Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 31 › Conversation 031-075

Nixon phone call with Hearst on 1972 Presidential Campaign and Foreign Policy

Monday, October 16, 1972 · 5:04 PM–5:08 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hearst, William R.Conversation031-075 on Tape 31StartMonday, October 16, 1972 at 5:04 PMEndMonday, October 16, 1972 at 5:08 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 031-075 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiated this call to thank newspaper magnate William R. Hearst for the editorial support his publications provided during the 1972 presidential campaign, particularly regarding foreign policy. The two discussed a recent meeting Hearst had with former President Lyndon B. Johnson, noting Johnson’s private support for Nixon’s reelection and his disdain for Democratic challenger George McGovern. Additionally, they critiqued the anti-war efforts of McGovern and J. William Fulbright, agreeing that such opposition had unfairly prolonged the Vietnam War.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Mr. William Randolph, Hersh Jr., sir.
Oh, yeah.
On the line.
Hello?
Hello!
Bill, with three weeks to go on that campaign, I just wanted to tell you that one of the reassuring things about my time in this House and also in this campaign has been the support of your papers.
And, boy, particularly on that foreign policy and stuff, you've just been great, and I thank you very much.
Well, that's a very simple statement, but a very, very warm one, and I appreciate it very much.
Well, I like those lean editorials.
I'll tell you something.
I was down last week to Linda
Baines, Johnson.
At the ranch?
At the ranch.
Oh, yeah, right.
And between me and I couldn't put it in the paper, and I did not.
Of course.
I just ran into him while I was walking around the field.
But we lunched with him and spent most of the day.
And he said something that I just told Dick Berlin.
He was on the phone when you came on.
Oh, yeah.
He said to me that I wrote
from the viewpoint of sympathy with the job and the man who was the President of the United States.
He said, very few columnists did that.
They did a lot of things.
That's true.
That's true.
And I think it was because of my own father's death.
Not that the whole mantle was on my shoulders alone, but enough of it was to equate me with the powers of responsibility.
And who knows, the President of the United States did more than anybody could
Well, you've also, Bill, always put yourself, as you say, in the position also in these great international things, which really is what matters.
Speaking incidentally of Johnson, I thought you managed to know, Friday, John Connolly's on TV at 7.30.
I have seen the advance on it.
It is the best political telecast I have ever seen.
It's all on foreign policy, and I would urge you to tune in.
7.30 Friday, John Connolly.
Oh, I will.
And, you know, it's a Democrats for Nixon deal, and it's terrific.
Oh, I will.
It sounds like a Hearst editorial.
Another thing, he is very much of a supporter of yours, Johnson is.
I, well... And he knows, I said to him... Well, he sympathizes with the problem.
No, I said... And he can't stand the other fellow.
I know, I...
You've got to get the last wish, Carl.
It has to do with that ranch, and you'll see some things that'll make you smile.
Good, good.
I'll dig it out.
Tell me something, man, and if you had to do that decision of yours over again, knowing what you know now, would you have stopped the bombing?
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
the President Nixon, but Dick Nixon is doing the right thing now.
Yeah, yeah.
So that means that he would do, were he in your job, he would be bombing again as well.
Yeah, we are, and in the end, it'll do the right thing.
It'll do it.
This thing would have been over if it hadn't been for Fulbright's and McGovern's and others like that.
Right.
Heck, how...
They got a big hunk of America on their side.
Well, when you stop to think, too, put yourself in the position of the other side.
Heck, if you read what these clowns are saying, what would you do?
Sit it out, huh?
That's what I mean.
Right.
They have lengthened the war.
Right.
In the name of peace.
Right.
It's a...
Right.
Well...
We're going to get, one day it's going to be over, and we'll look back, I hope, with some degree.
I just spoke to the POWR today, and boy, they are the most wonderful people.
Those people, they're, you know, they're the ones that ought to be saying bug out, but they don't.
They don't say that.
Listen here, we'll get a hold of some of those.
What the hell are those snails?
Those big snails.
Oh, God, no.
I remember how I smelled after that.
Right.
Thank you for calling.
Give my best to Bootsy.
And to Nick Berlin, too.
I'll tell him.
Bye-bye.

NARA Description

On October 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and William R. Hearst talked on the telephone from 5:04 pm to 5:08 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-075 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 31-75

Date: October 16, 1972
Time: 5:04 pm - 5:08 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William R. Hearst.

[See Conversation No. 800-2A]

        1972 campaign
            -Support for the President from Hearst's newspapers
                -Foreign policy issues
                -Lead editorials

        Lyndon B. Johnson
           -Hearst's visit to the Johnson ranch
           -Hearst's writing
               -Perspective on the presidency
               -International affairs

        1972 campaign
            -John B. Connally's forthcoming broadcast on foreign
             policy
                 -Democrats for Nixon

        Johnson
            -View of the President
            -Perspective on the presidency
                -George S. McGovern
                -Hearst's column on visit to Johnson ranch
                -Vietnam War
                     -Use of bombing during Johnson's administration
                     -The President's policies

                     -J. William Fulbright, McGovern's actions
                          -Effect on length of war

        Prisoners of war [POW] wives

        Expression of regards to Mrs. William R. Hearst and
        Richard E. Berlin

Also recorded on October 16, 1972

  • 031-073 4:53 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 4:59 pm.
  • 799-034 4:53 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 5:01 pm.
  • 031-074 5:01 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Paul Miller talked on the telephone from 5:01 pm to 5:03 pm.
  • 799-036 5:01 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Paul Miller met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:01 pm to 5:03 pm.
  • 800-001 5:01 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Paul Miller met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:01 pm to 5:03 pm.
  • 800-002 5:03 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., William R. Hearst, White House operator, unknown person(s), Robert W. Galvin, and Martin S. Hayden met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:03 pm to 5:26 pm.
  • 031-076 5:08 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:08 pm and 5:14 pm.
  • 031-077 5:14 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Robert W. Galvin talked on the telephone from 5:14 pm to 5:16 pm.

All 97 conversations from October 16, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 031-075, October 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-075 (accessed September 25, 2026).