Nixon phone call with Price on 1973 Inaugural Address and Speechwriting

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Hello.

Mr. Price, sir.

I have read through the book now, and we have a great mass of material, I must say.

The problem is to try to pan the gold out.

I decided I'd send a little memorandum over, which is in terms of so we know what we're working with to make

Basically, the short 10-minute speech, I decided it should definitely be that, which means 1,000 and 1,200 words, 1,200 outside 1,000.

It depends on what we have to say.

So we're thinking in that term.

I think that if I look through this material, and I have not read it carefully enough to try to clean other things out that...

The much of the thought that you have in yours, I think, is certainly worthy of consideration.

I was impressed by Vermont Royster's work.

I mean, I think the idea of one theme and build around that how we, which of course would lend itself also to a short speech.

I think it all costs, not yours, but some of the drafts, sort of fall under the laundry list business of, well, we've done this, we've done this, we've done this, and over the past four years, I don't want to do any of that.

I do think

Basically, the theme of the bicentennial should be brought in.

I like that feel.

I mean, I think it's worth at least considering that that would be a sort of a take-off theme, a simple theme or not.

I don't know.

But the theme of renewal, et cetera,

beginning.

I actually haven't done any very hard thinking about what ought to be in and out.

What I'd like for you to do is to take the whole book, which you, of course, have too, and urge you also to hold the best of the previous inaugurals, which I've mentioned before were TR's only one, and

Uh, curiously enough, you know, the ones like, like, like, like, you know, Taft and Hoover and Harding and Cook, all of them fall into the air of huge, enormous, you know, long damn things.

I mean, they sound like, of course, I guess that goes back to the period when an inaugural, well, it doesn't go back to that period, but

thought that inaugural should be also sort of like a State of the Union.

But I know this, that nobody can tell you what was in any of those.

And they may be able to tell you what was in some of the others.

But anyway, I feel that the occasion calls for a brief speech.

I think it calls for an uplift, positive speech.

like the Faith in America theme because that actually was one of the major points of difference in the campaign.

I mean, those who were putting it down and those who were building it up.

I say write it in terms without specifically getting into Vietnam or, well, without getting into the situation, but write it in terms of

being in positive terms on this issue rather than negative.

Don't assume that nothing will happen.

Nothing may happen, but let's just assume the best because then we can always shift if we have to to another game or drop out as the case might be.

So I would suggest that you take just a couple days now, if you will, and I'll try to

Over the weekend, I'm going to have some time to do some reading about these materials, and maybe we'll get some further thoughts, which if I get them, I'll pass on to you for inclusion in yours.

But you can take a second crack if you like.

And I would

not expect anything i will not expect anything as a matter of fact from you i won't be able to do anything with it until uh the next weekend let's figure that i'd like something by uh noon of next week and i'll sit down and i'll take a look at what you have all right all right

And I'll be here this weekend if there's anything you...

Right.

Incidentally, you're welcome if you want to go to Camp David if you'd prefer to work there.

I mean, it's there.

You know, you can go up there and use the facilities.

I'll be in and out of there.

I'll go up for a day and I'll come back and so forth.

But if you want to go up there, why, you're certainly welcome to go.

And if you find it better to work there, go by all means because it's available.

Don't be afraid of the people there.

All right.

cabins and sit and... Yeah, but be sure to do it, Ray, because sometimes it becomes rather depressing just to be in these offices, I imagine.

And that is a wonderful place to work if there isn't really, but be sure to go.

You're totally welcome to go.

I mean, it's there, and just hop in a courier or any time.

Come on.

Good.

And, you know, you've got to go down and have dinner.

It'll give you a little time to relax and so forth.

So anyway, what I'm saying now, though, is you just take a week and hope for the best.

That would be good.

One thing I started developing in my draft there that I touched on a little bit and didn't develop much, but I'm intrigued by the idea of, as one of the central themes, is just the idea of responsibility.

That's sort of a call to responsibility or years of responsibility or something like that.

Uh-huh.

I thoroughly believe in all that.

I suppose that fashion makes any damn difference anyway.

It's quite true that it gets back to our whole foreign policy, which must be a responsible one if

Frankly, the free world is to survive.

It gets to our economic policy, in which we have to have responsibility and to work and to be proud of work rather than sit on our butts.

And it means responsibility, of course, in terms of what we call our relations with each other, you know, and so forth.

as contrasted with the era of the 60s where everybody said, well, the hell with it.

Let the devil take the hindermost.

I certainly believe in it.

I like it.

I like the, as I said, I like the, but Vermont Reister's gut reaction is correct.

need to hear jingoism but they they just desperately want to hear not just that america's a perfect country but that it's not all that bad you know what i mean there's the the uh well we've we've been through as you put in your draft we've been through the crisis of the spirit and we've been through a difficult war that's we've uh we've had the crisis of our cities and the crisis of this

crisis of the other generations and the crisis of the of color and race and all the rest and it was supposed to break us and so on but but the American spirit was as good worse in the past and and it is I mean it's strong

The spirit of America is good.

In fact, you almost start with that.

I remember Truman starting his State of the Union in 1948.

A cocky little guy, I thought.

He got out there, and he said, he just first sentence was, the State of the Union is good.

You know, and everybody, all the Democrats cheered, and the Republicans sort of frowned a bit, but he had a right to say it.

And so it is.

There may be a slight overstatement, but a very substantial majority of people probably believe that.

In any event, I may get some thoughts as I get deeper into it myself.

But as I said, I'll read over all the others, and if you can bring up some nuggets, I'll take them.

Mm-hmm.

And remember that what we're working here in a frame, I've decided on the short speech.

I'm just going to make basically a 10-minute speech, which is 1,000 to 1,200 words.

And that means a hell of a lot in very few words.

I think that's right, though.

I think that's right.

I feel it's right.

I know, you know, as I counted those words in the other speeches as I

even TR who was rather loquacious you know hell he'd get up and speak two or three hours but 10 minutes 990 words and it was damn good for those times and FDRs were generally fairly brief of course the fourth was nothing but they but they tended toward brevity rather than toward just getting up there and

but having them want a bit more is fine.

Okay, Ray.

Wish you well.

Thank you.

Bye.

Nixon phone call with Price on 1973 Inaugural Address and Speechwriting

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on December 28, 1972

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