Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 035-041
Date: Sunday, December 31, 1972 at 7:45 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Allen, George E.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/035-041

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:01] Hello?
[0:01] I had Mr. George Allen, sir.
[0:03] Okay.
[0:03] There you are.
[0:05] Hello?
[0:05] Hi, Mr. President.
[0:07] It's hard to reach you.
[0:07] Where are you?
[0:08] Oh, I'm home right now.
[0:10] Yeah, well, I just want to wish you a Happy New Year and tell you that after two perfect games, I don't know how you can do it again, but this had to be...
[0:20] I didn't think you could surpass last week, but this week, well, in its way, each was a perfect game, wasn't it?
[0:25] Yes, it was, Mr. President.
[0:27] How do...
[0:28] They really tore the place apart.
[0:29] I saw the game.
[0:30] I was at Camp David where I could see on the Baltimore station.
[0:33] And I came back by helicopter and tried to reach you since then.
[0:35] And you've been out.
[0:37] But by golly, I tell you, how do the boys feel?
[0:40] Well, they feel great.
[0:42] It was a physical game.
[0:45] The way you beat the Cowboys.
[0:47] Mr. President, is to out-hit them.
[0:49] And you were hitting them?
[0:51] Just to out-hit them.
[0:53] And they talked about their dynasty, you know.
[0:56] So we had a lot of things psychologically going for us.
[1:00] And we had them.
[1:02] They quit in the last quarter.
[1:04] Do you think they did?
[1:05] Oh, yeah.
[1:07] We just hit them so much that they quit.
[1:10] And it's great to make a champion quit.
[1:13] Yep.
[1:14] And, of course, there was no...
[1:17] one good thing about the result was no doubt about either game, actually.
[1:22] You beat the Packers clean, you beat these clean, and now you go back to your old hometown and take them on the Coliseum.
[1:32] Yeah, it's...
[1:36] I saw them in the
[1:37] The fans came apart, and they put you up on the shoulders.
[1:40] That was quite a moment, wasn't it, for you?
[1:41] These fans...
[1:42] This must have been probably your greatest moment, wasn't it?
[1:46] Oh, I think so.
[1:46] Greater than the Ram game?
[1:47] Yeah, greater, right, because this city, as you know and have said, is so starved for...
[1:54] Right, the rims up.
[1:55] Yeah.
[1:56] That's right.
[1:57] And it's just unbelievable.
[2:00] Uh-huh.
[2:01] Where'd you get the game balls to, incidentally?
[2:03] Well, I tell you what, we...
[2:04] To everybody.
[2:05] Everyone, yeah, right.
[2:07] Everyone, everyone got them.
[2:09] We give those all 40 men the team because that's how perfect it was.
[2:13] Of course.
[2:13] Of course, you know, the guy really that they were all awfully good, but I must say that Kilmer was a cool customer, wasn't he?
[2:23] He was fantastic.
[2:24] And those two passes right on the nose.
[2:27] You know, I tell you, and you know this because you have gone through it, but give me the guy
[2:34] that has less talent but wants to work.
[2:39] Tries harder.
[2:40] That's right.
[2:40] And isn't that guy every time.
[2:44] And as a matter of fact, although we didn't want it to happen, well, Jurgie would have been more exciting.
[2:51] Kilmer was the better quarterback.
[2:53] Yeah.
[2:53] Don't you agree?
[2:54] That's right.
[2:56] And so many times people have talent, so much ability and intelligence and everything, and yet
[3:03] When they have that, they don't have the will to win.
[3:07] They don't have that total dedication.
[3:09] Right.
[3:09] What about that Pardee?
[3:10] What do you think of him?
[3:11] Oh, he was fantastic.
[3:13] He's a fine man.
[3:14] I remember he came in the office that day.
[3:15] Be sure that you tell him that I mentioned him, will you?
[3:18] I will, Mr. President.
[3:19] Of course, all of them, but they were all great.
[3:21] But that Pardee, I thought, God, the way he moved at 15 years, 32 years old, how does he move that fast?
[3:27] You know, again, if you take care of your body and you have the will to win, and you want it badly enough...
[3:33] Nothing can stop you.
[3:36] We wanted it more than they wanted it.
[3:40] You think so?
[3:40] Oh, yeah.
[3:41] I know so, Mr. Brennan.
[3:43] And this is the way we talked all week to them.
[3:45] If you want this badly enough, I don't care what they do, what breaks the officials give them.
[3:51] We'll overcome.
[3:52] Right.
[3:53] Well, actually, it was interesting.
[3:54] You only had two turnovers in the game, didn't you?
[3:57] Yeah, I think two or one.
[3:59] Well, I mean, not against you, but you lost it once and you took one from them.
[4:03] Yeah.
