Conversation 512-005

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But we had a terribly complicated thing to see, which was one of the problems of the person.

For he and the people there have very little understanding.

All problems involved.

There's either two different laws.

There's the lobby of the Green House.

And they've always been solid and broad.

They've always been solid restrictions on who's in and who's not.

They've always been requirements.

The unions go right up the wall.

The difficulty is that the union is long-sharpened, you know, it's just, it's a common question, I don't think it's a union, right?

This area are the hard-line, common, anti-communist countries, of course.

So, I think, in other words, selling chicken grain to communist countries, non-American bottom, is an area, that's the issue.

So it isn't quite as easy as I'm confused.

Of course, it comes down to the strong recommendation that we do it.

So we're going to support people a lot, most of the people in the Midwest.

And it may be that we're going to do something strong, I guess.

So not much in it for us from that, except in certain areas.

It's not pretty well on the needs decision.

He's totally pledged to do what he can for us.

To the extent that he can do anything, he readily admits that he just, in some ways or another, he doesn't have total power.

Last night I got a, somebody from CNN said that they,

I was going to do this to CNN on the 16th, but they talked to me about that.

We had talked to you.

You had raised the point of doing it on the 16th.

We had raised the point of trying to set something with CNN sometime soon, because you didn't do that.

Letter dropped by, which you shouldn't have.

Oh, I don't know.

That was fine.

It was just a matter of day.

Oh, sure.

Looking for an early opportunity for you to do something with CNN.

Uh, nobody is.

He was talking with her to see what's...

Still with them.

There's an overlap on that.

It's been eight years ago.

Don Jackson.

Don Jackson was apparently calling me on something that came up there, but he hasn't seen me for five years.

Don Jackson wants to see me.

You'll have to let Kendall and I calm down.

I just wish we could get out of the building and everything will go over.

Jackson, I don't know, is he leaving the government or what's his name?

He's stepping out of the environment by choice.

I don't understand it yet.

I'll give the details.

If he's leaving, you ought to see him.

I think he wants to.

Well, I'll see him when I get back.

I've got to see him.

And, uh, I think he may want something else, but they've already explored the seminar.

He told me he wanted something else.

He wants to get out of this and do something else.

Anyway, Jackson's fine.

Kendall?

Uh, it's okay, uh, but, uh, put him in a 15-minute slot.

Yeah.

Same with Jackson.

You've got him in 15 minutes.

Chavez?

after me, but I want him to talk to, he's been to Japan and Vietnam, and I want Henry to call him to get his news on, and he can pop advice around if necessary, but I don't see any reason to see Javits when he's never with us, you know what I mean?

Tell Henry that I'd like for him to follow up with that, and he's got some ideas after talking to Jim.

These guys, you know, practice, and

I think all that I'd like to have handled in a different way by Harry Dent and Don Wheeler.

George, I'm just thinking about running for Congress in Sturkey's Place.

As a Republican, Don Wheeler's an old friend of mine.

Great call.

Tell Harry to talk to him and tell Don that he's doing it at my suggestion because I've got to keep it away from me.

And Harry will have to judge it.

Wheeler's fine.

He's a great friend of ours.

Okay.

He's a dead farmer Democrat in Congress.

Yeah.

But that takes care of those people.

On to CNN.

I was trying to think of what to say to most people tonight.

Well, of course, I think they like to sit around.

But I don't think that's very good as far as I'm concerned.

I don't want to do it.

I was thinking of what we could do.

They have as many people.

They're alumni.

They have as many as 30.

I'm sorry.

I was thinking that we had a tradition.

We used to have a deal whereby each CNM member could bring one guest, you know, and he'd bring a big contributor.

What I was thinking was to make it a, to have a CNM dinner, I mean, do a black tie dinner with their wives in the White House for the CNM.

But with the one guest rule, see, that's very bad.

Now, Davis is the, is the,

that Glenn Davis, that he should talk about.

