Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 157 › Conversation 157-002

Nixon, Cernan & Evans on Apollo 17 and Space exploration

Tuesday, December 5, 1972 · 9:31 PM–9:39 PM ET · Camp David Study Table · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Cernan, Eugene A.; Evans, Ronald E.; Schmitt, Harrison H. ("Jack")Conversation157-002 on Tape 157StartTuesday, December 5, 1972 at 9:31 PMEndTuesday, December 5, 1972 at 9:39 PMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 157-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a phone conversation with the Apollo 17 crew—Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt—at Camp David to offer his well wishes before their upcoming mission. The discussion touched on the significance of the final moon landing, the roles of the individual crew members, and the importance of the mission to the nation. Nixon also briefly discussed his ongoing efforts regarding Vietnam peace negotiations, while the crew expressed their support for his second term.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Mr. President, I have Captain Cernan for you.
Go ahead, please.
Hello?
Yes, sir.
Hello, how are you?
Fine, sir.
Well, Gene, good to talk to you.
How are you and all the crew there?
We're doing great, sir.
It's a rather unusual time to call you, but I understand you're eating late to get adjusted to what you're going to be doing later on.
Yes, sir, and it's quite an honor.
We certainly do appreciate your call.
Well, you've got the first civilian along.
You think you can handle him?
Oh, well, he's...
he's created a few problems but we figured that we got enough navy strength on his flight yeah you got two navy as the uh commander evans and uh then uh dr smith do you call him doctor or jack well we call him jack uh so that he doesn't get too high on a hog sometimes that's right i know well i just want you to know that uh
We're all going to be pulling for you.
We'll be watching on television and looking forward to welcoming you and your wives when you return at the White House.
Well, thank you.
And we'll be in touch with you then.
And in the meantime...
uh you can uh i'm just thinking this is the last of the moon landings but it's not the least because this has got to be the best right yes sir that's that's the way we feel about it and uh i think probably it goes without saying you know how we feel about what we think it means to the country and i guarantee you sir we'll uh we'll do our best and we certainly hope that's good enough well it'll be good enough i mean uh i mean uh as a former navy person i can uh
Of course, all you guys rank me as far as Navy is concerned, but I just want you to know that we will certainly follow with great interest.
I won't be able to see as much as I would like because we've got a few other things to do, but I'll catch it late at night and sometimes in the morning, too.
Well, great, sir.
And God bless you on your negotiations on this peace.
Well, it's a tough one.
We're having some, well, they're tough.
We may have to go another round with them.
But we're going to keep at it until we get the right kind of a deal.
We don't want to make a bad deal.
A bad peace will lead to more war.
We want the right kind of a peace.
I think you know the people of this country are behind that feeling.
Right.
is very important to a lot of them.
Let's see, the others on the phone?
Yes, sir.
I know they'd like to get on.
Just a second.
All right.
Let me talk to each of them.
They're getting on now, Mr. President.
Fine, fine.
But you're an old-timer.
You're on 9 and 10, right?
Yes, sir.
Right.
But you never, you know, when you look out at that big Saturn V, of course, it's going to be a night launch, but when you look out that, you never...
You never really feel like an old-timer.
It's like the first time again for me.
Of course, of course.
I think Commander Evans may be on.
Yes.
President Ron Evans here, sir.
Well, fine.
We just want to wish you the best.
You're going to be up there circling around while these other fellows are looking around on the moon.
Yes, sir.
But I'll tell you, that's a mighty important part of the mission.
I'll say it is.
I feel honored to be able to do that part of it for my company.
That's right.
You'll be up there.
Well, I say up or out or whatever they say, and...
Uh, these guys have to depend on you, because if you aren't there, they're not going to be able to get back, huh?
Right?
Yes, sir.
Right.
Well, give them a good ride.
Yeah, I sure will.
And is Dr. Schmidt there, too?
Yeah, this is Jack Schmidt, Mr. President.
Right.
Well, we're...
Glad to have finally one civilian made it, huh?
Well, we've had civilians before.
It just happens I didn't take the military route.
I see.
I know, I know.
Hopefully you can't tell much difference between us.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, of course, it says here you're a scientist, but I assume these other fellows are scientists, too, aren't they?
Well, we...
We tried our darndest to make them that way, and strangely enough, they came out right.
Well, you know, you'll be able to educate them a lot.
You've got a long time on that thing going up and back, haven't you?
Well, if I haven't educated them now, I've given up.
Yeah.
Well, we look forward to...
The shapes are a good team of scientists and a good team of pilots, I think.
What'd they give you to eat tonight?
Oh, boy.
We ate very well.
We had a nice big piece of roast beef.
Roast beef, right.
Like the fatted calf.
Yeah, well, you lose a little weight, but you'll gain it all back when you get back.
Yes, sir.
We look forward to welcoming you, and we wish you the best, and we extend our best to your families, and we know it's going to be a great mission.
Thank you, sir.
The names of our spacecraft, we hope America and Challenger.
America and Challenger, I noticed.
That's right.
America, it's a great name.
And, of course, Challenger, that's the module, right?
Yes, sir.
That's the one that drops down.
Well, December the 11th is the day of the landing, right?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, you land on the 11th and then go out and do your walking.
hit the golf ball several hundred yards.
This is one time you don't have to worry about distance.
Even with the way I'm able to hit it, you can get more than 200 yards this time, can't you?
Yes, sir, you sure could.
Right.
Well, we wish you the best.
When you get back, I'll give you three golf balls just as a reminder.
Okay?
Thank you, Mr. President.
We're very honored.
Personally, you know, feel very thankful you called, and we, again, will do our best.
Well, I've had the honor of calling every one of the crews since I've been in and in office, and it's always a big thrill to talk to you and to know that we've got such great fellows in this program and willing to take these great risks for the service of the country and the service of science as well.
Those people we have backing us up, Mr. President, it's really not that great a risk.
Yeah, I know, I know.
I know those thousands on the ground at Houston and at...
down at the Cape and around the world.
It's quite a group.
Well, we wish you the best, and we'll Godspeed all the way.
Thank you, Mr. President.
As you hang up here, may we just wish you Godspeed in your next four years.
Looking forward to a super four years with you at the helm.
We've got a few little problems in trying to work this Vietnam thing out, but it'll come out in the end.
It'll take a little more time, but it'll work out.
And anyway, we'll try to do as well here as you do there.
Okay.
We'll look forward to talking to you when we get back.
You bet.
We'll welcome you at the White House.
Thank you, sir.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Bye.
Bye now, bud.

