Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 35 › Conversation 035-134

Nixon phone call with Cox on Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe

Thursday, January 11, 1973 · 2:11 PM–2:12 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Cox, Tricia Nixon; Cox, Edward R. F.Conversation035-134 on Tape 35StartThursday, January 11, 1973 at 2:11 PMEndThursday, January 11, 1973 at 2:12 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 035-134 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon speaks with Tricia Nixon Cox and Edward R. F. Cox to receive a firsthand account of the performance by the Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe in Washington, D.C. Tricia describes the enthusiastic reception, noting that the audience remained for a lengthy standing ovation despite the presence of heavy security measures. The discussion emphasizes the success of this cultural exchange as a positive tool for U.S.-China relations.

Audio

Download MP3 · 4.5 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello.
Daddy, hi, it's me.
How was the Chinese thing?
Daddy, it was very impressive, and the most impressive thing was not the act, but at the end, the reception that they got, they got a standing ovation from the audience, and no one left.
I think everyone viewed himself as a mini-diplomat.
Yeah.
So they were very enthusiastic, and they just got curtain call after curtain call.
And they had, as their conclusion, flowers of friendship.
And they unfurled a banner saying, long live friendship between the Chinese people and the American people.
People just went wild.
They really did, huh?
Yeah, they really did.
It was just great.
So I told Steve Ball to put a question mark on your schedule for tomorrow.
Yeah.
So they've been getting a lot of publicity here.
um i went to see the pandas yesterday and that was in the paper this morning the audience though was really uh really uh gave him a hell of an original he really did there were um quite a few chinese people in the audience i don't know what kind of chinese but maybe probably nationalist chinese yeah but they were pretty enthusiastic yes they were well they definitely weren't from the people's republic of china anyway good good
When they came up for autographs afterwards, they all said that they were from Washington.
When you talked to them?
Yeah, different people.
They came up to you?
Yeah, as we were leaving.
Who did you sit with?
Well, we sat with Peter Flanagan and Len Gorman.
Good.
There was.
They must have really enjoyed it.
I think they really did.
It was really quite a moving evening at the end, especially.
That's good.
So it was really good.
These are really great things to do, these good little things.
They don't do any harm, do they?
They sure can't, but I must tell you, the security there was so thick, it was unbelievable.
For example, about every five rows, there was a man stationed, and there were men stationed around the balconies.
And right in front of the stage, too.
You never know what's going to happen.
It's as if you were there.
There's almost that much security.
Right.
I was glad to see, of course...
I think they could use it.
There's a lot of myths around.
Yeah, yeah.
You'd tell somebody that, you know, a fellow who was an anti-communist.
Exactly, exactly.
People are that crazy.
But I was really proud of the audience.
They applauded after every little number, every little thing they did.
They really went overboard for what they did, but I was glad because it was great, and especially at the end.
You know how audiences nowadays will start walking out during the last act, or at the last curtain fall, they'll start walking out?
Nobody walked out, not one person.
I didn't see one person walk out.
They just stood and applauded, huh?
They just stood and applauded for, would you say, six minutes, Ed?
That's true.
That says about 10 minutes.
That's marvelous.
That was really great.
Glad they behaved well.
They sure did.
Encouraging.
Okay, bye-bye.
We'll see you tonight.
Great, bye.

NARA Description

On January 11, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Tricia Nixon Cox, and Edward R. F. Cox talked on the telephone from 2:11 pm to 2:12 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 035-134 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 35-134

Date: January 11, 1973
Time: 2:11 pm - 2:12 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Tricia Nixon Cox.

Edward R. F. Cox can be heard in the background.

[See Conversation No. 401-22]

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

       Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe
            -Performance
                  -Audience of response
                  -Flowers of friendship
                        -US-China relations
            -The President’s schedule
                  -Stephen B. Bull
            -Publicity
                  -Visit to see the National Zoo
                        -Pandas
                                             -116-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                                 Conversation No. 35-134 (cont’d)

             -Performance
                   -Audience
                         -Republic of China [ROC]
                         -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                         -Autographs
                         -Washington, DC
                   -Seating
                         -Peter M. Flanigan
                         -Leonard Garment
                         -Spouses
                         -Goodwill cultural exchange
                   -Security described
                         -Need
                         -Compared to the President’s security
                         -Anticommunists
                   -Audience response
                         -Response
                         -Standing ovation
                               -Length

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

Also recorded on January 11, 1973

  • 401-022 2:11 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:11 pm to 2:12 pm.
  • 035-135 2:12 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:12 pm and 2:17 pm.
  • 401-023 2:12 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:12 pm and 2:17 pm.
  • 401-024 2:12 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:12 pm and 2:17 pm.
  • 035-136 2:17 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Col. Richard T. Kennedy talked on the telephone from 2:17 pm to 2:18 pm.
  • 401-025 2:17 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Col. Richard T. Kennedy met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:17 pm to 2:18 pm.
  • 401-026 2:30 PM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Col. Richard T. Kennedy, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:30 pm to 3:15 pm.
  • 035-137 3:15 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:19 pm.

All 63 conversations from January 11, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 035-134, January 11, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/035-134 (accessed October 1, 2026).