Nixon, Haldeman & Woods on Presidential acceptance speech

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Where I set the record.

Great progress in the past four years.

And cutting inflation.

And providing the biggest tax cut in America's history.

And stopping the rise in crime.

And building a new structure of permanent peace in the world.

Here's what can truly be said.

And change the world.

The post-war world has been substantially reduced.

I'm proud of the record.

Stand on something to build it.

This is only part of the way.

This is added to it.

This is the insert that goes in the third tape.

Now, these are to be done.

These are to be done.

Not with a one-two tree, just a paragraph form.

And they're to be done without any copy.

I don't want to give one to anyone.

Certainly, and they can be changed.

When you're ready.

Do you want us to just leave it with the files out here in a folder?

Or you might have the other half done?

I thought you might like to know as long as you're stuck.

I talked with Elmer about some other things today and he said he knew you were going to give a great speech.

And he just said that your 1968

people who are both beautiful and both warm.

And he said, remember, people vote from the heart.

Well, I'm going to use... Do you have time to think of this speech?

Sure.

It's still somewhere.

I don't like it.

They don't get the personal warmth or something.

uh... uh...

I know.

Jesus Christ.

I may get caught up here.

I don't know whether you'd want any of them.

I know, that's why Tony called, you know, wanted to get him down.

Well, I'm serious.

He was going to, I told him

I can call today just again to say how much it meant to her.

She did four or five television shows and had a chance to mention you in every one of them.

She also told me that General James, Chappy James, the Negro General, was on television, that she watched a program he was on ahead of her and that he couldn't have been better.

So he was just absolutely marvelous that you were at the visit.

A great president.

This was a great country.

There was no reason why the blacks couldn't live in it.

All they had to do was do their share.

The government was doing theirs.

She said he was just really outstanding.

Did you ever think, because I've written, I think I've done a hundred letters today.

Marge has typed them off.

We've gotten a lot done.

Did you ever think Mamie or John for their statement about Montgomery?

I don't know.

So I don't need to write down anything.

I thanked John, and I don't think anything needs to be done.

I told him when he came in.

I talked to him about it, and I said it was a lot of good.

Okay, that's fun.

It made me have gotten a big play, and I thought it was good.

Truly, thank you.

I think it's...

Okay, take care.

I don't think you should get a letter.

Okay, now Colton called me night and all of a sudden it's a letter off his name.

It's okay.

I guess you tried to get George Meany last night and didn't get it.

I did get it.

Oh, you did get it?

I did.

Oh, okay.

He got no one.

Who did the, was it Ray Price or did someone give him the idea for the, that mushroom rain, you know, mushroom rain or something?

That was Ray.

Ray worked on that speech.

But what made that speech?

it was sort of getting closer to what you have to do but it wasn't it wasn't

to the written word rather than the spoken word, don't they?

Let me say this.

I have the greatest admiration for them.

They work their heads off.

Yes, they do.

They do.

I don't even know all of them.

The only, the major problem, probably one exception, is that one real problem is that the mechanic is too far right for me.

All of them are too far left.

He knows it.

He was a tremendous fellow.

He was a tremendous guy at the Q&A because he's an armistice fast.

Price's problem, I mean, I even had him do this tomorrow.

I'm bringing him in just for a reason.

Because Price is so goddamn slow.

You know, he is perfecting so slow.

He just never gets it done.

I had no way to wait anymore.

He did pretty well in Russia at hurrying.

Why don't you bring them both up?

Hmm?

He and Ray worked together on that very well.

That's why I thought they could work together.

I watched them on that one.

They really did.

They worked beautifully together.

At the hotel and on the plane.

Everywhere.

They worked on that one together.

They don't hate it.

I just think it's great.

I say what the rest of me would have tried.

And Trevor, they get worse every day.

He feels for them.

Is that said again, Tiger?

Go to the domestic counselor.

It's the whole area.

They fought him so much.

And usually they've been right.

They've been wrong.

He says, he's probably wrong in the right direction.

Wrong.

He worries.

Yeah, and he would be, if we think about disasters.

Right.

And that's who they want, and that's who they would want today, somebody like that.

Because Percy is the biggest jackass ever walked.

And I tell you, I don't get it.

Domestic Council and a lot of those others are not all that bright.

I'm not a great Agnes person.

I think he's, you know, I think he's done as well as could be expected.

He's got some done.

We did it with poor old Cushman.

Yeah, look at the number of people he's got.

We had two people, two people, you know, and Agnes Waldron, remember, Agnes Waldron and Cushman, who was the other one?

Cushman did the national security and Agnes

Jesus Christ well Agnes you're about like that I mean really I don't say it but he has he doesn't pick good people I don't know why he does I mean he's got he's got I think he's got probably had a space and there's he didn't have any doing but they try what the hell what the hell you have to give him a play you have to mention it

Agnew?

Oh, I'd answer that very well.

I'm sure you do.

You always do.

Oh, yes, I'm going to.

Actually, I'm going to make an answer that I have to.

Yes.

You can't back away from me, Mr. David.

Well, of course, these people are crazy.

Yeah, well, that's what I meant.

They worked together well.

John would, I mean, John would...

Which one is it that you said that he did so well?

He worked together on your speech that you gave when you came back from Russia.

Yeah.

I was sitting there talking to Rose, you know,

She made a point that may be worth considering.

One of my judgments on the Andrews thing, of course, is the thing on the way back from Russia, which was a hell of a pressure for the deal.

But she says that Ray worked, well, really did an enormous amount of work with Andrews on that.

They worked very well together.

Now, my view is, I mean, I don't know what

I have a philosophical problem with Ray.

It's not her right to do that.

It's in the stage at this point.

I guess she was in for this verdict tomorrow.

I don't know.

they do work well together they seem to sit around

I think the best thing to do is to let Ray come up the next step.

I'm sure Ray is an optimal approach, but you can have a little talk to him about it.

I think that's not a bad idea.

And when he comes up, as we read, there's a weakness around the bush where everybody wants to talk to Conley.

You can't get any other judgments at this point as to which way to go.

I think that's good.

Yeah, I think that's good, because they do work well together.

It's a matter to a feeling.

Ray is headed this way.

He has to be there.

He's not a writer, but he's got good ideas.

I don't know.

Harlow.

Jim Shepard.

That was the disaster.

Arthur Fleming.

Gabe Hauge.

He worked away and worked away.

He didn't drive most people.

He just married her, remember?

And all those other poor guys were...

He was a disaster.

There's no other way to look at it.

Nobody could have known that.

He didn't have the capacity to write speeches.

He didn't have that capacity.

He didn't have the capacity to work with the other men either.

That was the other thing that was difficult.

We should have enough people in here.

good, and so forth, and that kind of helped.

Oh, incidentally, Rogers was a dad.

Rogers, and Fleming, and I remember the last two weeks, Rogers came along, and he had a zest for some of those things that the others never had.

And Rogers, I think, before the platform committee, and answering these people has been really excellent.

I talked to him a couple months today on something.

I told him that I thought he was done with that kind of stuff.

Okay, we'll have this ready whenever you want it.

Hope you can get some rest now.

Nixon, Haldeman & Woods on Presidential acceptance speech

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on August 18, 1972

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