Conversation 419-018

TapeTape 419StartWednesday, March 14, 1973 at 8:59 AMEndWednesday, March 14, 1973 at 9:25 AMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Recording deviceOld Executive Office Building

AI Summary

President Nixon dictates a letter to Hobart D. Lewis praising Captain Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr. and the resilience of returning Vietnam prisoners of war. Alongside this tribute, the President expresses concern regarding the perceived moral deterioration of the United States. Furthermore, Nixon discusses strategies for addressing government spending, specifically targeting the Office of Economic Opportunity as he seeks to counter negative public perception regarding fiscal waste.

Prisoners of warJeremiah A. Denton, Jr.Government spendingOffice of Economic OpportunityMoral decayVietnam War

Audio

NARA Description

On March 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:59 am and 9:25 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 419-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 419-18

Date: March 14, 1973
Time: Unknown between 8:59 am and 9:25 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President dictated a letter to Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis.

       Prisoners of war [POWs]
             -Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr.
                   -Remarks
                   -Letter to President
                         -Meeting with President
                         -Admiration by President
                   -Ordeal in prison
                         -Suffering
                         -Solitary confinement
                   -Book
                         -Concern for moral state of US
                                -deterioration
                         -Letters
                         -Theme
                         -Peace

       Contact with someone [?]

       Denton
            -Article in Reader’s Digest
            -Respectability
            -Praise for POWs
            -John D. Ehrlichman
                                             -20-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                        (rev. Sept-2010)
                                                            Conversation No. 419-18 (cont’d)

       Government spending
            -Publicity
                  -Historical examples
                  -Philadelphia magazine article
                  -Washington Post article
            -Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO]
                  -Distribution
                        -Congress
                  -Public reaction
                        -Antidote

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
*****************************************************************

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.

I received a very, very, very...

Yeah.

I just want to agree that this is supposed to happen to you.

You have to take off with you for the purpose of that.

whether you have to go through a radical market change, which is true, I think, 20% we have to think is powerful, and at the right time to buy it.

And I'm really curious what you guys are thinking, please.

And I can tell you that, personally, it's a great question.

Uh, I guess it was a trip.

Uh, it was a trip.

And people like that.

You know, we're both like that.

And there's some others who we do.

But, but it's not, it's not a waste of time.

It's a waste of time.

And she deserves far better time.

And I don't want to say that we might be able to provide as many of them as I do a good bunch of people to do that as well as we do.

As I read again the article, quote, Philadelphia, quote, England, I felt even more strong to see a list of kind of good things.

It's a horrible example of how much money can be wasted on a city, and how much money can be spent.

As a matter of fact, we're going to start a plan to make sure that the money that we're going to spend on the city, the money that we're going to spend on the city, the money that we're going to spend on the city, the money that we're going to spend

A few of these are, for example, well scheduled.

I'm actually looking for a market that's kind of a record, kind of a lofty record, which we are doing now, which I'm sure is by great fortune.

I know people, I work with regular people, and they've done, and they've done with sharp,

uh...

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