Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 34 › Conversation 034-073

Nixon, Cox & Butterfield on United Kingdom and Edward Heath

Thursday, December 14, 1972 · 1:02 PM–1:05 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsWhite House operator; Butterfield, Alexander P.; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Cox, Tricia NixonConversation034-073 on Tape 34StartThursday, December 14, 1972 at 1:02 PMEndThursday, December 14, 1972 at 1:05 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 034-073 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a brief telephone conversation with his daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, to discuss her ongoing trip to the United Kingdom. Nixon provided her with specific messages of support to convey to British Prime Minister Edward Heath and noted his intention to reach out to J. Paul Getty for his 80th birthday. The President also briefly touched upon the status of Vietnam peace negotiations, emphasizing his commitment to maintaining pressure until a resolution is reached.

Tricia Nixon Cox
United Kingdom
Edward Heath
Vietnam War
J. Paul Getty
Foreign policy

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yes, please.

Operator, it's Mr. Butterfield.

He'll take the call right now.

Very good.

His guests are leaving, so you can put it through.

All right.

I'll put it right on.

Okay.

He'll be right with you, Patricia.

Hello.

Hi, Daddy.

Hi, Trish.

How are you?

Fine.

I heard you call.

I know.

I missed you last night.

I just wanted to see how everything was going.

Is your trip going great?

Yeah, it's just great.

We were at the House of Commons and also the House of Lords.

Oh, great.

And we saw the policemen.

Who you gave a goaltend to upon his retirement.

Oh, yes.

Because he was there and he was thrilled.

And we saw a lot of interesting people.

And we're going tonight to 10 Downing Street.

That'll be a great experience because...

I think that'll be interesting.

And as I say, you tell the Prime Minister how much I admire his courage and so forth.

And the fact that he, you know, that he's...

Tell him not to be worried, your father said, about the fact that the polls go up and down.

I said that I'm the greatest expert in the world on being down and coming up, and he's going to do exactly the same thing.

Okay.

And tell him you know you're not supposed to get involved in British politics and so forth of another country, but you can be sure that when he was elected that there was a lot of cheering in our household.

You can tell him that, okay?

Right.

And if you see Alec Hume, if he's there, Sir Alec Hume, he's a foreign minister, he's a very good friend also.

Okay.

Tony Barber.

Fine, thank you, honey.

Fine.

We just read a little bit in the papers here.

Well, there isn't much.

The Vietnam thing's still all up in the air, and we're going to have to continue to keep the heat on them because they haven't agreed to the right kind of things.

But we'll keep the heat on, and we'll eventually get it.

You'll eventually get them?

We don't know.

Well, I don't assume anything, but I mean, I say eventually, but I don't know when.

Uh-huh.

Right.

But we'll just do the best we can.

But in the meantime, you're going off tonight to 10 Downing, and then...

I'm going to go off tonight to 10 Downing, and then I think we're going over to Paul Getty's 80th birthday party.

Oh, yes.

That's tomorrow?

No, tonight.

We leave the Prime Minister's at about 10.

Oh, is his party tonight?

Yeah, and then we just finish off by the other one.

Well, what time is it there now?

Well, Daddy, here it is about 6 o'clock.

But then you're going on to the prime ministers.

Right, in about an hour.

And then Paul Getty's party is tonight?

Yeah.

So what we're going to do is first go to the prime ministers.

And then we'll go over to Paul.

Just stop by Paul Getty.

Right.

Fine.

All right.

So is there anything I can tell Paul Getty?

Oh, yes.

I'll tell you.

I'll try to give him a call on the phone, but just tell him I always remembered my visit with him and we've appreciated his letters and through the years and wish him the very best.

Good.

Okay.

Bye.

All right, honey.

Bye.

Thanks for talking to me.

Bye-bye.

Yes.

NARA Description

On December 14, 1972, the White House operator, Alexander P. Butterfield, President Richard M. Nixon, and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 1:02 pm to 1:05 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 034-073 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 34-73

Date: December 14, 1972
Time: 1:02 pm – 1:05 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The White House Operator talked with Alexander P. Butterfield.

       Call from Tricia Nixon Cox
             -The President’s schedule

The President talked with Tricia Nixon Cox between 1:01 pm and 1:05 pm.

[See Conversation No. 823-8]

*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

       Greetings

       Tricia Nixon Cox’s [and Edward R. F. Cox’s] European trip
             -[United Kingdom]
                   -House of Commons
                   -House of Lords
                   -London police officer
                        -The President’s gift of a pin

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************

       Tricia Nixon Cox’s [and Edward R. F. Cox’s] schedule
             -Visit to 10 Downing Street
                   -Message from the President [to Edward R. G. Heath]
                          -Polls
                                 -The President’s experience
                          -Reaction to Heath’s election
                          -Sir Alexander F. (“Alec”) Douglas-Home
                          -Anthony P. L. Barber
                                                 -61-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                             Conversation No. 34-73 (cont’d)

       Washington, DC
           -British press

       Vietnam negotiations
            -Status

*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

       Tricia Nixon Cox’s and Edward Cox’ schedules
             -10 Downing Street
             -J[ean] Paul Getty
                   -Birthday party
                   -The President’s upcoming call to Getty
                   -The President’s message to Getty

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
******************************************************************

Also recorded on December 14, 1972

823-008 1:02 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:02 pm to 1:05 pm.
034-074 1:05 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:05 pm and 1:07 pm.
034-075 1:05 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:05 pm and 1:07 pm.
823-009 1:05 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:05 pm and 1:07 pm.
823-010 1:05 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:05 pm and 1:07 pm.
823-011 1:05 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:05 pm and 1:07 pm.
823-012 1:05 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:05 pm and 1:25 pm.
034-076 1:07 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 1:07 pm to 1:08 pm.

All 47 conversations from December 14, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 034-073, December 14, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/034-073 (accessed September 28, 2026).