[4:03] But when Brown fumbled, you know, which was a very close call, I thought.
[4:08] I thought it was a bad call.
[4:11] Yeah, actually, he was stopped before he fumbled.
[4:15] And then they picked it.
[4:17] That was a bad call.
[4:18] And incidentally, if you'd gone in and scored, then you'd be running up more.
[4:21] Oh, yeah.
[4:22] You know, the fans gave us a big lift playing at home.
[4:26] Did they?
[4:27] Boy, I tell you, these fans were, they just, that stadium was just.
[4:32] I could sense it from television some, although they're in the box and you can't hear, but I could feel the commentators were talking about it and the way that the stand was really trembling, they said, at the last quarter.
[4:51] Well, you can even feel the ground.
[4:53] It's like an earthquake.
[4:54] You feel the vibration down the ground there.
[5:00] It's just, well, it's a great thing for the city and the area.
[5:04] And I, again, I haven't mentioned too much about your calling because the way the crazy press is sometimes, I thought,
[5:15] Well, let me tell you, I don't want to harnon on the two.
[5:20] I mean, this is, after all, we have to remember this is their game.
[5:23] They won it.
[5:24] But you're welcome to say, sure, of course, I call and congratulate you.
[5:27] I always do, you know.
[5:28] Okay.
[5:29] I tell you what, after the game, one of them asked me, he said, you haven't heard from the president for a long while.
[5:34] And I said, well, yes, I did.
[5:35] I said, he called right after the Green Bay game.
[5:42] So I told him that after the game today.
[5:44] But I didn't want to step out of line on anything.
[5:49] Well, I figured that this was your hour and this and that.
[5:53] You can say, sure, I called it.
[5:57] Two perfect games, and now you need three.
[5:59] Oh, boy.
[6:00] Okay.
[6:01] I think we've lost Kermeline.
[6:04] Yeah, that's rough.
[6:05] I think he tore ligaments in his knee.
[6:07] You've got a pretty good man there in his place, haven't you?
[6:10] Yeah, well, we've got Mitch Johnson on the Cav squad, and then we'll put...
[6:13] and he's not as fast or quick, but he's experienced.
[6:21] And the great thing about this is that, you see, Dallas feels that the only way to build a team is through drafts.
[6:29] And here's a bunch of guys that are cast off and malcontent and too old.
[6:38] We've all been reborn, see?
[6:41] That's right.
[6:43] The thing is, let me say this, as you well know, is a coach's victory.
[6:47] What the hell?
[6:48] You have taken rather, with all compliments to them,
[6:53] except for Brown, Pardee, possibly Taylor, a rather ordinary group, and Haas, an ordinary group of players, and have made an extraordinary team out of them.
[7:04] When you consider the talent on the Dallas side, they really had more talent than you had.
[7:08] Bigger, beefier, faster.
[7:10] Christ, look at those receivers they had.
[7:12] Lance, Allworth, Sellers, all those people.
[7:15] Hayes, how would you like to have Hayes running for you?
[7:19] You know, they...
[7:22] They've got so much talent, see, and if one starts and the other is on the bench, it doesn't help you one way or another, you know.
[7:31] But you say, who do you want in there?
[7:32] Sellers, Hayes, Allworth, Parks, you know, Kruax, Ditka.
[7:37] Even Kruax they had mine, yes.
[7:41] But I think the big thing is that if you stick in there and want it badly enough and work together and
[7:52] And, boy, you know, I don't know what you saw.
[7:54] They had about fourth and a foot to go.
[7:58] And we stopped them.
[8:00] Oh, I saw that with that great tackle.
[8:02] Oh, was that a big play.
[8:04] That was one of the—that broke their hearts right there.
[8:09] Fourth and a foot, and they went for it, and you whacked them, and they were finished right then.
[8:13] That was the key.
[8:15] Well, in a game like this, nothing is the key, but they could have gotten momentum with that.
[8:19] Oh, see, last week, with three minutes to play, they got two touchdowns.
[8:24] I know.
[8:25] They can strike from anywhere.
[8:28] That's right.
[8:28] They're so potent.
[8:30] Well, you and your wife and your family should have a great New Year's now.
[8:34] You know what we're going to do?
[8:35] I have my in-laws with me.
[8:37] They're over here from Tunisia.
[8:39] Isn't that great?
[8:40] And they just help besides themselves, and we're going to... You give them all my best, and you can tell the press, of course, if I call, because I always do that.
[8:52] I just don't want to horn in on your game.
[8:54] I appreciate it so much, and Happy New Year to you and your family.
[9:01] It'll be a good 73.
[9:02] Right.
[9:03] Okay.
[9:03] We have so much to be thankful for.
[9:05] That's right.
[9:06] Bye.
[9:06] Thank you.