Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 283-010
Date: Wednesday, October 6, 1971 at 8:09 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Dent, Harry S.
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/283-010

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yeah.
[0:05] Yeah.
[0:07] Hi, Harry.
[0:09] Do you have a study of your own of the Senate campaign possibility this year?
[0:16] Or do you sort of, if you rely on knowledge for that?
[0:20] What are you talking about?
[0:24] You, you, what I mean is that if you have one, if you're, if you're, if you're a shopper or whatever, I'll tell you what I want you to do.
[0:44] I'm not worried about it.
[0:44] In fact, I don't want it today or tomorrow, because I'm going to be, I've got some other matters.
[0:48] But, I was talking to Mitch and Bill on the way back, and I don't want Dominic to know about this.
[0:50] Basically, here's the problem, Harry.
[0:51] Dominic, you know, there's a very, not feeling well, you know, this, you know, this, uh,
[0:54] and there's a very .
[1:15] I don't know if he's sensitive or not, but he's just talking about the incumbents and not the others.
[1:19] And in my view, just putting on these stakes is one .
[1:20] For example, we've got a chance to .
[1:21] There's a question whether you can let Westphal to play.
[1:22] And they're both going to be able to do that.
[1:45] We've got a chance in Rhode Island.
[1:46] That's true.
[1:46] We've got a chance in West Virginia because we're going to do well in West Virginia.
[1:48] And so there you've got our tomorrow.
[1:49] He doesn't go around.
[1:51] Well, I think he's going to.
[2:08] Yeah.
[2:14] You've got a chance to pretend.
[2:15] You've got a chance there.
[2:16] Correct, correct, but...
[2:17] We ought to be able to do that, provided that, I'm just saying, you know, how I was looking down the road when I said, you know, this might be an event that we want to talk to.
[2:41] There might be a hell of a track to talk to.
[2:42] It would be great.
[2:42] They would say that from the other end.
[2:43] But the things that all of his colleagues are saying up here, they're really praising him, you know.
[2:45] He's getting good editorials and everything.
[2:46] And we've knocked out the ghost stuff, that's crap.
[3:09] As you know, we can try to keep him in, but he'd be a hell of a moment.
[3:11] And he'd respond in the light of day.
[3:12] All right, Montana.
[3:12] All you need there is a candidate.
[3:13] I don't know whether that congressman is up there going to go statewide, a new congressman.
[3:15] Yeah, you got a plane if you wanted to,
[3:16] There's Wallace, the guy who ran before.
[3:33] He's really a jerk.
[3:35] All right, we don't know.
[3:38] But we've got to have him.
[3:40] All right.
[3:41] Now, in my view, and just on Salvo, you've got to put somebody up.
[3:43] Just because something might happen to the old man.
[3:44] Tom?
[3:47] Yeah, yeah.
[3:53] No, no, no, no.
[4:10] But just get a good young lawyer down there, somebody, and run.
[4:14] There's one.
[4:14] Now, how's Alabama?
[4:14] Is he gonna run?
[4:15] Yeah.
[4:15] Well, you know, Sparklin basically is a good fellow, decent guy, we're both right.
[4:17] But he looks terrible.
[4:25] Huh?
[4:28] He's 70 years old.
[4:34] Don't you agree?
[4:34] And the vitality of it, and also, Harry, we might do well on that.
[4:39] But the way things are going, I want to hear you on that.
[4:41] And that could be a dramatic change.
[4:43] All right.
[4:44] Another one is, that we have is a local woman.
[4:45] Now, Edmondson's tough.
[4:46] But if you get a sweep going, you can take that, you know, you know what that means.
[5:00] Well, now, those are just a few.
[5:00] Everybody assumes that we're gonna just lose the Senate.
[5:01] Now, of course, we got a lot of people we lose.
[5:04] We could lose, you know, good heavens, there's several people we could use to lose.
[5:07] South Dakota, we could lose.
[5:08] Curtis, we could lose.
[5:08] I don't know if there's still Curtis Gold.
[5:11] He's a great thing.
[5:12] Nebraska's the person I choose.
[5:13] My point is, we don't have any steam at all.
[5:25] You'll get a damn good analysis, and I want to see it by maybe Friday or something.
[5:35] Well, I forgot the main one.
[5:35] Yeah, sure.
[5:36] Because it's been set, huh?
[5:36] Yeah.
[5:36] Yeah.
[5:36] Yeah.
[5:45] He's not got a lot of steam.
[5:49] Well, you know, it's a shame that the guy that ran for governor of Oregon got to be in Jersey.
[6:06] He is got a lot of steam, but he's out of the picture.
[6:07] You got anybody else down there?
[6:08] Well, there's a possibility.
[6:09] Yeah.
[6:09] Well, there's another one.
[6:10] You see, Harry, everybody is talking as if there's any chance now.
