Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 31 › Conversation 031-078
Nixon phone call with Hayden on 1972 Presidential Campaign and Detroit News
Monday, October 16, 1972 · 5:16 PM–5:21 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon spoke with Detroit News editor Martin S. Hayden to express appreciation for the newspaper's editorial support during his 1972 reelection campaign. The two discussed the perceived detachment of the national press from public sentiment and analyzed favorable polling data for Nixon in Minnesota and Michigan. Nixon also noted that he would increase his public campaign activities following his upcoming veto of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, which he intended to use to highlight his efforts to prevent excessive government spending.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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Yeah.
Mr. Hayden's on the line, Mr. President.
Hello?
Yes, Mr. President, how are you?
I'm not calling to cancel my subscription.
Well, that's good.
Yeah, I'm just calling to tell you that...
I'm just enormously grateful for not only your endorsement, but for what I was saying to some of our people here, the really tremendous editorials you've written on national security over these past four years.
Well, that's very nice.
Because every time I get a little discouraged when I read the morning Washington paper, I read the editorials and the Detroit News, and I think maybe the country's still got a little strength.
Well, I wouldn't worry too much about the Washington paper.
Oh, I was at the Post and the Times, you know, I went out and wrote me a little note about the speech.
Now I've been asked to give the same speech to the southern publishers early in November.
Honest to God, I've gotten more response from this from publishers around the country.
I honestly don't think that, I think they're off their, they're not following the line that...
They're following a dead line.
They've lost touch.
Well, I think they're out of step a bit, aren't you?
I think they are, and they're constant harping away that this is a dull election.
A dull election.
That's what they want to say, because they realize that everything they've stood for is going to go down the tube in this.
That's right, and they're not getting the response they anticipated from the old bromides that they've been giving so steadily.
One thing that really disappointed Martin was that McGovern's foreign policy speech, not foreign policy, but Vietnam speech, did not have a positive reaction for him.
I understand.
I'm not referring to, I mean, the editorials, but even among the pollsters agree that it didn't move in one way or another.
That's right.
I just got a call this afternoon from my office after I got here.
We've been from our pollster.
Yeah, I know.
I got in the Minneapolis poll, which actually shows that you went up
Was that right?
Yeah, you were.
It was 58, 37, and 5.
Yeah.
Now it's 60, 36, and 4.
Oh, that's a Minneapolis poll.
Oh, I see.
The Minnesota poll.
Yeah, well, that's really... Our pollster has been worried about Minnesota.
He said, if Minnesota starts to slide, Michigan will.
Right.
And as you know, ours showed you all two points.
Yeah.
But our government didn't gain any.
Yeah.
But in the numbers you're in, you're still very strong.
I think your poll shows about... About 50 and 37.
13, right.
About 13.
Our pollster, who is pretty good at this, says that unless there's some cataclysm or something on the other way, he would bet that Michigan will go for you about 55%, which would be...
roughly what Ike did his best time.
56, right.
Yeah, Michigan is always a close state.
That's right.
Right.
That's right.
Right.
Well, I think it's going very well.
We are, as you know, Martin, I've got to sort of stick around here a bit, but
After we get Congress out, I'll be around the country a little.
Whether I will get into Michigan or not remains to be seen.
I will certainly be in the Midwest for a regional meeting, like I did in Atlanta.
But we're putting tremendous emphasis on Michigan, I think you should know, in our advertising and our work and everything else.
Yes, and incidentally, you would also be interested.
Today our poll shows Bob Griffin up there.
Four or five points.
Is he?
Up very strongly, and Kelly stays just where he was.
Good.
And as a matter of fact, Kelly and McGovern are running exactly the same, about 37%.
And Bob then is?
Bob is up to about 45.
Great.
More undecided in that one, I guess.
More undecided, that's right.
The only thing that worries us is looking for something to worry about.
McGovern keeps making speeches, and he raises issues like the foreign policy.
Then your cabinet members and others go out speaking for you, but they don't get the attention.
Now, as a matter of fact, I haven't seen it, but our chief editorial writer said he'd like to write one and say that he'd like to
see the president say a little more.
And I said, well, don't say it quite that way.
Say it that this is the danger and that maybe it'd be a good idea.
Well, there'll be more in the last three weeks.
But you know, we've had a hell of a time trying to keep this Congress from blowing the budget to pieces.
Right.
And I've got to veto a tough bill tomorrow, incidentally.
But it's for a good cause.
No higher taxes, I hope.
That's fine, Mr. President.
I'm glad you think it's going well, too.
Well, we're going to try to make it, but I do appreciate it.
And you tell your editorial writer, I think he'll see enough activity.
All right.
Okay?
All right, Mr. President.
Nice to talk to you.
Bye-bye.
NARA Description
On October 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Martin S. Hayden talked on the telephone from 5:16 pm to 5:21 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-078 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 31-78
Date: October 16, 1972
Time: 5:16 pm - 5:21 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Martin S. Hayden.
[See Conversation No. 800-2D]
Hayden
-Newspaper subscription
-Support for the President
-Endorsement in campaign
-Editorials on national security in the Detroit News
-Washington Post, New York Times
-Hayden's speech
-The President’s view
1972 campaign
-Press reaction
-George S. McGovern's speech on Vietnam
-Effect on polls
-Recent Minnesota poll
-Detroit News poll
-Michigan
-Predicted outcome
-Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1956 results
-The President’s efforts in Michigan
-Robert P. Griffin
-Frank J. Kelly
-McGovern
-McGovern speeches on issues
-Responses of the President's Cabinet members
-Lack of press coverage
-The President's role in campaign
The President's activities
-Congressional action
-Budget
-The President's forthcoming veto
-Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972Also recorded on October 16, 1972
- 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.
- 800-002 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.
- 031-075 5:04 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William R. Hearst talked on the telephone from 5:04 pm to 5:08 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.
- 800-003 5:26 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:26 pm and 5:34 pm.
- 800-004 5:26 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:26 pm and 5:34 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 031-078, 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/031-078 (accessed September 25, 2026).