On January 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:29 pm to 2:34 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 315-016 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
Hello.
Hi, John.
I don't want to bother you, but I know you've got a lot of attention.
The Haldeman is bringing over a copy of what I call my final copy of the State of the Union.
And after you finish with them, and you can, I don't know if you can finish with them, you can take time to read through.
I give you a ring.
I have tried, in fact, we talked in my interview today, I have gone over that, I have just made the old little smile, but I just thought, in view of the rather vicious attacks that the likes of Kennedy and Harris and others have made, that I ought to, frankly, to a certain extent, try to get it achieved.
The one which we sort of say that maybe later in the year we may have something on the tax matter.
And the other thing, of course, is the totally non-controversial technological stuff, you know, which we've heard about.
But my main interest is what I'd like to do is to read it from home.
I don't think it will bother me.
But when you see one
I don't say that.
The purpose is to get my own brilliant case, which you might have rather interested in.
How one other guy does it, but it is deliberately, like I said, it lays it out there for... Well, when you and I talked, we were talking about it, I just kind of scratched my head.
Right.
Yeah, well, you may have noticed.
And this was as a result of Colson's operation on the freighter.
We did have some pretty good answers.
Scott, if that was all right, Scott Ford took them on real hard, and Dole got in a couple of lengths.
I think we got a hit right back every time the Navy launched this.
Let me ask you one question.
I was quite pleased with it.
I hate to have other people elevate him and all, but what do you think?
I mean, what do you think?
Yeah.
Oh, they are, yeah.
That's right.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, the thing about that is that I'm taking the oil thing.
Hell, you know we made a lot of oil people mad by what we've done, and by the same token.
Frankly, I do not want to go out and say that I'm not a friend of the oil people, because basically, John, I am.
You know, that's what I believe.
Ja, ja, ja.
Ja, ja.
For some of which he can grow a mustache.
Well, that's finished.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, he's finished anyway.
He's not running.
He gave up running for president.
He can't be re-elected.
Again, we'll be followed by October 8th with the major foreign policy report, and we'll be done with foreign policy on such foreign documents very clearly, and I hope you like it.
Okay, bye.