NARA Description

On December 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Harrison H. ("Jack") Schmitt talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:31 pm to 9:39 pm. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 157-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 157-2

Date: December 5, 1972
Time: 9:31 pm and 9:39 pm
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with Capt. Eugene A. Cernan.

[See Conversation No. 233-1]

       Apollo XVII crew
            -Eating
                  -Timing
            -Civilian
                  -Harrison H. (“Jack”) Schmitt
            -Navy
                  -Cmdr. Ronald E. Evans

       Best wishes
             -Apollo XVII
                   -Viewing on television [TV]
                   -Return
                         -White House
                                                  -2-

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                             Conversation No.157-2 (cont’d)

                      -Significance
                            -Final moon landing

       The President’s Navy service
            -Rank

       Apollo XVII
            -The President’s interest

       Vietnam negotiations
            -Cernan’s best wishes

       Cernan’s experience
            -Apollo IX
            -Apollo X
            -Saturn V
                  -Night launch

The President talked with Evans and Schmitt at an unknown time between 9:31 pm and 9:39 pm.

       Apollo XVII
            -Evan’s role
            -Civilian crew
                  -Schmitt’s role
            -Dinner

       Best wishes

       Apollo XVII
            -“America” [Command-and-Service Module] [CSM]
            -“Challenger” [lunar module] [LM]
            -Landing
                 -Timing
                 -Golf

       Best wishes
             -Gifts
                  -Golf balls
             -The President’s calls to Apollo missions
             -Support from ground crew
                                                 -3-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                         Conversation No.157-2 (cont’d)

                 -Houston, Cape Canaveral
            -The President’s second term

       Vietnam negotiations

       Best wishes
             -Apollo XVII
                   -Return
                         -White House

Also recorded on December 6, 1972

  • 157-001 9:00 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:00 pm and 9:31 pm.
  • 233-023 9:00 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:00 pm and 9:31 pm.
  • 233-001 9:31 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Harrison H. ("Jack") Schmitt met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 9:31 pm to 9:39 pm.
  • 157-003 9:39 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:39 pm and 10:05 pm.
  • 233-002 9:39 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:39 pm and 10:05 pm.
  • 233-003 9:39 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:39 pm and 10:05 pm.
  • 233-004 9:39 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:39 pm and 10:05 pm.
  • 233-005 9:39 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:39 pm and 10:05 pm.

All 49 conversations from December 6, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 157-002, December 6, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/157-002 (accessed October 10, 2026).