Conversation 484-010

TapeTape 484StartWednesday, April 21, 1971 at 12:35 PMEndWednesday, April 21, 1971 at 12:46 PMTape start time03:32:35Tape end time03:44:12ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Moore, Richard A.;  Uccello, Antonina;  Grier, Mary Lou;  Ziegler, Ronald L.Recording deviceOval Office

On April 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Richard A. Moore, Antonina Uccello, Mary Lou Grier, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:35 pm to 12:46 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 484-010 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 484-10

Date: April 21, 1971
Time: 12:35 pm - 12:46 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Richard A. Moore, Antonina P. Uccello, and Mary Lou Grier; the White
House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting

     Moore's health

     The President's speeches
          -Welfare speech [at Republican Governor Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, April
               19, 1971]
          -Meeting with American Society of Newspaper Editors [ASNE], April 16, 1971
          -Reaction
          -Charles W. Colson
          -Television
               -Timing

     Greetings

     Photographs
          -Moore

     Presentation of plate commemorating the President’s last visit to Hartford, Connecticut

     Statue of Admiral David G. Farragut
          -Majorca
          -Parents
          -Madrid Navy League
          -Farragut’s background
          -Farragut’s quotation, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead”

     Presentation of gifts by the President
          -Presidential bow pins and paper weights

     Rose Garden

     George H.W. Bush

Ucello and Grier left at 12:41 pm.

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at 12:35 pm

     Schedule
          -Henry A. Kissinger
               -Meeting with the President

     The President's previous meeting with Graham B. Steenhoven
          -"Meet the Press"
          -Ziegler's forthcoming press briefing with Steenhoven
               -Proposed comments about meeting with President
                      -Steenhoven’s impressions of table team visit to People’s Republic of
                            China [PRC]
                      -Appreciation for role of ping-pong team in opening contacts
                            -Conduct of team
                      -Return visit of People's Republic of China [PRC] table tennis team
                      -Contacts with PRC
                      -Personal impressions of Steenhoven
                      -Private contact with PRC

Ziegler left at an unknown time before 12:46 pm

     The President's meeting with ASNE, April 16, 1971
          -Television coverage
                -Fear of overexposure
                -Networks
                -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                -Moore’s opinion
                -Colson
                -Administration spokesmen
                      -William P. Rogers
                      -Melvin R. Laird
                -Overexposure
                      -Lyndon B. Johnson
                -Facts
          -Radio coverage
                -California
                -Soft tone
          -President's approach
          -President's tone

     The President's speech on Southeast Asia, April 7, 1971

          -Tone

     The President's meeting with ASNE
          -Significance
          -Audience

     The President's speeches
          -Pre-1971 appearance before ASNE [Date unknown]      Conv.No. 484-10 (cont.)
                -Moore's conversation with unknown person
                -Questions and answers
                -Reaction
                -Television
                -David Rockefeller
                -Radio

     Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
          -Judgement
          -Statement on PRC
                -National Security Council [NSC] meeting
                      -United Nations [UN] representation
                      -Trade
          -President's support of Dwight D. Eisenhower
          -Relations with the press
          -Agnew’s statement on PRC
                -President's PRC initiative
                      -State Department
                      -Prospects
                      -Anew’s support
                      -Visit of US ping-pong team
                            -People-to-people exchange

     Schedule

Moore left at 12:46 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.

