Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 033-088
Date: Saturday, November 18, 1972 at 11:57 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Garment, Leonard
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/033-088

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Go ahead, sir.
[0:01] Hello.
[0:01] Hello, good morning, sir.
[0:02] Where'd I find you?
[0:04] You found me sitting at my desk writing a note on the bicentennial.
[0:09] Uh-huh.
[0:10] Trying to figure some things out.
[0:11] Are you here in Washington?
[0:12] I'm in Washington.
[0:13] Could you drop over to the Lincoln sitting room?
[0:15] I have a few minutes before I have to get us some more dictation.
[0:22] I'm sitting at my desk in my house.
[0:25] Where is your house?
[0:26] It's in Alexandria.
[0:27] New York?
[0:27] In Alexandria.
[0:29] Oh.
[0:30] Well, I'll tell you what you do then.
[0:37] I think the better thing is this.
[0:39] Why don't you come up tomorrow to Camp David?
[0:41] I've got quite a slug of an appointment.
[0:44] What day were you—you're scheduled to come, aren't you?
[0:47] I haven't heard anything from anyone.
[0:49] Well, you're on the list for next week sometime.
[0:53] But tomorrow at Camp David, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, either.
[0:56] That would be perfect.
[0:57] Tomorrow is Sunday for Christ's sake.
[1:04] I'll tell you what you can do.
[1:21] Come up Monday, which is really better, because tomorrow I'm going to watch football, if you don't mind.
[1:27] That's planned also for myself.
[1:29] Yeah.
[1:30] So come up Monday about 5 o'clock.
[1:34] Be up there by about 5 o'clock, okay?
[1:39] Fine, because I know I'm getting through all the cabinet now, which is a hairy experience.
[1:45] I imagine so.
[1:46] But actually, you know, what we're really doing is shuffling more than running.
[1:51] which is the right thing, because I'm putting a new man in virtually every job.
[1:55] I think you'll agree, you know, the major problem with everything, Len, people become prisoners of the bureaucracy.
[2:02] And then, going over with CAP, I found this case.
[2:05] Incidentally, I think you'd be pleased to know I'm giving CAP a major cabinet appointment.
[2:10] That's great.
[2:10] That's terrific.
[2:11] And I think he deserves it, too.
[2:13] I'll tell you in greatest confidence what it is.
[2:17] Oh, that's marvelous.
[2:19] And I'm going to move Elliott, however, to another very high position.
[2:23] Because Elliott, I think, is first class, don't you think?
[2:26] Well, they're both men of great intelligence and courage.
[2:30] Well, anyway, just range.
[2:32] Is Monday all right?
[2:32] Yeah, Monday's perfect.
[2:34] Fine, fine.
[2:34] I'll look forward to that.
[2:36] Okay, okay.
[2:37] Five o'clock.
[2:37] What did you think of the election this night?
[2:39] Did it bother you?
[2:41] Well, I thought it was a pretty good election.
[2:45] Huh?
[2:45] It's become a long way since that time, isn't it?
[2:53] When you stop to think that ten years ago I just wrote a letter to Pat Brown, you know, and Pat Brown said he was thinking back to ten years ago when I had to make my concession statement.
[3:05] Which, incidentally, if you go back and read, it looks pretty good, because I was very kind to Carl Greenberg and the good guys, and I kicked a lot of the bad guys.
[3:14] But I was gracious to Brown.
[3:16] That's the important thing.
[3:18] What in the hell is the matter with McGovern?
[3:20] That statement of his, I thought, was crazy.
[3:23] There's no sense of history, any of these folks.
[3:26] But, you know, when you think of Goldwater, how gracious he was after 64, how gracious I was when I lost in 60.
[3:32] And when you came in, one of the best moments in the past quarter century, announcing the election of Kennedy to the joint session.
[3:40] You remember when I went to the joint session?
[3:42] Yeah, very moving.
[3:42] But I don't mean, I'm not bragging that, but Goldwater was very good, too, you know.
[3:46] He didn't say the country lost, for Christ's sake, you can't say that.
[3:50] I mean, he mostly believed it.
[3:51] Yeah.
[3:52] Well, you're just such an impermeable part of the history of this century, of the last 25 or 30 years, and the last quarter century.
[3:59] It's a unique sensation to be able to talk to you in these terms.
[4:05] Okay, well, get to work on the Bicentennial.
[4:08] Well, I'm working on it.
[4:08] I'll see you on Monday.
[4:10] Bye.
[4:10] Thanks very much for calling.