Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 156 › Conversation 156-005
Nixon phone call with Cox on Foreign Travel and Alexander Haig
Monday, November 27, 1972 · 11:20 AM–12:05 PM ET · Camp David Study Table · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon speaks with his daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, to provide guidance on planning her upcoming international trip and to discuss pending White House residence renovations. The President instructs Tricia to work with Alexander Haig’s staff to coordinate her itinerary for visits to the Middle East and the Soviet Union, explicitly authorizing the trip and offering to review the finalized plans. Additionally, they discuss the status of kitchen remodeling and third-floor work at the White House, with the President emphasizing that funding is available for these necessary updates.
- Tricia Nixon Cox
- Foreign Travel
- Alexander Haig
- White House Renovations
- National Security Council
- Presidential Schedule
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Hello.
Patricia, sir.
Thank you.
Daddy?
Hi, Patricia.
Hi, how are you?
I was wondering about your plans.
I wanted to be...
Right.
I'm going to be so busy here this weekend.
If you want to spend some time going over them, you'll have to get them to me sometime.
What are your, what roughly, what roughly?
We have it all outlined now.
What roughly, when did you plan to leave, for example?
We probably planned to leave a week from, ten days from today.
the end of next week.
And what is your tentative schedule?
Well, we'd like to start in London.
Right.
And if we can go to places like Egypt.
Yeah.
You see, we have two different schedules.
What's Egypt?
Well, you should do Israel, too, though.
Exactly.
And then we have to go to Israel and then Jordan, too.
Right.
But we don't know if we can do those trips.
Well, you may be able to.
Who do we check with to see if we can go to those places?
Well, I would just check with the
I think Colonel Kennedy over there or General Haig will put you in touch with the person that you have to do it with.
Now the other thing is to get a tentative schedule and of course figure your Russian thing and those dates will have to be
What you'll do is, if you would, is to have, when you get the attendee schedule, get it all typed out for me.
Okay.
And then I'll look it over for you.
So first we should check to see if we can go to Egypt and all that.
You just check and tell them that you've talked to me and that I want you to go to Egypt.
I'd like you to go to Egypt.
You should visit Egypt.
And, you know, you should also visit that you want to go to Egypt and that you want to go to Jordan and that you want to go to Israel.
And that they've got to arrange it.
They'll arrange it.
Of course you can.
Oh, I see.
Sure, sure.
I just go and do them and say that you want to do those and then tell them the other countries you want to go to.
So I tell someone on General Haig's staff?
Yeah.
I shouldn't tell it to him, should I?
He's too busy.
Well, yes, you can.
You could just go over and ask to see him.
Don't just want that long that you're working this trip and that if he could just assign somebody on his staff
You'll have to work on the problem countries, right?
Well, yes, that's right.
You want to look at them.
And on the Russian thing, he'll have to work out the siege of Jordan and so forth.
Just say that I've approved it, that I think it's all right.
I know that it's difficult to work out.
That's the way to do it.
Go over and see him.
Okay?
Okay.
Good.
And then I'll do it.
And you'll be at Camp David the whole week?
I'll be here.
I may go to Florida Thursday night because I need a couple of days off, you know, to get the sun and so forth and so on.
But I'll go to Florida for Friday, you know, for maybe Friday and Saturday and Sunday.
Now, if Mommy wants to go, it's fine, but I don't know.
The new pool should be ready, Daddy.
Yeah, it will be.
But if she doesn't, it's fine, too, because I will have to work down there, too.
I know.
You have to basically just work the whole time.
Yeah.
because I have got to be pulling on the coal and get this work done.
I know.
Now on this stuff, I remember I asked you about the, are they really going to work on that third floor thing?
Yeah, no, the fellow really is coming.
Good.
And could I also suggest at the same time that they do want to put in, we do want to put in a new kitchen, you know.
And it's, Mommy, I say, well, it's too expensive.
That's irrelevant.
They will anyway.
It's 10 years old, and they don't like that gas kind of heat is dangerous, you know.
Oh, yeah.
But it isn't modern.
It isn't modern.
They want to put an electric kitchen and clean the damn thing up and make it look pleasant.
So you can talk to him about that, too, when he's here.
Well, apparently we really do have a lot of extra money because people have contributed.
People have contributed, but whether they've contributed or not, you see, there are expenses to the White House that have to be undertaken.
Every four years, yeah.
That's right.
That's right.
So you do have the funds.
That's right.
Well, good.
I don't want to burden you anymore with the trip, so should we just go ahead?
Because I don't think you have to see them anymore.
I think the rest of it, no, when I see them, all I need to do is see the plans, and then I can tell you people.
After you get your full schedule, just send it to me, and I'll write a little memo to hear and talk to you about some of the countries and things you ought to see.
Good.
Fair enough.
Great.
Okay, bye, Daddy.
NARA Description
On November 27, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 156-005 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 156-5
Date: November 27, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm
Location: Camp David Study Table
The President talked with Tricia Nixon Cox.
[See Conversation No. 231-5]
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Edward R. F. Cox’s and Tricia Nixon Cox’s trip
-The President’s schedule
-Schedule
-Departure
-London
-Egypt
-Israel
-Jordan
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Arrangements
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Col. Richard T. Kennedy
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Schedule
-Soviet Union
-The President’s review
-Egypt
-Israel
-Jordan
-NSC
-Arrangements
-Haig
-Soviet Union
-Egypt
-5-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 156-5 (cont’d)
-Jordan
-The President’s approval
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1A
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 14s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1A
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The President’s schedule
-Camp David
-Florida
-Vacation
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Pool
-The President’s work
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1B
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 28s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1B
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The President’s schedule
-The President’s work
White House residence
-Remodeling
-Mrs. Nixon
-Kitchen
-Funding
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Edward Cox’s and Tricia Nixon Cox’s trip
-Schedule
-6-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 156-5 (cont’d)
-The President’s review
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************Also recorded on November 27, 1972
- 156-004 11:20 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm.
- 156-006 11:20 AM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 3:03 pm.
- 231-004 11:20 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm.
- 231-005 11:20 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm.
- 231-006 11:20 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John V. Brennan, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm.
- 231-007 11:20 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm.
- 231-008 11:20 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John V. Brennan met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm.
- 231-018 11:20 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 12:05 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 156-005, November 27, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/156-005 (accessed October 10, 2026).