Conversation 370-013

TapeTape 370StartThursday, October 19, 1972 at 4:20 PMEndThursday, October 19, 1972 at 5:00 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Colson, Charles W.;  Sanchez, ManoloRecording deviceOld Executive Office Building

On October 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:20 pm to 5:00 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 370-013 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 370-13

Date: October 19, 1972
Time: 4:20 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Charles W. Colson.

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 4m 3s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************

        Colson’s schedule
            -Cancellation
                -Forthcoming Camp David meeting
                     -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

        Forthcoming Camp David meeting
            -Domestic issues
                -Handling
                    -Attack on George S. McGovern

        National economy
            -Gross National Product [GNP]
                 -Government purchase spending
                 -Economic growth
                 -Albert E. Sindlinger
                     -Personal income
                     -Consumer Price Index [CPI]

                                        (rev. Oct-06)

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 33s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

*****************************************************************

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:20 pm.

        Unknown item
           -Abraham Lincoln sitting room
               -Briefcase

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:00 pm.

        Colson’s schedule
            -Dinner in New York City, October 20, 1972
                -Thomas W. (“Teddy”) Gleason
                -Irish Institute of New York
                -John F. Kennedy Award
                -Nelson A. Rockefeller
                -Colson’s message from the President
                -Award to Gleason
                -The President's message
                     -Tone
                -Paul Hall
                -The President's message
                     -Gleason’s patriotism
                     -Kennedy
                          -Relationship with the President
                               -Belief in strong America, refusal to surrender
                                    -McGovern
                          -National defense, peace with honor

                                      (rev. Oct-06)

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 11m 42s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

*****************************************************************

       1972 campaign
           -Corruption
           -Confidence in the President compared to McGovern
               -Strength of character
                    -John N. Mitchell's view
                    -Vietnam
                          -Prisoner’s of War [POWs]
               -Carol Hanson's comment
                    -Television coverage
           -McGovern
               -Return of three POWs, September 17, 1972
           -Campaign momentum
           -The President’s recent comments at meeting of National League of Families of
           American Prisoners
               -Network coverage
           -Colson’s recent staff meeting and missing in Southeast Asia
               -Possible allegations
           -Voters' attitudes towards issues and politics
               -Connally's view
               -Sindlinger's views
                    -Public boredom and annoyance
           -Building for the future
           -South
           -Labor unions
           -Catholics
           -Ethnic groups
           -Franklin D. Roosevelt's coalition
               -Poor, blacks, Jews
           -The President's coalition

                                   (rev. Oct-06)

                -Middle class
                -Catholic vote
                    -1969
           -Public education
                -Professional educators
                -Parochial schools
           -Lifestyle issues
                -Ethnic groups
                    -Italian-Americans
                    -Louis P. Harris
                    -Irish-Americans
           -Vietnam
                -The President's May 8, 1972 decision
                    -Effect on US public confidence
                    -North Vietnam
                    -Polls
                -McGovern's comments
                    -North Vietnam
                         -Spiro T. Agnew’s views
                    -Advisors
                         -Jay Lovestone’s views
                    -Views regarding Vietnam and communism
                         -Helen Gahagen Douglas
                    -Henry A. Wallace
                    -Views regarding dictatorships
                         -Greek government

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 2m 42s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

*****************************************************************

       Professionals

                                       (rev. Oct-06)

           -Views of “the System” [political and social leanings]
               -Doctors, lawyers, businessmen
               -Press, writers and teachers
                    -Patrick J. Buchanan
               -1960 election
                    -Peter Lisagor's article
                         -Circulation
                    -Kennedy
           -Press
               -Kenneth W. Clawson's views
                    -Washington Post
               -John A. Scali's views
                    -Speeches
                         -Foreign policy
               -Herbert G. Klein
               -Clawson
           -Professionals
               -Ministers, teachers
                    -Colson’s view
                    -Catholics
                    -Protestants
                    -William F. (“Billy”) Graham

       Criticisms of the President
            -Motivations
                -Press
                -Law schools
                     -Teaching
                          -Colson’s experience

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 43s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5

*****************************************************************

                                        (rev. Oct-06)

Colson left at 5:00 pm.

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.