And I thought, and I think it would mean, would you mean more to the wives and everything?

And the one, you had 30, 60, 50, 120, and then 30,000 brown tables came to address tables.

Okay, no problem.

I don't think they'd have that many.

But you see, each man would bring his wife and one guest and his wife.

But then I think they'd like, that's the best thing,

Wouldn't that be a thing where you could stay in the back and do a little walking after?

You talk a little on the call in a couple of minutes.

Yeah.

I had a dinner at the White House the other night.

I think that's what happened after they're in the door.

We ought to get out of here anyway.

I must conserve my energy.

The, uh, so if you'd sort of work on that, I mean, which, you know, on that, there would be no gaps.

I don't want any cabinets.

Yeah.

I wouldn't want to trigger any of that.

See, that's the special thing.

I don't care when they have the damn thing.

Fit it there.

Fit it in with our schedule.

All right.

16th's all right.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

That's right.

The other question, you're scheduled to do a drop-off at the FBI building on Monday for this class.

Based on the play from yesterday and the mileage we're getting, I guess virtually everybody feels it's an overplay.

We can undo it with Uber by sending a presidential message or even having the class come over here after the

commencement just filed through your office and shake hands with you or something like that, rather than making a visit at the FBI out of it.

I'll tell you why.

Why don't we tell, I think we put it to Hoover on the basis that I'd rather come to the FBI, but it's just I think of it.

And you also have the FBI graduation, the class graduation on the 30th.

which you weren't going to be able to do because you were going to be in California, but now you'll be here.

So you could do that.

We told them we were going to do that.

Yeah.

And do that out of Europe.

That's a, that's a. Yeah.

What they're concerned about is that this looks like it's a faculty education to go over to the IUI.

Why don't you tell them that I think that I ought to, I want to come to the graduation, that I think that I should do that and I should, and that I shouldn't have the, shouldn't do both.

And that what we would like to do with this, with the group,

However, that we would give them a, if they would like, they could have a special White House tour.

Huh?

How would that be?

White House tour.

I mean, I'd have to shake all their hands.

But they'd come here for a special tour.

There's no problem with that.

No, that's right.

That's no problem at all.

I don't mind it.

In fact, he did.

Just so he can be sure this is what we're going to the White House.

He's probably told everybody, see?

So he could have them over here.

I just wanted to see whether you objected to it.

No, I think the NBI graduation... That's the thing, that's the way you do it, you don't, okay?

Nothing.

We have New York State Police.

That's right.

It's an asinine goddamn thing.

Everybody running around saying, why wasn't Murphy invited?

Why doesn't somebody say, why wasn't the Rizzo invited?

Yeah, why wasn't the Philadelphia chief invited?

Rizzo wasn't invited.

Or the Atlanta police chief.

We have Austin.

We have Chicago.

There were about 3,000 police chiefs that weren't invited.

Why the hell do they worry about Murphy?

This was a .

That's right.

And he was up there solving the murders.

The problem was he got a little tangled up because Mitchell thought he had been invited and had to come and said something and got tangled in the interpretation.

So they figured they'd caught us in a, oh, well.

Oh, they'd cover up, you know.

You never go, screw it.

I don't.

We still, we got big network coverage in the meeting.

Don't let any of the back of it.

You have to edit it.

The association out there saying the president's doing a great job here, you know?

We are going to let him.

We must let any of our people here become gun-shy in the press.

That's why I can't visit right now, because he fights all the time.

It's tough.

They just got to realize it's going to be a lot worse when it gets better.

And a little of that sort of stuff.

I agree.

I don't think leaving out the New York guy is going to do you any harm.

Obviously, it might have been better to have had him there.

No.

Who would have wanted him?

I don't know who would have liked the guy.

I don't like him either.

We had no reason to like him.

He doesn't play our games.

He opposed the Mayday business.

I didn't know that.

He indicated some kind of a...

Well, that's enough.

Mayday wasn't handled right or something.

