Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 478-008
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 1971 at 12:18 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Yastrzemski, Carl M.; Cashen, Henry C., II
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/478-008
National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417176493 (NAID 417176493)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Well, how are you?
[0:12] Good to see you.
[0:13] I didn't know if I'd see you in person.
[0:14] No, it's great to see you.
[0:20] Do you know where I go when I'm outside of that church?
[0:50] So let's give it our .
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[1:19] Thank you.
[1:29] Thank you.
[1:55] Well, I don't know what he might want, but if you run into him last night, he'll go right to you.
[2:20] He loves that.
[2:21] Let's get that straightened, then.
[2:21] What the hell do you think you're doing?
[2:22] I don't know.
[2:23] I don't know.
[2:23] I don't know.
[2:24] I thought your wife was going to be here.
[2:33] She was supposed to come a long time ago, but I was lost back in Long Island.
[2:36] I was going to have the baby, but the daughter came down a month.
[2:38] How many children do you have?
[2:39] Four.
[2:39] You have four?
[2:40] I have a 10-year-old boy and a two-year-old boy, too.
[2:42] Two boys and two girls.
[2:51] Oh, three girls and one boy.
[2:55] Three girls and one boy.
[2:56] Right, right.
[2:56] Now, do you, what do you do to maintain the residence in Boston?
[2:58] In Boston, yes.
[2:59] You're, of course, your own team.
[2:59] Now, when you travel around, do you ever, do your players ever take the, you don't get your wives with you?
[3:02] Once in a while, I was like, you know, I can trip around to Washington, but they have to go on a second flight.
[3:05] Oh, yeah, it's tough.
[3:05] You know, it's tough.
[3:06] You know, time.
[3:06] I'm a bachelor because of all-star games.
[3:21] And when they were apart, did your wife come to see you around?
[3:23] Did she like the game?
[3:24] The big thing there again is the citizenship.
[3:25] But I imagine the older ones liked the company.
[3:26] No, they were just interested in the city.
[3:27] They'd tell them the day games, and describe the hotel, and I'd do my things.
[9:41] You've been a great president again, and you're a great example of the young people of this country, and I really appreciate it.
[9:54] The country appreciates it.
[9:54] You didn't make Sunday ones all Sunday?
[9:55] Where's that going to be?
[9:58] Oh, that'll be July.
[10:04] I spent a couple of days with the Secretary of Justice.
[10:23] Yeah, I worked on a drug program back in Massachusetts.
[10:24] That's so important.
[10:25] How did they take it from you?
[10:26] I was very amazed that you were able to take it from others.
[10:28] I came in and I was very leery.
[10:30] The rest of my club, they just wouldn't listen.
[10:32] We went around to the next attic to the doctor and the assistant attorney general of Massachusetts.
[10:43] And I couldn't believe the way I was perceived by the kids.
[10:46] Just unbelievable.
[10:46] Very well, they said.
[10:46] Very well.
[10:47] And you laid her on the line?
[10:48] I laid her on the line.
[10:49] I said, look here.
[10:50] The thing is, the kids know what's going on.
[10:52] They have the facts and problems.
[10:53] So there's no kidding around with them.
[11:02] The biggest problem I had, I went to a couple night meetings we had in schools with parents and kids mixed in.
[11:07] The parents don't know what's going on.
[11:09] I think that's the biggest problem.
[11:10] What do you mean?
[11:11] The parents are in a big safe pen.
[11:11] They don't know anything about it.
[11:12] They haven't taken time to study it.
[11:13] They don't sit down with the young students.
[11:14] They don't even know what to do.
[11:15] Is most of the drugs marijuana, or is it that, of course?
[11:27] Marijuana is where they're at.
[11:28] And speed?
[11:28] Speed, not too much.
[11:28] That's what we try to do, is to just educate.
[11:30] And heroin, of course, is so costly.
[11:31] They're done.
[11:32] They're done.
[11:32] They're done.
[11:33] But marijuana...
[11:33] The majority of them tried it.
[11:36] I had to say 7% of the kids in high school tried it.
[11:42] The big thing is just to stop them from going on and on.
[11:45] We had a kid, I was talking in one high school, and a kid just pops up in the LSD and took a trip right there.
[11:52] Bang, he started and made a weird sound.
[11:55] Boom.
[11:55] LSD.
[11:58] But I don't think they're messing with LSD anymore.
[12:03] LSD is, I don't think they're scared of it.
[12:04] They commit suicide, they jump out of windows, they do the damnedest things.
[12:10] But that's how I got it.
[12:11] What happened?
[12:15] Do you feel good?
[12:21] I feel very good.
[12:22] I just hate this cold weather, to be honest.
[12:25] I mean, it has to be.
[12:26] The colder it's going to get, you'll have to warm up.
[12:28] Well, I think they should start that season on May 1st, and it's September 15th.
[12:30] I mean, they should still play more out.
[12:31] 62 games, play doubleheads on Sunday.
[12:32] But the big thing, like, we just came out of Cleveland now.
[12:34] Had a great spring training, and timing was perfect.
[12:35] Everything was ready for this game.
[12:36] And it was cold in Cleveland, plus you had a shadow.
[12:45] They got that big stage, and they got a shadow that creeps out of the home plate about the first or second.
[12:50] And you can't see the ball.
[12:51] And I think it went to McDowell.
[12:51] Now, it's hard to see those.
[12:52] If you hit the water ball, you couldn't actually see it.
[12:54] Now, the ball is just a little inside.
[12:55] I would have just jumped back just a little bit.
[12:56] It would have been a little more inside.
[12:57] I mean, you'd finish there.
[12:57] I could have wiped my career out.
[12:58] And they had Steven who was throwing clubs, and he goes hard.
[13:04] He's a hardcore officer.
[13:09] Who was serving people?
[13:11] Steven.
[13:11] He was a real hard guy.
[13:12] And he could one, two and one pitch, and the guy wasn't looking for it.
[13:14] It wasn't intense, but it was out of his head.
[13:15] It just got out of his way in the last second.
[13:16] And of course, Cleveland thought we were going to dance on the next end of McDowell, and now it's one of our heads and a leg, you know, on those things.
[13:23] You just can't see the wall.
[13:24] You just can't see it.
[13:24] Do you think McDowell's an artist or...
[13:27] I want to give you a few little things for your family.
[13:49] You're going to like the president of the conference.
[13:51] I'd like you to have that when I open your song.
[13:54] And here's the president of the ball.
[13:55] That's a nice message.
[13:55] I'm afraid you're going to like me.
[13:56] No, not for the kids.
[14:00] All right, for the girls, that's why I've got these.
[14:07] These are, that's the presidential seal with the gold.
[14:10] They can wear that.
[14:10] It's kind of a nice old company.
[14:11] We never want you to get married to start.
[14:12] And then the boy, let's see what we can do with the boy.
[14:21] What is that?
[14:28] A tie clasp.
[14:29] Oh, fine.
[14:29] Clip-on clasp.
[14:30] Good.
[14:30] I'll get one of you, too.
[14:32] And it's got to be safe.
[14:36] Listen, thank you for coming in.
[14:46] I'll be watching him.
[14:54] I'll tell him.
[14:54] He's got names now.
[14:55] He knows all the figures.
[14:57] Yeah.
[14:57] I think you'll get about 340 this year.
[14:59] Good luck.
[14:59] Thank you.