If I discover him more, I was just looking to see if I could cancel it.
He's not going to do it.
It's him.
Well, I know I'd prefer if I could do it, you know.
I was going to go to his team and I was going to go to his team.
I was thinking about Bob.
He knows what to do.
Are we discussing what we're going to do?
I don't want... See, what I don't want to do is have the domestic guys just grab the ball.
And how that can be a big issue.
So I want to handle the issue.
I want to murder him for the next three days.
And I want to call on an answer back every time.
I think that primarily due to the government, what happened in the government, which is now worth it.
Which is a hell of a good thing, just like Sarah told us in the second hour of this podcast.
In fact, the economy is moving at a 60% pace, which is an enormous rate of growth for her economy.
As Senator says, your personal income is up, and people know it.
And therefore, all of you.
And sir, his consumer index is at the highest point in the world.
You know, there's a hell of a change, Mr. President, in this country.
the annual John F. Kennedy Award in giving to the U.S., the 1,000th Irish government.
And he's asked two people to deliver awards in addition to the award.
The guy in the rock bar, the rock pole leader.
Me to read a message from you.
And then the very giving of the award to Lisa.
And I got it out of Teddy Gleason.
You know, you have two weeks before the election.
That's, it's just, make it glow, make it glow.
And everybody would say about me, you know, I'm pro-horror, we'll be there in a minute.
I said, you know, I'm pro-human, I don't shoot.
I don't shoot, I'm president.
That was perfect.
We simply considered, you know, taking this interview, the end of the president's history.
That gives it that, you know, close-up.
Mark, the fact that it's pretty close, you know,
Both totally agree.
They believe in a strong America.
They believe in that.
They believe in America.
They believe in America.
They believe in America.
They believe in America.
They believe in America.
They believe in America.
They believe in America.
I think there is a chance that America will be the best second to none in the world.
That's what I expect.
Peace with honor rather than surrender.
We've had a lot of fun with it.
I didn't drop any more of that promotion, but the people make it up.
Who really is going to be in charge of the serious affairs of the world that we're in?
And that's the thing that would make a good decision.
The strength of the man.
As I mentioned, you know, I believe very strongly in the sense that that's the biggest issue that we all have.
they're getting that question every
What do you do with that?
You know, I think if I was one person, because that one line picked up, you know, first it was used in that version, but you know, the lady picked it up in her time.
And last night she was on quote, what's her name, Carol, Carol Hines.
I don't know whether she made one of that, but whatever she did, it
At least it got through.
He said, I just prayed to God for the sake of my husband.
I saw the non-president and I saw him in the local station.
I guess it was his name.
He was very happy.
But that was a coup.
Because he put so much time in bringing back those three prisoners.
He thought he was going to lose them.
And I think the ones, yes, I think that all of the events carried a few major places.
But we were in our time, yes, but it was so.
I spent half of my evening sitting and sitting, kind of anticipating what this vote would throw.
Also, I don't know how many people are really going to be listening to the recording.
I think, uh, I should comment the same.
It doesn't happen this year.
It's boring because people
have made their decision that they want to get out of the world, because they'll ask exactly what's going on.
Some of it gets annoying, some of it's broken, some of it isn't broken.
I have a person that's out waiting for next week.
When he's got a broken question, it gets annoying, which is fine.
The person may have this mind, but I don't know.
Why do you hope they come down, right?
It's too much.
Yeah.
are the Anarchists breaking into the site, and the Anarchists breaking into the laborers.
Laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers, laborers.
I don't know if we'll get it next time.
We shall see.
But no Democratic-Liberal agenda.
I was going to say, it is really, it's a different coalition.
It's not a coalition.
But it's made up of some of the same big, strong, corrupt people that make up a great majority.
If you get a majority of the military capital at the South, there is no way you can beat that kind of nation.
Roosevelt, of course, added to his, he had his big numbers, and he had his core, a hell of a lot of core.
The blacks and the Jews, they always used the blacks, and the Jews themselves were in the states.
We don't have any of the blacks.
We've got some Jews who are very few blacks.
And the point is, where we make up for that is that we've got what is left of the republics.
That's different.
We can get the republics, but it's very different.
I heard them by different group, plus I'm like, how are people important?
And I said, it's very true.
Today, it's the emerging of the class that really has made a huge change.
The two of us are right.
You would have, like, 1969, really, most Catholic communities in the country.
So, all right.
So we're going to get that Catholicism going.