That's enough.

See, all the rest were in there all applauding us for Mayday.

If he'd have been there, he'd have been a star by the time I found him.

I think you played it exactly right.

We're going to, if we invite our friends to things, we're going to get heat.

Like this from Pat and Tom.

That's right.

Why wasn't who's this there?

That's just too damn bad.

I don't know if they ever applied to me.

I was never invited to the White House for eight years.

for eight years, right?

They had very important foreign policy and other things.

Never got invited to goddamn places.

Did anybody ever, any of these sons of bitches in the press say, well, it's a matter of when you have the former vice president here?

Never.

Never?

That's true.

You know, this whole thing, they're so... You use... No, they're not being used.

They're furious.

This whole thing just bothers way down deep.

The energy thing is quite...

I think it's a damn good thing, and it's a good bill, and I think, let me put it this way, it's just too obvious what we're trying to do.

We're coming out and talking about energy instead of unemployment or something like that, but also it's a, so we have message after message after message, do I go out and do the housing run?

Well, I can't quite separate it out enough.

That's my problem.

Remember, I did have a meeting, you know, here, and I played it up, but I can't separate it out enough.

Well, I know, I know.

You think you'd get more if I walk out there, no?

Because you'd be on TV?

I don't know how important the thing is.

I don't know.

You sure as hell don't want to get in the pattern of doing the housing one or something like that.

I know it's a good concern.

Or in the sense that people are going to understand it, let's put it that way.

It's a clean source of energy.

And a breeder reactor.

You start from there.

Well, in the name of God, you don't put yourself in the position of a television guy who's got to explain

and so forth.

I just, there's something about environment that we can clean so we can have clean air.

Maybe that's a question.

I think I'd rather just have it good.

They can put out the message, but.

There's one, however, where I would have used a radio talk if they ever... See, that's what I would have done on that.

A nice, dull subject, which would be good on radio.

And when you've got an important one like that, give it a real hype over the radio talk.

Do you want to do a...

I have more of these subjects than you do.

What we want are some healthy things.

That's what I mean.

I don't want things that are so...

I want to be the one on veterans.

What do you think of that?

Isn't that the war?

Yeah.

Isn't that the volume?

Yeah.

See my point?

Yeah.

I have an idea that some of these are going to be more weak.

whether it has a theme, a series.

I really think it ought to have a series, not exactly on this one.

I would have done this as a

Plus, I just hope that if you get your annual, I don't know, call, he'll ask for 18 hours to report it.

I don't think so anymore, I think.

Well, that's what he asked.

But he can't do it without us, so there's no time.

He wants to be chairman of the Export and Import Bank.

He's got to be like the other chairman on this bank.

For Christ's sake.

I was thinking wrong, this energy thing.

It's an important message.

Yeah.

I don't know.

You know, Mr. David, who else?

Morton.

Well, I don't think you have to introduce them.

I know.

Well, we're putting it out with the China thing on the 10th.

That's good.

Well, this is the first time the President of the United States has ever sent a message to Congress on energy.

thing for the country and really for the world.

And my view is that the President walking out, briefly introducing it as these remarks indicate.

Just a mere statement.

The key thing here is it's a comprehensive program for creating a new era in energy production in America.

pretty good, you know, that's a... Of course the message goes into other forms of energy, but then the breeder reactor here, as this refers to, is instead of developing the breeder reactor by 1985, you're asking for 27 million, or I believe it's 27, to bring it about sooner, by 1980.

and the power source in the United States of clean energy.

Just walk out, and we've given them the message.

They're looking over it now.

Walk out, and just very briefly say you're sending a message to Congress today on a...

It gives them something to bridge their story under, and...

If they were the other guys we walk out with, we'd have them standing out there.

Yeah.

Then they'd just take over.

Then they would just take over and answer questions.

I don't think it's worth the effort, but I'll do it.

You ready?

I think that's a real nice way to handle a senior.

I told you last night, too, that I was really surprised just how touched these people were.

