Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 34 › Conversation 034-033
Nixon phone call with Lewis on US-Soviet relations and International trade
Sunday, December 10, 1972 · 6:06 PM–6:14 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon held a phone conversation with Hobart D. Lewis to discuss Lewis’s recent trip to the Soviet Union and the positive impact of the President’s earlier visit on trade relations. The two men also touched on the media industry, specifically the financial struggles of Life magazine and the outlook for Reader’s Digest, as well as the future career path of David Eisenhower. Finally, Nixon discussed his plans for executive branch reorganization and expressed his intent to host Lewis and his associates for a weekend gathering once the pressures of the Vietnam negotiations subsided.
- US-Soviet relations
- International trade
- Reader's Digest
- Executive branch reorganization
- Vietnam War
- Media industry
Audio
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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. Hobart Lewis, Mr. President.
Hello.
The President, Mr. Lewis.
Hello.
Hey, Mr. President.
I hope I've been trying to call you for a few weeks.
You've been away.
I've been away on your business, sir.
I was over in Moscow.
I know that.
And Leningrad.
And I must say... You missed the election.
Oh, no.
No, no.
I was here for the election.
And then shortly after that I went to Moscow.
Yeah, I tried to reach you about a couple of years afterwards, and off you were.
I left right after that.
But I must say your visit to Russia made a tremendous impact, the whole atmosphere.
Did you have a good visit there?
Very good visit.
I opened a fair in Leningrad.
Good.
Those trade fairs do a hell of a lot of good.
You bet.
Well, I must say that all the Russian officials we talked to there were terribly impressed by your visit and the atmosphere.
Everybody says the atmosphere has changed, as you know.
What they desperately want is trade, and they don't have much to trade with.
That's right.
You've been making a lot of progress in the last few weeks.
Oh, yeah, we're shaking things up.
After a great start.
But we have to do that, you see, because otherwise you'll just sort of slide down and the rest.
Right.
Just tremendous.
I think it's very exciting.
The main thing, how's the Digest doing?
Well, we're still holding together.
Right.
Now that life's gone.
Life's out of the way.
A little less competition.
Now, we're sorry to see that happen, of course.
Of course, of course.
But it's inevitable.
Television is just too much competition.
Yeah, for that kind of magazine, right.
Nobody needs to look at picture magazines, unfortunately.
Right, right.
But that was absolutely inevitable.
You know, they were losing twelve to thirteen million dollars a year.
Oh my God, they should have done it a long ago.
They should have done that.
They were just hitting the bullet a long time ago.
Right, right.
The USIA, I think, has got a great show going.
I think they're doing a hell of a job.
I don't know who you intend to replace Shakespeare with, but I think he did a fine job while he was there.
Yeah.
I really do.
Well, we do.
Of course, he doesn't want to stay, you know.
I know that.
I understood that he was— We've been thinking of Jim Keough as a possibility.
He might be very good.
Yeah, he's a strong man.
That might be very good.
And he's one of our people.
Sure.
I think he would be first rate.
We don't know.
I haven't even asked him yet because he's doing very well.
Sure.
But we'll take a look at that.
Yeah.
In the meantime—oh, incidentally, David's going to be out of the service, you know, maybe in about the spring, and he thinks he might want to go to work for the Reader's Digest.
Wouldn't that be something?
We'd love to have him.
You'd like to have a young guy that writes stuff.
We'd love to have him.
I don't know whether it's a good idea or not for you.
Talk to him.
Not for you.
I mean, because the Los Angeles Times has offered him a contract to go right with him.
I said, the hell with the Times.
I mean, what are you going to do, write him for a little one sheet?
Sure.
Because he's got more things.
But you might give him some advice.
I'll do my best.
In about April or May before he's out.
He really does want to write, does he?
I don't know why.
I don't either.
But anyway.
Right.
Yeah, we tried to reach you.
Tell you why.
I went to Florida about a week after the election, and we had Applenauf and Rabozov, and we tried to get you.
Oh, God.
And they said, you were out with some babe.
And I said, where the hell is he?
He said, he's in Moscow.
And I said, no babes there that even wear nice stockings.
You know, that's a grim place.
You know that?
Isn't it grim?
People are unhappy.
I was glad to get out.
You know, the faces, the faces.
God.
You go to Leningrad, and the other places are a little happier.
Leningrad is a little more European.
But Moscow, Jesus, you know, it's just a prison.
I know.
I know.
I'll tell you that Martin makes you love this country, doesn't it?
I was really glad to get back.
Right.
I really was.
But I've noticed everything you've been doing the last three weeks, and I think it's magnificent.
Well, we've been shaking things up.
And incidentally, we would like to get together, maybe you and Hope, I mean you and B.B.
and Bob and I, for one weekend.
And it may be now after Christmas, because I'm in the middle of Vietnam at the moment.
I'll bet you are.
And I've been working on that, and I've been shaking things up.
But you see, the shakeup is necessary.
People wanted me to keep the whole cabinet because they'd done well.
You need momentum.
You need momentum.
You need new people, and I moved them all around, you know.
I thought it was great.
I think Bill Clements will do a good job for you there as deputy, too.
Oh, boy, he's a tough guy.
Tough guy.
No, I think it looks just first-rate.
Very exciting.
Well, any time that we could get together, you know I'd love it.
Right.
Right.
Well, you take care now.
Well, thank you very much for calling.
NARA Description
On December 10, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Hobart D. Lewis talked on the telephone from 6:06 pm to 6:14 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 034-033 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 34-33
Date: December 10, 1972
Time: 6:06 pm - 6:14 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis.
The President’s previous attempts to reach Lewis
US-Soviet Union relations
-Trip by Lewis
-Moscow
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 34-33 (cont’d)
-Leningrad
-1972 election
-The President’s trip to the Soviet Union
-Trade fair
-Leningrad
-The President’s trip to the Soviet Union
-Effect
-Trade
-[US-Soviet Union trade agreement]
-Progress
Reader’s Digest
-Life
-Demise
Life
-Demise
-Effect of television
-Financial losses
United States Information Agency [USIA]
-Frank J. Shakespeare
-Performance
-James Keogh
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
-[Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
-Military service
-Employment
-Reader’s Digest
-Los Angeles Times
-Advice
-Eisenhower’s desire to write
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 34-33 (cont’d)
The President’s schedule
-Florida
-1972 election
-Robert H. Ablplanalp
-Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
-Lewis
Soviet Union
-Moscow
-Lewis’s trip
-Public mood
-Leningrad
-Public mood
-European influence
Second term reorganization
The President’s schedule
-Lewis, Rebozo, Abplanalp
-Vietnam
Second term reorganization
-Cabinet
-William P. Clements, Jr.
MeetingAlso recorded on December 10, 1972
- 034-028 9:55 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:55 am to 10:02 am.
- 384-004 10:01 AM · 3 hr 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., White House operator, Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:01 am to 1:12 pm.
- 034-029 11:50 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:50 am and 12:04 pm.
- 034-030 12:04 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Anatoliy F. Dobrynin talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:04 pm and 12:55 pm.
- 034-031 12:55 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mrs. Howard Cox talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 6:06 pm.
- 034-032 12:55 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 6:06 pm.
- 034-149 12:55 PM · 15 sec — the White House operator and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 6:06 pm.
- 819-001 1:15 PM · 15 sec — Unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 1:15 pm on December 10, 1972 and 10:18 am on December 11, 1972.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 034-033, December 10, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/034-033 (accessed October 12, 2026).