Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 131 › Conversation 131-034

Nixon phone call with Woods on U.S.-Soviet Union Summit and Earl Mazo

Thursday, May 18, 1972 · 11:38 AM–11:42 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose MaryConversation131-034 on Tape 131 (tape position 02:18:06–02:21:45)StartThursday, May 18, 1972 at 11:38 AMEndThursday, May 18, 1972 at 11:42 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 131-034 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Rose Mary Woods discuss logistical preparations for the upcoming U.S.-Soviet Union summit, including clothing requirements for the trip and weather expectations in Moscow. Woods raises a request from Herbert Klein regarding the inclusion of journalist Earl Mazo on the passenger list, despite previous concerns over financing. Nixon directs Woods to coordinate with H.R. Haldeman to verify if Mazo’s travel expenses are fully covered by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars before finalizing his addition to the trip.

Audio

Download MP3 · 8.4 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Hello.
Were you back?
Yes, I'm back.
Yeah, well, it's too bad to have to go out on such a journey, but these things are necessary.
They all happen, that's right.
Sure, sure.
How are you doing?
I've been pretty busy, pretty busy, you know, trying to do two weeks' work in two days.
I know.
It's coming along, coming along.
Good.
you getting all your stuff packed and so forth i i don't even i i need to work on all that i'm going to try to pack some stuff tonight i don't know i don't it's hard to figure out what to take but yeah well men are it's it really men are very fortunate well we have uh we have one white tie i guess yeah one white tie and the rest are all businesses
But for women, that means short, you know, sort of dressy dresses.
In Iran?
No, no.
In Iran, it's long, white tie.
No, no.
In the other places.
In other places, it's all short dresses.
And incidentally, you don't have to...
I take the same thing you take to China because it's the weather.
While it's warmer than China, it's still darn cool.
Oh, yeah, but it's a lot warmer than China.
Yeah, but I mean it's in the 40s to the 50s rather than the 80s and 90s like it was when we were there before.
Yeah, although they say 69...
and stuff like that, which sounds...
In the south, yeah, but around Moscow, it's doggone...
It's not... You don't need to worry about warm weather.
The spring comes very late there.
It's very, very late.
Well, anyway, it's sort of a mix.
Yeah, it's funny because it's the time of the year to wear lighter weight or lighter-looking things.
But just stick something in.
Right, right.
Well, okay.
I've got Henry up here today.
Is Henry up there?
Yeah.
Has anyone asked you about or told you, Herb Klein asked me to check this with you.
Earl Mazo is just absolutely dying to go on the trip.
My God, we've taken it up, but we just can't get anybody to finance him.
Well, he is financed by this Woodrow Wilson company.
We've been around the track.
We're taking several, but we had to just scrape the bottom.
You see, the Reader's Digest doesn't finance him anymore, and they've got two or three, and we've tried to do everything we could for Earl Rose, but you just can't do it.
We just can't do it out of the government funds.
Well, no, it isn't supposed to.
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars will take care of his expenses.
That's where he is now.
Well,
they can do it so there's no problem and i think in getting an extra person if we can who should i talk with about it well just just talk about the parliament just say that
raise it with him because I know it's been raised because I went over a whole list of people and we've scrounged around and getting people on that normally couldn't go I mean we some of them with the rates are a little bit less than the others not much but you know and getting them to do writing for various people but in Earl's case see the trouble is we just can't get anybody to write because he won't get it done you know what I mean that's the problem with the digest they said good we'd love to but we just can't kind of
You can't justify it.
Well, I'll talk to Bob.
If he's financed, if he's financed.
He says he is, and so does Herb say he is.
Well, talk to Bob if he's financed or me.
Okay.
Okay.

NARA Description

On May 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone at Camp David from 11:38 am to 11:42 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 131-034 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 131-34

Date: May 18, 1972
Time: 11:38 am - 11:42 am
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with Rose Mary Woods.

[See also Conversation No. 191-13]

     Woods's schedule

     President's schedule
           -Soviet summit preparation

     US-Soviet Union Summit
         -Packing
                -Types of clothes
                     -Social events
                     -Iran
                     -People's Republic of China [PRC]
                     -Soviet Union
                           -Weather
     Henry A. Kissinger
          -Presence at Camp David

     President's trip to Soviet Union
           -Earl Mazo
                 -Herbert G. Klein
                 -Financing
                        -Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
                        -Reader's Digest
                        -Government funds
                        -Woodrow Wilson Center
                 -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
           -Additions to passenger list
           -Mazo
                 -Reader’s Digest
                 -Haldeman
                 -Financing
                        -Klein
                 -Haldeman

Also recorded on May 18, 1972

  • 131-032 11:34 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Camp David operator, and George P. Shultz talked on the telephone at Camp David from 11:34 am to 11:37 am.
  • 191-011 11:34 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 11:34 am to 11:37 am.
  • 131-033 11:37 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:37 am and 11:38 am.
  • 191-012 11:37 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:37 am and 11:38 am.
  • 191-013 11:38 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 11:38 am to 11:42 am.
  • 131-035 11:42 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 11:42 am.
  • 191-014 11:42 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:42 am and 11:44 am.
  • 131-036 11:44 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 11:44 am to 11:45 am.

All 90 conversations from May 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 131-034, May 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/131-034 (accessed October 10, 2026).