Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 309 › Conversation 309-010

Nixon & Chancellor on A Day in the Life of the President and Media Relations

Friday, December 24, 1971 · 1:56 PM–2:01 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Chancellor, John W.Conversation309-010 on Tape 309 (tape position 01:43:45–01:47:57)StartFriday, December 24, 1971 at 1:56 PMEndFriday, December 24, 1971 at 2:01 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 309-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with NBC news anchor John Chancellor to exchange holiday greetings and commend the network for their production of the documentary "A Day in the Life of the President." The conversation pivoted from feedback on the film to a wide-ranging discussion on global geopolitics, specifically the instability in Pakistan and the Middle East. Nixon also shared personal observations on leadership, positing that women in positions of power often demonstrate greater toughness and a higher willingness to take risks than their male counterparts.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 27% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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So I have two purposes for my call.
First, to wish you a very Merry Christmas.
And second, to thank you for the very much that you and your staff did on this day in the life of the President.
And I hope you survived it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, of course.
Well, I think probably leaving the audience for one, two, or three, five.
First, they got a lot of hard work, but you can't put it all on.
But I think you get a feel of it.
And that came true.
And it's already been good.
I didn't engage enough on the plane for one year and a half.
Maybe a year or two we'll try again.
You know, one good thing about it, as it occurred to me, is that
He was very kind to me regarding the event.
He said, apparently, my talk was used the way that I remember.
I said, if that event could be over by the time this program is on, and by God, it is.
It's not a happy ending in any event, but there's no way that party will ever be happy in a parade.
You've been down there before, haven't you?
And you know that teachers are the only place that are equal to the community.
I think the religious and other hatreds in the Middle East are like that problem for sure.
It's what we're going through in Pakistan.
And when you get the great power of all, particularly in the Pakistan region, China, and the Middle East, and the U.S., it's a real threat to the Middle East.
You've seen the political ideas
for your pride information, I have to quote you on this, but you realize that women's lives, and maybe sometimes, you know, a nice way of having a woman's life, if only we had women in positions of power, we'd have a reward.
You look at the history of nations,
And when you have that, women are really tougher than men.
Very curious, isn't it?
If you look back, in this instance, if you look around the world, the two, basically, strong in terms of willingness to take risks.
I happen to believe two women.
Curious, isn't it?
Andrea Goddard, you know, has this great, good background in that.
She's an enormously woman of great respect for what she is.
Tell me.
Oh, yes.
She's nowhere.
She's here.
Boy, I killed a woman.
That'd be something.
You've got enough trouble with him.
Well, anyway, I know that so many members are true, and the rest of them are stupid, but I do know what a measure it is to do such a thing.
But they did a fine job, and I appreciate their work on it.
Horrible.

NARA Description

On December 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Chancellor met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:56 pm to 2:01 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 309-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 309-10

Date: December 24, 1971
Time: 1:56 pm - 2:01 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with John W. Chancellor.

[See Conversation No. 17-11]

Also recorded on December 24, 1971

  • 017-008 1:50 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:50 pm.
  • 017-009 1:50 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and James D. ("Don") Hughes talked on the telephone from 1:50 pm to 1:51 pm.
  • 309-008 1:50 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and James D. ("Don") Hughes met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:50 pm to 1:51 pm.
  • 017-010 1:51 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:51 pm and 1:56 pm.
  • 309-009 1:51 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:51 pm and 1:56 pm.
  • 017-011 1:56 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Chancellor talked on the telephone from 1:56 pm to 2:01 pm.
  • 017-012 2:01 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:01 pm and 2:06 pm.
  • 309-011 2:01 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:01 pm and 2:06 pm.

All 54 conversations from December 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 309-010, December 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/309-010 (accessed October 6, 2026).