[6:33] I mean, it's a long chance, we know that.
[6:33] But you see, here's when you don't think you've got one, the time when you have a sleeper, you know?
[6:35] Yeah.
[6:36] Yeah.
[6:36] Because it's a place of question, and each one of these being difficult, but an opportunity.
[6:38] And if you get something going, you know, if you have enough feet going, this could be it.
[6:40] Now, look over the whole shop, and there's an art class, one of my championships over there.
[6:49] So take two or three days.
[6:50] I'd like to see something around Frank.
[6:53] Yeah, yeah.
[7:08] All right, we'll try to keep from undercutting this.
[7:25] Right, right, right.
[7:25] Well, I thought that was a good party, old Ronald.
[7:29] Isn't Ronald a wonderful guy, though?
[7:29] And, you know, he's, you know, and the thing is, too, it's just, oh, here's a really poor country boy, you know, who about 12 years ago didn't have a suit, and here he comes, well, 15 years ago, and here he's at his big house, and I think it's the best thing that ever happened to him.
[7:38] Oh, I know.
[7:47] You know, the other thing was, that Pennsylvania crowd, you had to escape there with that Hilton, and you know, they hate each other.
[7:55] But when I saw skateboarders and I'm around here, I thought I'd die.
[8:00] The only state you can't get together, apparently, is Indiana.
[8:02] But we'll do well in Indiana.
[8:05] I heard he started to just get the hell out of there.
[8:07] Some of the others look pretty good to me.
[8:19] Pennsylvania, for example, this liberal fellow from Pennsylvania in the state of Tennessee said, look, I'm a liberal.
[8:32] But he said, I've been up there, and he said, things are really big up in Pennsylvania.
[8:34] What about the fourth party?
[8:35] The fourth party, Harry, is the, as you know, we can't say a word, whether it's jurishism or
[8:37] where McCarthy, that is going to be a singer.
[8:54] We know that's 9% of their votes.
[8:55] Yeah, well, let me tell you this.
[8:58] He should not talk to me, but he mentioned it a little bit.
[8:59] I must know one thing about the fellow that he talked to a lot better than me.
[9:02] It's a long story.
[9:03] It's a long story.
[9:03] Or wait a minute.
[9:05] I'm talking to Hall.
[9:06] That's a little bit better.
[9:16] He'll be a little closer.
[9:20] It can be done.
[9:21] It can be done.
[9:22] But the thing to do, the thing to do in this Senate is to, now in this Senate, I think we ought to vote for these people.
[9:25] Don't you agree?
[9:27] Why the jackass like don't get back in the Senate?
[9:28] It's ridiculous.
[9:59] I'd say no, I'll tell you what.
[10:05] I don't think that exercise was too useful.
[10:11] That's what I mean.
[10:11] It gave them all a bunch of crutches, and they didn't get out working on it.
[10:14] Now let's just say no, you've just got to get in there and do it yourself, and we'll try to do the best we can.
[10:20] That's right.
[10:20] Now at the end,
[10:21] If we get up there, sure, we'll get some help.
[10:40] But I don't want to get up these great big commissions like we had before and just say, well, we think so down the road.
[10:48] We've got to get out of there and prove that you can fly before we help you.
[10:49] But I'd play it that way.
[10:50] How is Wilson doing?
[10:52] Yeah, that.
[11:08] Yeah.
[11:09] Oh, Christ, you have somebody right there.
[11:13] Kurt, don't listen.
[11:14] Yeah.
[11:14] If Wilson would just give, Wilson would just give the new candidate, Wilson pick the incumbent, give a new instructor, that's what he ought to do.
[11:18] All right, why don't you work on that idea?
[11:20] Who could you talk to?
[11:22] Do you want me to do it?
[11:35] God damn it, somebody's got to do it because the board, we have had Wilson in three campaigns now screwed and they're not going to help me.
[11:40] He just doesn't get us good candidates.
[11:41] Don't you agree?
[11:42] I know.
[11:42] Yeah, but in the Senate then, just forget the nominee.
[11:44] You know what I mean?
[11:45] He is not going to help.
[11:45] He's just too tired.
[11:50] Board nominate.
[11:51] Well, fine, fine.
[11:59] Good.
[12:01] Oh, I know he is, but don't, don't let him come down and say, I don't want to talk to him about it.
[12:08] I just want to, I want you to come in and give me your appraisal of him, get my points.
[12:12] All right, fine.
[12:13] Try to get a little, you talk to Mitchell, if you will, about the Wilson situation.
[12:16] And say, now, for Christ's sake, what are we going to do?
[12:17] Are we going to do that?
[12:18] Because, and I think the best way is to have Wilson appointed subcommittee chairman and charge him to do a candidate, period.
[12:22] Fair enough.
[12:26] Okay, bye bye.