And I'm inclined to think that we may be underestimating bringing people to the White House who don't come all the time, you know what I mean?

Like, I think this idea of having a California party, a real California party, not just for our people, you know what I mean?

When we set up the Nixon Group, the Nixon Group for California, the Nixon Group for Ohio, the Nixon Group for Indiana, God damn it, Bob, that has a smacking effect on people.

And I must say that maybe sometimes they ought to bring their wives.

I mean, the damn white thing is...

The white thing is, I am not ready to make a speech.

I'm trying to find a way to make a speech in front of lots of men.

To be able to bring the white down there.

And they all talk to each other.

They just keep on having former congressman carriers and invitations in their hands.

Big deal.

Right now they're gonna frame the wedding invitations.

Anybody that got those, I know you should.

You should.

I was wondering if we could make use of it.

And I think, too, that in terms of the Congress, maybe we've had the reference.

We may have to go back to not the wires in their case.

We can come down.

We can keep moving our troops around occasionally that way by just a little social

than the use of the presidency basically for a living.

We know they have a lot of therapy around here that really is just nice to do, but that really has no meaning in terms of a ripple effect.

In other words, staffers and their families and so forth and so on.

And I think it's fine, and I want to continue to do that.

Because it's part of the deal.

But I think that our use of this for people that really are going to carry the message on, well, as I told you, that police thing was worthwhile.

That was worthwhile part of the publicity.

Those guys are never going to forget that meeting.

And you see, that foreign intelligence report isn't worth a shit to me.

Those guys are here all the time.

They're bored and cocky and so forth and so on.

And I've got to go in there and listen to this bunch of bullshit.

That's the last time I'm going to meet with them.

The arms control agencies and other boards and so forth, most of those about the establishment meetings are not worthwhile.

I can assure you they are not worthwhile.

They do not really get people going.

But I have a feeling that in the political context that we can bring in some people here and really make it worthwhile.

I think so.

I sure do.

I'll give you some probably of that.

Maybe on the congressional side, I uh... Now last night didn't take too long.

That was at 5 o'clock.

It took an hour and a half.

Normally I think I could do a reception of that sort in an hour and fifteen minutes.

That's a pretty damn good use of time at 5 o'clock.

Stand there, receive them all, and the band plays and all that.

Basically do it as a slow receiving line.

Slow receiving line, and then go in afterwards.

Really, you can almost do a slow receiving line and just kind of walk out slowly.

You can go out and sit, do a little chatting.

If it's going in afterwards, you get caught.

I know they love it, but I can do it for old friends.

But I think a slow receiving line.

And have it usually for $200.

You can go up to $200.

I'd like to send an ashtray.

I don't.

If you could check, see the ones that were there that don't have ashtrays.

This is each family.

Could you do that, please?

These are all friends.

We didn't have them.

Carl Oliver, for example, that's him.

But, uh, Bill Coleman.

You know, he came.

Uh, Fulbright, quite a few of the people I have, they don't know he comes, but they like him.

Yeah, right.

He gives a great appearance in him.

The story of a little choir person.

Did they see that?

Well, it was... Sure, the picture.

You made the picture.

Oh, I made the picture.

Right, right.

You saw that?

Right, I saw the picture.

This is I think it's...

That goes back to a lot.

See, each one of those kids is a leader of an explorer unit, president of an explorer unit.

So he's got 30, 40 kids in his unit.

He goes back and tells them about that.

Hey, go talk to the parents.

The thing there is, that's the whole country, and it's basically square youth as far as the hippie youth.

And I think any time we've got a chance where you can tie into...

Good kids, you ought to do it.

Just, if for no other reason than to shaft the bad kids.

Because the bad kids get all the attention.

And this forces a little attention to explorer scouts.

Or to the future farmers, as you did before.

Good kids who are out raising sheep, or out learning how to climb mountains, or whatever, sail boats, you know, whatever they do.

