Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 40 › Conversation 040-058

Nixon phone call with Woods on Brezhnev visit and White House social events

Wednesday, June 13, 1973 · 12:02 AM–12:07 AM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose MaryConversation040-058 on Tape 40StartWednesday, June 13, 1973 at 12:02 AMEndWednesday, June 13, 1973 at 12:07 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 040-058 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and his secretary, Rose Mary Woods, coordinate the guest list for an upcoming dinner with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, specifically finalizing the inclusion of Earl Butz and labor union leaders while excluding Elliot Richardson. The pair also discusses the favorable public reception of Maurice Stans’ recent testimony before the Ervin Committee, with Nixon emphasizing the importance of television coverage over negative newspaper reports. Finally, they briefly reflect on Tricia Nixon Cox's wedding anniversary and Julie Nixon Eisenhower's recent television appearance.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Hello.
I woke you up?
No, no.
Good.
You in the office?
No, I'm home.
Oh, good.
I just wanted to tell you that on the Brezhnev dinner, I would like to add butts because he was in the Soviet Union and had met Brezhnev, you see.
Yeah, I had him on there once.
Yeah, and I took him off.
But I don't want to have any other cabinet officers below Schultz, you see?
Well, some of the ones we had on are invited, so we'll have to... Well, who do you got?
Gee, I just don't know right now.
Now, Richard's is not to come.
No, no, he's not invited.
Good.
Okay.
Now, we've got... That's all right.
You don't need to tell me.
We've got Schlesinger and Rogers and... Oh, no, no, no.
No, I meant the top three.
Yeah.
Rogers, Schlesinger, Laird, and Connolly and Butts.
Yeah.
That's what I want.
Yeah.
All right.
the uh the other thing is i want to be sure kendall is invited he is invited yes okay he's going to san clemente and all that jazz but he wasn't oh is he going with me he and i and that's just for the two of us for a private meeting and that'll be very good that's good and uh
Beyond that, if other cabinet officers raise it, we'll hope, if you could get a hold of, you know, talk to Scowcroft and ask that the Russian embassy invite the other cabinet officers.
Well, he and I worked on that today, like Lynn and some of the others, getting them in.
Lynn should be invited, but I don't want Richardson invited.
Well, we've got Lynn going to the Russian one.
We can't get them all in at yours.
They're just not in our firm.
No, no, no.
But I don't want Richardson for special reasons to either one.
I know.
Not Richardson or Brenninger.
Brenninger and Richardson are not to be invited to either one.
I agree.
And just leave them out.
Okay.
Okay.
Good.
But everything's coming along all right, Rose.
I think it's going great.
And they say Stan did a nice job.
He did a beautiful job.
He did.
I think he was excellent, and I've talked with two or three people tonight from other cities and things who called me on various things, and they thought he did a great job.
Well, he's an honest man.
Very honest man.
And the Post had some lousy pictures, because they take him up so close that anyone's face... And I saw the television pictures.
He looked absolutely great.
The post doesn't matter.
The post doesn't matter.
It's a TV.
No, it's a TV because that's what everybody watches.
Right.
Fine.
Fine.
Fine.
So we'll put Butts back on again.
Yeah.
I took him off because I didn't want to hurt others.
But Butts should go.
See, Ned...
I put him on because of the wheat thing.
Yeah, but Ned hasn't been there, you see.
So he doesn't have to come.
Brennan and I want for other reasons.
We've got to have a labor guy there, you see.
It's the labor government, and I've got to have, you know, maybe a Fitz.
Yeah, we invited Fitzsimmons and somebody else.
I've forgotten who else.
A couple others.
Paul Hall.
Put him on.
Okay.
It's awful late to ask him.
Oh, okay.
Don't do it then.
Fitz is enough.
He has a poolside party out in California.
Yeah.
He's out there.
That's the place to have him, I think.
Who?
Paul Hall.
Is he out there?
Well, at least that newspaper that you gave me this morning was a San Francisco paper.
No, but he writes for the whole country.
He lives in New York.
Oh.
But that's all right.
He'll come.
Well, there may even be a place.
I'll see if there's enough room.
It's a problem of meaning.
It's difficult.
but uh the old son of a bitch has been so bad i think we'll stay at home with him i'll see if there's room if there's room we'll get paul hall on this one if there isn't we'll get him we'll ask him for the poolside when out in california yeah and put him on the russian list because they got a much bigger dining room than we have okay okay rose all right i hope you just think this was the uh anniversary of trisha's wedding that's something two years
In a way, it seems like 200 years ago.
In other ways, it doesn't seem like any time.
That's right.
Such a beautiful wedding.
Yeah, and Julie's was.
Oh, they were both.
They said Julie did such a good job at Donahue that he was a perfect son of a bitch.
And his questions, Julie just slaughtered him.
I'm sure she would.
She's so good.
Right.
Sounds great.
Okay.
Okay.
Have a good night's sleep.

NARA Description

On June 13, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 12:02 am to 12:07 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 040-058 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 40-58

Date: June 13, 1973
Time: 12:02 am - 12:07 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Rose Mary Woods.

     President’s schedule
           -Leonid I. Brezhnev dinner
                 -Earl L. Butz
                 -George P. Shultz
                 -Elliott L. Richardson
                              -Henry A. Kissinger, William P. Rogers, Melvin R. Laird, Dr.
                  James R. Schlesinger, and John B. Connally
                 -Donald McI. Kendall
           -Brezhnev visit
                 -San Clemente
                 -Woods’s telephone call to Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft
                       -Soviet Embassy
                              -Invitations
                              -James T. Lynn
                              -Richardson, Claude S. Brinegar

     Watergate
                                        -53-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

      -Maurice H. Stans
           -Ervin Committee testimony, June 12
           -Reports to Woods
           -President’s assessment
           -Washington Post’s pictures
           -Television [TV] picture
                 -Importance of TV

President’s schedule
      -Brezhnev dinner
            -Butz
                  -Wheat [?]
            -Harry S. Dent
            -Peter J. Brennan
                  -Labor ties
            -Frank F. Fitzsimmons, Paul Hall
            -San Clemente
                  -Poolside party
                  -Paul Hall
                         -Syndicated newspaper column
                              -San Francisco
                         -New York residence
            -Brezhnev dinner
                  -George Meany
                  -Hall
            -San Clemente
                  -Hall
            -Soviet Embassy
                  -Hall

Tricia Nixon Cox’s wedding
      -Anniversary
      -Woods’s perception of time

Julie Nixon Eisenhower
      -Wedding
      -Interview with Phil Donahue
            -President’s opinion of the interview
                                             -54-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Also recorded on June 13, 1973

  • 040-054 11:38 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 11:38 pm to 11:41 pm.
  • 040-055 11:41 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:41 pm and 11:51 pm.
  • 040-056 11:51 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft talked on the telephone from 11:51 pm to 11:54 pm.
  • 040-057 11:54 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone on an unknown date, sometime between 11:54 pm on June 12, 1973 and 12:02 am on June 13, 1973.
  • 040-059 12:07 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:07 am and 12:09 am.
  • 040-060 12:09 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 12:09 am to 12:12 am.
  • 040-061 12:12 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:12 am and 12:16 am.
  • 040-062 12:16 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 12:16 am to 12:17 am.

All 95 conversations from June 13, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 040-058, June 13, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/040-058 (accessed October 9, 2026).