What I call the professional education, the public education in this country is simple, right?
I don't think Catholic education is not so awesome.
Well, I think it's got a little morality, a little character, public education.
I'm all for the Catholic education.
I already am.
That issue is really, that issue is clearly the problem.
And then the whole lifestyle question.
The city of County, the lifestyle.
The county is moving in huge blocks.
And Harris opens up and says,
The men in the ship, the Italian, the American, the British, the British, the Irish, the very, very divided group of people, you know.
And we're in a well-established country where a lot of us are the occupants, but also, I'm doing a lot of research
I don't know.
So in a sense, it's hard to get on with the kind of work that I've been doing.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
The government of Vietnam is really, all of our servants, I mean, they don't stay on the stage so they can use that for a reason.
I think it's important to ask, it's important to probe around the government, but once you just criticize the government of Vietnam, criticize the authorities, he has never done it.
He calls it the peasant world, the peasant world.
And I wonder if he doesn't have religion, and college, and violence, and all that.
Because, especially because of language, sometimes we'll see words that are obvious.
I think he really honestly believes that there's nothing wrong with guns.
Oh, yeah.
So, you know, if you take a hand, you can talk about it.
Just like L.L.
Hayden.
No, she wasn't.
She was exactly that.
That was the problem with most Americans.
I mean, not only Americans, but the American class.
Well, that was Henry Wallace.
Yeah, that was Henry Wallace.
He changed his mind.
That's the problem.
But the problem is that at this time, race is a hell of a thing to do.
They also really come down here.
The people who become doctors and lawyers are the people with brains who become businessmen and doctors and lawyers are people who believe in the system.
The people with brains generally who become writers or even teachers are people who are afraid of the system.
Now that isn't true at all.
You could have an exception at the beginning.
It just turns the other way around.
But you know, it is really true.
A lot of people have pressure.
were you really afraid of the system?
And they hate their bosses, and they hate their underpaid.
You agree?
Yeah, absolutely.
I was reading through an old piece that was circulating around right after the 1960s.
It was circulating around until, you know, it makes you come back and realize what you really did.
What you really did.
It was the damnedest part of me sometimes.
The news made news before the election.
Those guys are dedicated.
They could, and they're terrifying.
I don't know what his process was, but he was very, very, very serious.
about the press or about himself or the press.
He shouldn't worry about himself.
He's kind of disillusioned that he isn't going to do it.
He's just going to accept that idea.
Instead of treating him, he's going to look at the press.
That's what I did.
But he's still in that world.
But he's just so...
The way illusion is, the way the post-treaters are, he doesn't really believe that they aren't there.
Oh, God, he's the press.
Oh, no, he's the...
He has one objection about Scali.
He's on my leadership team.
Yes, sir.
And he does it very well.
Oh, I'm sure he does.
He's doing, he's doing, he's protecting the port of policy.
And with Scali, you can't expect him or the client to really try to work hard on that.
And you've got to admire for, for frankly, being hard on those people.
And, and also, you know, being on our side pretty hard.
That's good.
Now, they've, they've kept that down.
Of course it has, of course it has.
But most of the, what I've found, what I've always found, is the people that go into the ministry, the people that go into teaching, they may be very, very bright girls, but in a sense, it's an escape from reality.
They want to go into something where they're
really have to rely on their own ability to make it, especially so in religion.
Yes, yes, it's in the speech.
It's in the speech.
It goes in the process.
And you find a lot of balls in Catholic priests these days.
Usually, I don't know what you do these days, but you find more of them in the press, particularly guys in the text, because they're basically covering, they're under covering ground for these poor people who decided to do it because they're the best way out.
And guys, they go in the process.
Except in the early grand times, it's unbelievable.
In fact, in Spain, it is
It's probably a sad conditioning, I have to say, because I shouldn't be one of those moral stunk people who just do what they do.
Just do what they do.
But you're pressing, a lot of you pressurized people.
You see, they can enjoy the luxury of sitting on the other side and criticizing you.
On the other hand, they're escaping from the responsibility of having to make the same decision they criticize you.
And it's a great luxury to be able to just be critical and never have to make a decision other than to be there in the constant prayer.
And most of them are escapists.
It's the same way we look in Washington, D.C.
The A students, if I were a boy, I was an A student.
I went on to Brighton, so I was supposed to go on to teach another day because of the escape.
But that's an escape from the reality of what life is all about.
Thank you, sir.