They're crazy people these days.
They're just crazy.
They're shady.
I tell you what, I'm going to bring them in today.
I'm going to say, yes, I am.
Just, uh, right on time.
And, uh, do an excellent job.
Hold on a second.
Like I said, both your speech and, of course, the, you know, the end of it.
You were a great one.
I heard all of it.
I just had a feeling David was going on television a week after the other speech.
It was too much, right?
Absolutely.
I was told it would have been a good television show.
I know you and I just can't stop that.
I mean, sometimes in the meanwhile, the boys are curious about it.
They read about it.
They hear about it.
Yes, sir.
Hello, how are you?
Yes, how are you?
Very nice to see you.
Hello, how are you?
Well, I've got a couple of large-armed girls in here.
I'm going to make sure of that.
That's right.
They'll be here.
They'll be here.
I'm just crying out here.
It's the testicle over there.
These aren't jokes.
No, no, he's the court justice.
I've been hired and all that kind of thing.
Mr. Justice, this is a late presentation.
Oh, really?
I don't know if I'm being in the proper position.
I just wanted to give it to you when you came to visit us in honor of Mr. James Harkner's visit.
President of the United States of America.
We don't have a key.
I followed the cookie plate.
We might serve something else on it too.
Join your new collection.
This is a statue of Farragut.
Farragut, you know, he came from that.
His parents came from Farragut.
The Navy of Madrid made this statue up and presented it to us.
You never think of Farragut being the name of an American.
He claimed that as his birthplace.
I didn't have the slightest idea.
I thought Farragut was a French name, actually.
It is a Spanish name.
It's a Spanish name.
He knew the American sign.
He could have said, damn the burp he goes.
He learned to hurt.
I got to get it for everybody.
You want to get a little bit of a present on something that you got from your secretary.
One for you.
And a pen.
And a pen.
And a pen.
Thank you so much.
That's right.
Thank you so much.
These are notes.
If you're working now, here are some.
Take them out so they can see the rose garden.
Do you see the rose garden?
This is the most beautiful time of year with the crab out in the trees at the Tulum Sea.
Now I'm going to take a look because it will be gone in a week.
Thank you very much.
It rains.
Well, we're proud of it in our Carpire administration.
Uh, I just, it breaks my heart though, you know, a couple, we didn't stole a couple hundred gold shoes.
We didn't have to steal, they probably stole everything too.
George is tougher because he ran off against a combination surgeon, but he's doing a great job.
He's the best ambassador we've had.
He's so attractive and everything.
He'll be back.
He's still young.
Good luck.
All right.
Smart.
Okay.
Bye-bye.
Oh, hey, uh, uh, this is your coming, uh, officer.
Come on, John.
Go on.
Some of the steps are, uh, taught in five minutes.
All right.
All right.
All right.
We were lucky there.
Turns out to be a really fine piece of news.
And he refused to expose this thing where he used to go out and meet the press.
He's absolutely right.
He's a fine man.
He's a senior officer.
I'm talking to the press where he found out these things from the city.
The president invited him because he wanted to get his impressions of the...
I'm sure .
What I'm trying to say, and this is what I checked, the President invited me to the White House and expressed his appreciation for the role that Steve Hogan and the team played in building private contracts.
particularly complimented them on the fine way they conducted themselves when they were in China.
And the President said that we would cooperate, we would look to get a return visit.
We wanted the courtesies extended to them of this country, and we promised any cooperation in the process and so forth.
The President has conceded these to further and broaden the context of the people's commitment.
in China, and the one who described this was Mr. Sino.
Let me see if the question is on me.
That's good.
If you could say what was the interest, what were the people like?
Okay, fine.
But that part about expressing appreciation for holding private contacts between American and Chinese people, that's a good thing.
Okay.
Okay.
Well, it seems to me that the, I don't know, I had mixed views about it.
I personally didn't want to do it because I just had a feeling that having been on on a Wednesday before to go on television again,
I don't think so.
I really don't.
I think that, first of all...
Yes.
You've just got to go on every time you've got a chance.
Because his point being that night after night these bastards on the other side bother us and that I'm not the only one anybody over here listens to on our side.
We don't have it.
See, Rogers does not go on aggressively and Laird is not believable.
So who the hell else?
I understand, but the very fact that you have to carry that burden, if you do it too often you're going to lose your...
Your punch was unexpected.
Oh, yes, I think so.
Yes, remember, we've talked about that before.
Yes.
And I think it's more important that we get facts across from others, even if they're not as good.
If people don't listen as much as we keep a good program going, I'm getting...
I was very interested in all of this.
At least as far as our immediate friends were concerned.
And a hell of a lot of people do that on the radio.
Yes.
People will make a point in a case like this.
I got it in the wrong direction.
People have heard it.
Yes, and commented on your soft tone, the fact that you spoke quietly and you didn't hit too hard.
You came across very well on me, apparently.
I was there in the hall.
But I've talked to quite a few people who mentioned the fact that you were so reasonable in your approach and your tone, which is always great.
I was also true of the Wednesday speech on April 7th.
The tone was just right.
But bear in mind,
A couple of things.
First of all, these were the Ed and Disney flat of them by .
And they were complimented a little bit more by their audience.
And there were times, I said to someone two or three years ago, unless you were there,
That speech in the Q&A has been talked about ever since.
That wasn't on television.
Right.
But sometimes when the word gets out, it's necessary.
Right.
I remember.
I heard about it.
I was in California.
Everybody talked about it all over the country.
So, and also the radio plays it around the clock, you know, this was a Friday night, all day Saturday, you turn away, you heard, you'd be answering a different question.
Chris doesn't have a very good sense of the regard of the person they know.
First of all, to say that he brought this up at the Security Council and was overruled and so forth.
First of all, he's inaccurate.
He forgets that what he discussed at the Security Council is something that we have not been decided on.
That is recognition that you have not traded the checks.
But the other thing is that if he only realized that he never, he remembered for eight years with Eisenhower, God, I'd swallow anything I believe in all I could support the president.
Nothing else.
Nothing else.
The only possible course.
I think that poor Ted, who wants to be for Eisenhower, he allows the press to track him to say, well, what his views are, what do you think?
He's different.
I was sorry about that.
On the train industry, that's already mine, frankly.
But on that, the idea has come off extremely well.
And you ought to support it.
I didn't frankly understand how it happened or why.
I mean, it was dark.
But you don't find, for example, in the country today, nobody's helping up and down or worried about the Chinese.
No.
It's fine.
No, you read that better than I did.
It went so well.
You really had a good set of timing on that one.
Because really, you didn't get a squat 20 directions.
You didn't.
If it's in the field of exchange, people will not object and people will see.