Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 348-008
Date: Wednesday, July 19, 1972 at 2:35 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Sinatra, Francis A. ("Frank")
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/348-008

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello?
[0:08] Yeah.
[0:12] Oh, my.
[0:16] Hello?
[0:17] Yes.
[0:18] Hello, Frank?
[0:22] 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
[0:29] took the press on, the way you handled the committee, I thought was just a very good job.
[0:48] And incidentally, I think you came out very well.
[0:50] Well, sometimes you have to go into counterattack, too, because what is the situation really is?
[0:53] 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.
[1:12] 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.
[1:20] 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,
[1:23] Are you in France?
[1:34] I understand.
[1:37] Yeah.
[1:38] Oh, great, great, great.
[1:47] Yes, sir.
[1:48] You mean the cancer specialist?
[1:49] The cancer specialist?
[1:52] Heart, heart, heart.
[1:52] Yes, yes.
[1:53] From Houston.
[2:19] Houston.
[2:19] Right.
[2:19] Great.
[2:19] Great.
[2:19] Great audience.
[2:19] Great audience.
[2:20] Let me ask one other thing, and incidentally, I'll ask you because I don't want our people to bother your schedule.
[2:41] 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.
[2:47] I have not had a meeting with him before going to Russia, the little son of the so-called British,
[2:49] The Germans and the French didn't have the Italian people, they didn't have a government.
[3:09] Now that he's in, we are arranging with him for him to come over for a meeting here with me.
[3:11] 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.
[3:14] I'll have our people talk to your schedulers only if you'd like to do it.
[3:28] Great.
[3:28] Now, what we might do, Frank, is this, is something, is that we do it one of two ways.
[3:34] Normally, we do it in the White House, and we do it in the White House.
[3:37] 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.
[3:41] 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.
[4:04] I don't know that we can arrange.
[4:05] I don't know where we can place the rest.
[4:06] But as far as you're concerned, you've done the East Room before.
[4:08] You could do it either way, but which would you rather do?
[4:13] And keep it more in the East Room.
[4:24] Yeah.
[4:25] Right.
[4:25] Well, we can do that, too, I think.
[4:30] Let's see.
[4:32] We can get about 200 in there.
[4:33] And you've done those.
[4:34] You know, the thing I was thinking of, that farewell thing you did, if you could maybe give us some of those songs.
[4:38] But anything you want.
[4:38] But anyway, we won't bother you with it now.
[4:40] And we'll just have our people check with your people when we get a date set for him.
[4:43] Yeah.
[4:45] Well, great, and have a great time over there.
[4:46] What do you do?
[4:48] Do you fish or swim or?
[4:55] Rack?
[4:55] Ah, you're a golfer.
[5:02] That's right.
[5:03] Is he?
[5:05] I have not met him, but I have, of course, admired him and Chris Kelly, and extend my warmest, best wishes to him.
[5:11] Will you?
[5:11] All right.
[5:12] Goodbye, and good luck to you.
[5:13] Bye.
[5:14] Bye.