Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 155 › Conversation 155-007

Nixon phone call with Val on New York City and Entertainment

Monday, November 20, 1972 · 8:36 AM–8:41 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Val, ClaudiaConversation155-007 on Tape 155StartMonday, November 20, 1972 at 8:36 AMEndMonday, November 20, 1972 at 8:41 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 155-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with Claudia Val to arrange potential entertainment and dining options in New York City for an upcoming trip involving political and legal business. The President requested recommendations for 'clean,' traditional entertainment, such as theater or sporting events, while explicitly excluding heavy or overly political performances. Val provided advice on high-end French restaurants and dining logistics for theater-goers, and Nixon instructed her to relay the final details to his military aide at Camp David.

Audio

Download MP3 · 7.5 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Good morning.
How are you, sir?
Hi, Claudia.
How are you?
I'm fine, thank you.
Claudia, I wondered if you would do some checking for me.
I'm at Camp David.
That's the reason I'm by myself.
That's why I'm calling Reverend Rose.
There's a possibility, and this isn't the greatest, that I may have to go to New York Friday and Saturday nights because I have some business up there with some political people and also some legal stuff.
Anyway, I was wondering...
If you would check to see if there's anything in New York that's worth seeing, it's clean.
Yes, yes.
And the musical comedy stuff on Friday or Saturday.
Also, if there's a hockey game.
Also a hockey game.
Let's see, what the hell else is there in New York?
I guess the opera, nah, that's stuff.
No, that would not— If you're addressing, I hate that Lincoln Center.
Yes, and I do happen to know that the operas that are playing this weekend are quite heavy ones, too, you know, the Wagnerian ones.
No, no.
You wouldn't want to see anything like that.
Now, we've seen Don't Own a Debt.
Yes, uh-huh.
And I don't want anything that's dirty, you know.
No, I understand.
I understand that.
I don't want anything that's too, frankly, too Jewish.
Right.
Like—
Well, I mean, I don't mind something.
I mean, but that's something that's just going to be so overwhelmingly a message type thing.
Right, right.
I understand.
I understand.
But anything really good, even a good play, anything old is all right.
I don't mind if there's, I don't know whether there's 1776 still playing up there.
No, no, it's the picture now.
They've made that into a picture.
How about Rockefeller Centers or something good there?
Oh, well, that's what's playing at Radio City, 1776.
The movie, yes.
How good is the picture?
They say it is excellent.
How are the Rockettes?
They're marvelous.
They're doing now, you know, the Nativity.
Part of the show is the Nativity, and the other part is a great big extravaganza of Americana.
They say it's quite good.
Well, that might be a possibility.
But if you would run them down.
I sure will.
To see what the bill of fare is.
I'd be very happy to do so.
You know, in terms of the restaurants in New York now, the only one I really have much affection for is, well, of course, except the little ones.
is Cote Basque because our friend is there, you know.
Yes, yes, uh-huh.
What else is good?
Caravelle is good.
What?
La Caravelle.
Caravelle.
Uh-huh.
Then there's a little one, let's see, the... Lutece?
Oh, no, no, I know that.
They clip you there.
Most of them clip you, but no, there's one that's sort of more of a luncheon place.
It's called...
the French name the frog or the, let's see, what do they call it?
La Grande Ouille, La Grande Ouille.
La Grande Ouille, yeah.
Yes, yes.
That's owned by one of the former Soule people.
Yes, yes, and that is marvelous.
That really is very, very good.
Is that all right for evening?
Yes, extremely so, extremely so.
Or is it good before a show, for example, or not?
Mm-hmm.
It is extremely very, very good, particularly, too, before a show.
Because I don't think that they're open that late, you know?
Yeah.
Because most theaters now are 7.30.
Ooh.
Do people then go to dinner around hot 6?
Yeah, they go in around 6 or 6.15, something like that, you know?
My God.
I know.
Isn't that early?
A lot of them just wait and have supper after the theater at 10 o'clock.
Oh, yeah.
And then you go to the places that are open for the supper.
That might be more fun.
twenty-one than gets the overflow at that time.
You still like twenty-one?
Yeah, that's very good.
I like it.
The last time I was there, it seemed to me that it slipped a bit.
All of our old friends are there, but I think that they're so overloaded and so popular, I thought that they had— So I had dinner there one night last week, and I thought, you know, it was good.
You still had the old flesh?
Oh yes, yes.
There's nothing new, in a way.
No, nothing new, no.
Nothing that has been fun or anything.
But I will, you know...
Well, there are some places, you know, like Corvadas or Chez Vito and places like that that are still going.
But it wouldn't like that.
No.
All right.
You make a rundown.
Give me a call back.
I certainly will.
Okay.
I'm not here...
Just call the Military Aids Office at Camp David and give it to whoever's on the AP check.
Brennan or one of those fellows.
Okay, very good.
Thank you very much.
How are you feeling?
Oh, I'm fine.
Just working.
Wonderful.
Everything going fine.
Hope you had a good time in Florida.
I did.
I had a marvelous time.
Great time.
Swell, swell.
All right.
Now you take care.
Thank you, hon.
All right.
Bye-bye.

NARA Description

On November 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Claudia Val talked on the telephone at Camp David from 8:36 am to 8:41 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 155-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 155-7

Date: November 20, 1972
Time: 8:36 am - 8:41 am
Location: Camp David Study Table
                                               -8-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                            Conversation No. 155-7 (cont’d)

The President talked with Claudia Val.

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

       Greetings

       Request

       The President’s location
            -Camp David

       The President’s schedule
            -Trip to New York
                  -“Clean” entertainment
                  -Musical comedy
                  -Hockey game
                  -Opera
                         -Lincoln Center
                         -Richard Wagner
                         -Message
                  -Musical comedy
                         -No, No Nanette
                  -“Dirty” entertainment
                  -Jews
                  -Play
                  -Traditional entertainment
                         -Musical show
                               -1776
                                     -Film
                  -Rockefeller Center
                         -Radio City Music Hall
                               -1776
                                     -Quality
                               -Rockettes
                                     -Quality
                                     -Nativity
                                     -Americana
                                               -9-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                                   Conversation No. 155-7 (cont’d)

                              -Arrangements for show
                  -Restaurants
                        -La Cote Basque
                              -Unknown friend
                        -La Caravelle
                        -Lutece
                        -La Grenouille
                              -Soule
                              -Evening dinner
                              -Quality
                  -Theaters
                        -Opening times
                        -Dinner time
                              -21
                                     -Quality
                                     -The President’s last visit
                                     -Popularity
                  -Restaurants
                        -Quo Vadis
                        -Chez Vito
                        -The President’s preference
            -Return telephone call
                  -Military aide’s office
                        -John (“Jack”) V. Brennan

      The President’s health

      Trip to Florida

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

Also recorded on November 20, 1972

  • 155-005 8:00 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:00 am and 8:36 am.
  • 155-006 8:00 AM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:00 am and 8:36 am.
  • 155-008 8:41 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:41 am and 8:46 am.
  • 155-009 8:46 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone at Camp David from 8:46 am to 8:50 am.
  • 155-010 9:05 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:05 am to 9:09 am.
  • 155-011 9:09 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:09 am and 10:53 am.
  • 228-001 9:09 AM · 1 hr 30 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, Ronald L. Ziegler, Camp David operator, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:09 am and 11:16 am.
  • 155-012 10:53 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:53 am and 11:10 am.

All 33 conversations from November 20, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 155-007, November 20, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/155-007 (accessed October 9, 2026).