Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 35 › Conversation 035-075
Nixon, Ford & O'Neill on Congressional leadership
Wednesday, January 3, 1973 · 2:59 PM–3:03 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min
AI Summary
President Nixon held a brief, informal call with newly elected Democratic majority leader Tip O'Neill and Representative Gerald Ford to congratulate O'Neill on his new role. The conversation served to coordinate the congressional schedule, specifically confirming upcoming bipartisan breakfast meetings and attendance at both Hale Boggs' funeral and Harry S. Truman's memorial service. Additionally, the President clarified his intent to deliver the State of the Union as a written message rather than a formal address to Congress, citing the proximity to his second inaugural address.
- Congressional leadership
- State of the Union Address
- Legislative scheduling
- Tip O'Neill
- Gerald Ford
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
There you are.
Hello.
Mr. President, Jerry Ford speaking.
Yes.
Tip O'Neill, the newly elected Democratic majority leader, is here, and we're both to make an announcement to you.
Tip?
Well, I'm glad to hear from you, Tip.
Congratulations.
Aren't you on the line, Tip?
Yes, I can hear him.
He can hear you, Tip.
Hello, Mr. President.
Well, I can hear you.
Can you hear me?
Hello.
Now you're on the line, yeah.
You just heard his voice across the office.
That's right.
I know.
I heard that voice.
Fine.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Happy New Year.
Are you still the best poker player up there?
Well, I'm pretty good at it.
I remember, you know, 20 years ago, they had that little game with the Muntin.
And I just said, don't get into that O'Neill when it's a high-low seven card and spit in the ocean, huh?
Yeah, those are the good old days.
I'll tell you.
Did you make a pretty good one yourself?
Listen, no, no, no.
Listen, I could play in the Navy when it was five-card stretch and five-card draw, but when I got into these sharpshooters in the House and Senate, wow.
President, when I read those articles about you being a great poker player, I said to myself, what the heck kind of a game that he was playing?
Because when he came up to this house here, they gave him a lesson.
That's right.
That's right.
The trouble was, Tip, it was those wild games that got me.
Calling to notify you that the house is in session.
Great.
And we're... You want the committee to report.
We're glad to have you in session, and I would hope very much, Tip, that you and Jerry can join us for breakfast on the morning of the start right to work of the Friday morning.
Wait a minute now.
Friday morning we were going to be at Boggs' this Friday.
No, no, no, no.
You're going to be at Boggs' funeral Thursday.
Thursday at Boggs'.
Thursday's Boggs'.
We would be through in time for the... No, we're having it Friday morning, so you would be through by 10.30 in time to get over to the memorial service for Truman.
I set it up.
I talked to Mike and also to Carl Albert about it.
And then in the afternoon, Tip, Jerry, at 6 o'clock, I always have a reception for the newly elected members of the House and the Senate, Democrat, Republican, and the newly elected leaders.
as well as the old.
It's not a command, and their wives, of course.
It's at 6 o'clock, but if you would all like to come up, we'd very much like to have you.
We're going to give you, what we do is we have little liquid refreshments, and I told them to get out the good stuff when you guys are there, too.
Okay?
That sounds very fine, Mr. President.
And I'll send you the bill.
You know, we're on an austerity budget.
Okay.
Can I ask you one question?
Yeah, sure.
The State of the Union, I understand, will be a message.
Yeah, here's the situation.
I'm going to follow the practice, Jerry, the State of the Union of the first year.
You see, when you have an inaugural...
The State of the Union duplicates it, basically, and I, in checking through history, I decided to make the inaugural, and then I'll write the State of the Union, and then I'll come to the Congress on another occasion, on a special subject, you know what I mean, when the occasion commends itself, see?
But I figure that it really doubles up too much to have a State of the Union and then inaugural, in other words, particularly when you're hitting that television audience twice.
But we'll give you a good message.
I've got a whole flock of them.
I've been working on them for two months.
They're very pleasant messages.
All right, Mr. President.
We'll see you for breakfast.
All right.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On January 3, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, and Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr. talked on the telephone from 2:59 pm to 3:03 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 035-075 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 35-75
Date: January 3, 1973
Time: 2:59 pm - 3:03 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Gerald R. Ford and Thomas P. (“Tip”) O'Neill, Jr.
[See Conversation No. 831-16]
Announcement
-70-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 35-75 (cont’d)
Congratulations to O’Neill
Audibility of conversation
O'Neill
-Poker-playing ability
-Karl E. Mundt
-The President
-Navy
-Wild card games
Reconvening of House of Representatives
The President’s schedule
-Bipartisan leadership meeting
-Breakfast
-[Thomas] Hale Boggs’s funeral
-Harry S. Truman’s memorial service
-The President’s conversation with Michael J. Mansfield and Carl B.
Albert
-Freshmen Congressmen and bipartisan leadership reception
-Wives
-Timing
-Refreshments
State of the Union Address
-Format
-Message
-Inaugural Address
-Separate speech to Congress
-Television [TV]
-Content
-Tone
The President’s schedule
-Bipartisan leadership meeting
-Breakfast
-71-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUMAlso recorded on January 3, 1973
- 035-074 2:52 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:52 pm and 2:59 pm.
- 831-012 2:52 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:52 pm and 2:59 pm.
- 831-013 2:52 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and William E. Timmons met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:52 pm and 2:59 pm.
- 831-014 2:52 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:52 pm and 2:59 pm.
- 831-015 2:52 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:52 pm and 2:59 pm.
- 831-016 2:59 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr., and Gerald R. Ford met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:59 pm and 3:03 pm.
- 831-017 3:03 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:03 pm and 3:05 pm.
- 831-018 3:05 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, J. Bennett Johnston, III, Mrs. J. Bennett Johnston, III, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., Mrs. J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., Mary Johnston, Hunter Johnston, Sally Johnston, Betsy Allums, Bill Allums, William E. Timmons, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:05 pm to 3:14 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 035-075, January 3, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/035-075 (accessed October 12, 2026).