Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 348 › Conversation 348-008

Nixon & Sinatra on White House entertainment and Italian-American relations

Wednesday, July 19, 1972 · 2:35 PM–2:40 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Sinatra, Francis A. ("Frank")Conversation348-008 on Tape 348StartWednesday, July 19, 1972 at 2:35 PMEndWednesday, July 19, 1972 at 2:40 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 348-008 ↗

AI Summary

Frank Sinatra called President Nixon to express support regarding the President's recent handling of a congressional committee and to dismiss allegations of guilt by association. Nixon transitioned the conversation to foreign policy, specifically requesting that Sinatra perform at the White House for an upcoming visit from the new Italian Prime Minister. Sinatra agreed to the request, and the two discussed potential venue logistics between the East Room and the Kennedy Center before concluding with pleasantries about Sinatra’s upcoming travel.

  • Frank Sinatra
  • White House entertainment
  • Italian-American relations
  • Public relations
  • Political criticism

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 26% 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.

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello?
Yeah.
Oh, my.
Hello?
Yes.
Hello, Frank?
Well, I just called to tell you that I was in California yesterday, and I got back and read the morning news summary, and I just thought you did a great job on that committee, and the way your counsel told us
took the press on, the way you handled the committee, I thought was just a very good job.
And incidentally, I think you came out very well.
Well, sometimes you have to go into counterattack, too, because what is the situation really is?
This is one of those, what I, I was talking to Mayor Rizzo going out there a few weeks ago, and I said, it's one of those guilt-by-association things.
And so they go way back in the back and do a home stop in some sort of a race track, and somebody will go home stop, else home stop, and I say, well, what's that, what am I, you know, I mean, that's really reaching.
And I'm glad it came out, and I think he had it look well, and I think they'll, they're probably sorry they called him there,
Are you in France?
I understand.
Yeah.
Oh, great, great, great.
Yes, sir.
You mean the cancer specialist?
The cancer specialist?
Heart, heart, heart.
Yes, yes.
From Houston.
Houston.
Right.
Great.
Great.
Great audience.
Great audience.
Let me ask one other thing, and incidentally, I'll ask you because I don't want our people to bother your schedule.
As you probably know, there's a new prime minister in Italy, and he's a very good man, and he's a very strong friend of the United States.
I have not had a meeting with him before going to Russia, the little son of the so-called British,
The Germans and the French didn't have the Italian people, they didn't have a government.
Now that he's in, we are arranging with him for him to come over for a meeting here with me.
Now, when the arrangements are made, if it would fit your schedule, we'd like very much if you would do the entertainment for the thing.
I'll have our people talk to your schedulers only if you'd like to do it.
Great.
Now, what we might do, Frank, is this, is something, is that we do it one of two ways.
Normally, we do it in the White House, and we do it in the White House.
Well, what we would do, in any event, we would have, like, we would come together and all that sort of thing, in the White House, and so on.
Then, if the number of people appears to be too great, we thought we might go down to the Kennedy Center and put it on where you've got a better stage and so forth and so on, and have it down there.
I don't know that we can arrange.
I don't know where we can place the rest.
But as far as you're concerned, you've done the East Room before.
You could do it either way, but which would you rather do?
And keep it more in the East Room.
Yeah.
Right.
Well, we can do that, too, I think.
Let's see.
We can get about 200 in there.
And you've done those.
You know, the thing I was thinking of, that farewell thing you did, if you could maybe give us some of those songs.
But anything you want.
But anyway, we won't bother you with it now.
And we'll just have our people check with your people when we get a date set for him.
Yeah.
Well, great, and have a great time over there.
What do you do?
Do you fish or swim or?
Rack?
Ah, you're a golfer.
That's right.
Is he?
I have not met him, but I have, of course, admired him and Chris Kelly, and extend my warmest, best wishes to him.
Will you?
All right.
Goodbye, and good luck to you.
Bye.
Bye.

NARA Description

On July 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Francis A. ("Frank") Sinatra met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:35 pm to 2:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 348-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 348-8

Date: July 19, 1972
Time: 2:35 pm - 2:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Francis A. (“Frank”) Sinatra.

[See Conversation No. 27-11]

Also recorded on July 19, 1972

  • 027-009 2:14 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:14 pm.
  • 027-010 2:25 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:25 pm and 2:35 pm.
  • 348-007 2:25 PM · 11 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 2:25 pm and 2:35 pm.
  • 027-011 2:35 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Francis A. ("Frank") Sinatra talked on the telephone from 2:35 pm to 2:40 pm.
  • 027-012 2:41 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Jesse M. Calhoon talked on the telephone from 2:41 pm to 2:42 pm.
  • 348-009 2:41 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Jesse M. Calhoon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:41 pm to 2:42 pm.
  • 027-013 2:42 PM · 14 sec — the recording device engaged at an unknown time between 2:42 pm and 9:00 pm, but the conversation appears to be blank.
  • 348-010 2:42 PM · 1 hr 28 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:42 pm to 5:53 pm.

All 39 conversations from July 19, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 348-008, July 19, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/348-008 (accessed October 2, 2026).