Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 37 › Conversation 037-095

Nixon phone call with Rogers on Cabinet wives and Political surrogates

Monday, March 12, 1973 · 1:16 PM–1:18 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, Adele (Langston)Conversation037-095 on Tape 37StartMonday, March 12, 1973 at 1:16 PMEndMonday, March 12, 1973 at 1:18 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 037-095 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with Adele Rogers regarding his strategy to utilize Cabinet wives as political surrogates to support his administration's legislative and budgetary agenda. Nixon expressed his desire to leverage the wives' influence while acknowledging that participation would vary based on individual circumstances. To further this objective, he announced plans for a formal briefing and dinner for Cabinet members and their spouses at Camp David scheduled for late April or early May.

  • Cabinet wives
  • Political surrogates
  • Camp David
  • Administration public relations
  • Budgetary strategy

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I had Mrs. William Rogers.
Sure.
I just wanted to wish all of you well.
Aren't you nice?
You're a nice party.
You have good spies.
Bob Haldeman told me about it.
I think it's just a great idea.
Are you having just the members of the cabinet, I mean the wives of the members of the cabinet?
That's right.
And then next week we're going to have the little cabinet and a coffee and what we're trying to do.
useful the little cabinet and what can we do to be useful to you anytime we can i wish you we have talked at the last cabinet meeting as an armstrong can tell you i said that in terms of our budget battle and so forth some of the others that we wanted to be sure not to overlook the tremendous asset we have
I mean, the wives, some of them can't do it, some will, like you can, others just cannot.
That's right, small children and so forth, but some are very good.
But I mean, but some are very good at it, some are just uncomfortable.
Yes.
So that's what we want.
The other thing I was going to tell you that I tell them that I am planning, I haven't had one for a while, one of those meetings where they meet, the wives meet with the cabinet,
I'm going to wait until Camp David, but it'll be the latter part of April, around the 1st of May.
Because that room is much bigger, as you know.
It's a huge room there.
And everybody can sit at the table that way.
Yes.
Should I let them know that?
Should we say it's fine?
Nope.
You can tell them that there will be a meeting of the cabinet and their wives.
where they can all sit around the table, but they'll have a briefing and then have a little dinner.
That'll be the latter part of April, 1st of May, depending upon how the flowers look.
Sounds just great.
All right.
Well, you give them my best.
Very thoughtful.
I certainly will, and they'll be flattered today.
Thank you, Mr. President.

NARA Description

On March 12, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Adele (Langston) Rogers talked on the telephone from 1:16 pm to 1:18 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 037-095 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 37-95

Date: March 12, 1973
Time: 1:16 pm-1:18 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Adele Rogers.

[See Conversation No. 419-6]

       Party for Cabinet wives
               -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
               -Roles of Cabinet wives
                       -Aid to President
                               -Anne L. Armstrong
                                      -Budget issue
                                      -Surrogates

       Joint meeting with Cabinet and wives
              -Timing
              -Camp David
              -Dinner

Also recorded on March 12, 1973

  • 037-094 12:46 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:46 pm and 1:16 pm.
  • 419-001 12:46 PM · 9 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 12:46 pm and 1:16 pm.
  • 419-002 12:46 PM · 10 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 12:46 pm and 1:16 pm.
  • 419-003 12:46 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:46 pm and 1:16 pm.
  • 419-004 12:46 PM · 11 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 12:46 pm and 1:16 pm.
  • 419-005 12:46 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:46 pm and 1:16 pm.
  • 419-006 1:16 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Adele (Langston) Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:16 pm to 1:18 pm.
  • 419-007 1:18 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:18 pm and 2:33 pm.

All 27 conversations from March 12, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 037-095, March 12, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/037-095 (accessed October 12, 2026).