk to him, it's okay if he doesn't know.
You don't think that they... Don't most of them feel that this market is just one of those real-world things?
That's what I thought.
And he's very confident, too.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Well, it's good to talk to you.
And incidentally, now, on that money thing, every weekend I use it to pay for the bike.
Okay.
Thanks a lot.

NARA Description

On July 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Frank L. Rizzo talked on the telephone from 2:02 pm to 2:09 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 027-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 27-6

Date: July 19, 1972
Time: 2:02 pm - 2:09 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Frank L. Rizzo.

[See Conversation No. 348-6A]

     Frank L. Rizzo's July 18, 1972 statement
          -The President's conversation with Charles W. Colson
          -Response
          -Governor Milton Shapp
          -The President's conversation with John D. Ehrlichman
          -Effect
                 -Italians

     Philadelphia operating engineers
          -Endorsement
          -Seabees
                 -The President's wartime experiences in the Solomon
                  Islands

     Rizzo's statement
          -American Broadcasting Corporation [ABC], National Broadcasting Corporation
                 [NBC], Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]

     The President's schedule
          -John Cardinal Krol
                 -Benediction at Republican Convention
          -Giulio Andreotti
                 -Possible visit to the US
                      -Dinner and entertainment
                          -John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
                          -Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra
                               -Friendship with Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
                               -Law enforcement people
                               -Allegations about connections

                                   -Mafia

     Federal aid
         -Ehrlichman

Also recorded on July 19, 1972

  • 348-001 1:53 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:53 pm and 1:57 pm.
  • 348-002 1:57 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 1:57 pm.
  • 348-003 1:57 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:57 pm and 2:00 pm.
  • 348-004 1:57 PM · 12 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 1:57 pm and 2:00 pm.
  • 348-005 1:57 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 1:57 pm and 2:00 pm.
  • 348-006 2:00 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Frank L. Rizzo, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., White House operator, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:00 pm to 2:25 pm.
  • 027-005 2:02 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:02 pm.
  • 027-007 2:10 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 2:10 pm to 2:12 pm.

All 39 conversations from July 19, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 027-006, July 19, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/027-006 (accessed September 30, 2026).