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Conversation 012-023

TapeTape 12StartWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 6:10 PMEndWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 6:11 PMTape start time00:38:59Tape end time00:40:27ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Price, Raymond K., Jr.Recording deviceWhite House Telephone
AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with speechwriter Raymond K. Price, Jr. regarding a draft composed by Richard K. Cook. Nixon expressed approval of the speech's overall quality but directed Price to have the draft revised to remove references to the current conflict as potentially the "last war." The President worried that characterizing the era as the "last generation of veterans" created expectations of lasting peace that could be perceived as false hope, and he requested that the rhetoric be tempered to avoid such vulnerability.

SpeechwritingRichard K. CookVietnam WarPresidential rhetoricPublic relations
AudioNARA Description

On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 6:10 pm to 6:11 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 012-023 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 12-23
                                              14

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 10/06)




Date: October 20, 1971
Time: 6:10 pm- 6:11 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 282-39]

     The President's having read a speech draft
          -Richard K. Cook
               -Wording
               -Veterans
               -Peace
Transcript (AI-Generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

hello mr ray price ray sir i uh just read this uh cook draft which i think has is a fine quality there's one thing that i'd like to have you have him rewrite in terms of and it'll require some uh a bit of cutting i'm not cutting but changing i i don't want to go so far and he we use it three times in the speech of the
the last generation of veterans and so forth and so on.
I think it's, I have said, of course, the idea, you know, in one interview that this could be the last war or something.
But on the other hand, I think we could be held up to saying, well, we're holding out a false hope and so forth and so on.
You know what I mean?
And so what the hell do we have?
So I think if he could just tinker and
And you know what I mean, those three areas sort of take that out so it doesn't hold that high of hope.
A lasting peace or a generation of peace, that sort of thing.
But I think, well, it makes a nice balance to say the first generation of veterans, the last generation, that's all that.
But I just think it goes a bit too far in the present context.
All right.
But otherwise, I think it's fine.
It's got a lot of very eloquent and so forth.
Okay.
That's good.
Bye.
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