Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 176-004
Date: Thursday, August 17, 1972 at 6:08 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Camp David Operator; Cox, Tricia Nixon
Recording device: Camp David Study Desk
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/176-004
National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417174905 (NAID 417174905)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (google/gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference. Verify against the audio before citing.

[0:00] OPERATOR: Yes, please?
[0:02] NIXON: Tricia, please.
[0:04] OPERATOR: Thank you, sir. Go ahead, sir.
[0:07] COX: Hello?
[0:08] NIXON: Hello?
[0:09] COX: Daddy?
[0:10] NIXON: Hi, Trish. How are you?
[0:11] COX: Fine. I just got back from the fair.
[0:13] NIXON: Oh, I hope it went all right.
[0:14] COX: Yeah, it was really great. [crosstalk] A lot of people remembered seeing you last year, you know, and they're so excited. But I was going to tell you something funny.
[0:16] NIXON: Fine. And it has [unintelligible]
[0:23] NIXON: Mhm.
[0:23] COX: I was coming back and I had the news on, so I was listening to the news about McGovern's day in Racine, Wisconsin.
[0:31] NIXON: Yeah.
[0:32] COX: Guess how many people greeted him at the airport there.
[0:34] NIXON: How many?
[0:35] COX: 30, including newsmen.
[0:38] NIXON: I'll be darned.
[0:39] COX: And guess how many people were in were along the motorcade route to the town.
[0:44] NIXON: Yeah.
[0:44] COX: Two to 300.
[0:47] NIXON: I'll be darned.
[0:48] COX: Isn't that bad?
[0:49] COX: So, it's really something. And, apparently, last uh yesterday at the fair it was just as bad, as far as crowds go. You know, there was only about 4,000 people or something.
[0:59] NIXON: Now your crowds were better than that, I bet.
[1:01] COX: Yeah.
[1:03] COX: Yeah.
[1:04] COX: So it's really incredible.
[1:09] NIXON: Your crowds were good and friendly?
[1:12] COX: Yeah, everybody was really friendly.
[1:14] NIXON: I bet Percy was friendly, wasn't he?
[1:16] COX: Yeah, he really was. His whole family was there.
[1:19] NIXON: Ogilvie?
[1:20] COX: And Sharon.
[1:20] NIXON: Ogilvie?
[1:21] COX: Ogilvie was there with his whole family.
[1:23] NIXON: That's nice.
[1:24] COX: And a lot of other people who are running for state office. And they had a, you know, we gave a talk in front of someone's lawn.
[1:32] COX: A lot of people had gathered, you know.
[1:33] NIXON: Who did?
[1:34] COX: Yeah. And then, Percy talked, and Ogilvie talked.
[1:40] NIXON: Where was this, on a lawn, you say?
[1:43] COX: Yeah, well, you see, someone owns a house there. Yeah.
[1:46] NIXON: Yeah.
[1:48] NIXON: Oh, you didn't do it at the fairground.
[1:50] COX: Right. Cuz you know that's supposed to be nonpolitical. I walked from the fair to the house, and gave the speech.
[1:53] NIXON: I see.
[1:56] NIXON: And you went there? Well, that's great. All sure that's great, glad you could do it.
[2:01] COX: So, a lot of great support in Illinois.
[2:06] NIXON: Yeah. Incidentally, I'm just trying to work on the acceptance, and, boy, it's the hardest work. Do you think it should be uh one where I should uh
[2:15] COX: Yeah.
[2:16] NIXON: partly point up the choice, you know, on on the uh on the three areas, the only three areas I've had planned to discuss: naturally, foreign policy and defense policy, the whole area of law and order and justice, you know, where I've been and, of course, the the the economics, basically, taxes and so forth and so on.
[2:35] NIXON: Now, do you think I should do that, or do you think that pays too much attention to him?
[2:40] COX: Let me see.
[2:41] NIXON: And, uh, you see, Well, it's a little it's a little hard to say. You don't got a hell of a lot to say unless you talk about something. You could simply go on and say, well--
[2:42] COX: Well, what's your other What would you
[2:48] COX: Well, in other words, you're just talking about the positive issues, right?
[2:53] NIXON: The other thing you could do is just simply say we we think we're right and we ask for your support. But, you know, it would be sort of a bland speech unless you unless you point up the differences.
[3:00] COX: Well, frankly, I think you can get positive and like, if you want my honest opinion.
[3:07] NIXON: To do what?
[3:08] COX: Yes, I do. I think that, you know, you are the president first, but that you have a record that you can be proud of, and I would mention the record.
[3:14] NIXON: Yeah.
[3:16] COX: And that you I wouldn't just I would I would I'd make it a a real combination, but I would definitely mention the record.
[3:24] NIXON: Oh, yeah. Well, we're going to mention the record, but do you think we should mention uh that our differences with him, in other words, that this It's not the idea that uh that uh that uh here is the great choice. There are three there are three great choices: one, the economic policy, that is, he
[3:32] COX: In other words, would you
[3:37] COX: Oh, I see what you mean. In other words, would you mention his name, or
[3:40] NIXON: Oh, God, no! I'm not going to mention the name, but they should I would never That's never the thing. No, you you say, "Our opponents do this, that, or the other thing." But, but here's the choice that we have to do: We believe this. They believe that.
[3:48] NIXON: And we ask you to join us. I'm going to say, "We ask you to join a new majority."
[3:56] COX: I like it.
[3:57] NIXON: Mhm.
[3:58] COX: I like it. I like the idea of "We ask you to join the new majority."
[4:03] NIXON: Yeah, that's good, but what do you think about What do you think about the fact Should we Should we do it on the basis of simply stating what we believe in, and only tangentially the other?
[4:12] COX: I understand. In other words, do you do you say what you believe in, or do you draw a comparison?
[4:18] NIXON: Yeah.
[4:19] COX: Line-in-line.
[4:20] NIXON: Well, or you might actually
[4:21] COX: I can see I mean, it is the choice, yeah.
[4:23] NIXON: Here is the choice. We believe this. We believe that.
[4:26] COX: Right. Can I think about it and call you back in 10 minutes?
[4:31] NIXON: All right, fine. Fine.
[4:32] COX: Okay, I'd really like to think about it.
[4:33] NIXON: All right, thank you.
[4:34] COX: 'Kay, bye.