Instead of learning how to, on a bus, who will grow some sleeping bags in public parks.

They'd probably do that too.

Well, I will do.

We'll have to reproduce more of them.

I don't know about the whole kid thing.

I don't know whether Christian's idea may be worth considering.

The Q&A format more and, you know, taking a few risks with the animals and so forth.

We are much too... Oh, yes.

We are much too, everybody said it,

Everybody gets so concerned about anything that we, anything we do here, everything's got to be read carefully down here and there and we're going to slip and so forth.

Somebody was, I noticed that some were concerned, but I totally, Southern made my statements about contempt for the, for the double standard and civil rights.

Hell, I made that statement at least a hundred times.

double standard, you know, about the south, and I made it in the north and south.

And I intended to be, you've got to show a little fire around this place.

That's the trouble with our people here.

We tend to come through.

So one thing I think in this press conference, and any other, I mean, I believe that instead of you better get through some more than some of the most, it was much more controversial.

Yeah.

More interesting.

Huh?

Yeah.

Well, that's good.

So Connelly's all for the enemy theory.

He said he'd kick somebody.

He'd beat somebody.

Have some balls.

But getting back to what I think, when we go around, we may use the Q&A thing on a fireman.

It's a very formidable way to take people on.

It is.

And it's a...

It is your team.

It's a point that you just...

Totally mastered.

So it's worth using.

In more ways than just what kind of fallout did we get from those editors?

That's a pretty good indication.

Those are all the editors in the country.

Client aggregation report.

We got pretty good stuff.

The problem with it was that the news overrode how it was done.

There was a lot of, in the reporting on it, there was a lot of one-line type things, you know, in the lead year, in the story saying that the president told the command good, very good humor, not very good, but, you know, good, solid humor.

complete mastery of the thing.

That kind of, they're those kinds of good words, but they're not, there hasn't been anything where people have sat down and said, what do we do about this situation?

We're not going to, they've seen it too often.

Do you realize that?

You know, it's like the night is,

calling a good game.

And who cares?

It's really coming that way.

You know, that's our Joe DeMant, making a good catch.

Crash, it's almost like he falls on his ass and people say, oh, Crash, what's the matter with Joe?

That's true.

He lobes out there and catches that ball, makes the hard ones look easy.

We do a little, I think we make a little too much of that.

You know what I mean?

And it's got to look a little harder.

Well, the hell with it.

You can't really change that.

It must affect people.

It's got to affect people.

If any person, I mean, in this

Just get the war thing out of the way.

It's the only issue people give a goddamn about.

You know, the average person, he just wants to get the war.

And it's because of the TV.

The war basically isn't affecting people, Bob.

Disinfection, personally, it doesn't affect them, no.

35 casualties a week for a crummy stage, no.

More than that died over in New York every week.

Well, help me kill 500 people in automobile accidents over Memorial Day weekend.

One evening can kill five hundred ten times as many if you don't get enough.

Fifteen terrible traps you've got.

Well...

I think you do.

You can't really get mischief out there.

Let me say that I'm not satisfied with what the radio links are coming up with yet and so far.

I think that Moore and Price and Sapphire and... Maybe you ought to sit down.

They're supposed to be PR people.

The whole thing and all the leadership and so forth.

don't want to go flirting around.

I mentioned to this police group earlier there that I wanted presidential accommodations for law enforcement officials, you know, and for them to give me recommendations.

I want you to follow up with Crowe to set up a procedure to provide police chiefs and sheriffs

all over the country can send to the White House recommendations for maybe 100, 200 years.

Now let's use letters, combinations, and so forth.

Don't you think that's a good idea?

Sure do.

I've told them.

I was already doing it.

We do do a little art.

You know, we read the paper.

All right.

Definitely send something out.

But wouldn't this be great to have them send it in and then

We'll have a day each year, maybe July 1st, or pick a nice day, you know, and say that on that day, the President will send that.

Or it's a police appreciation day.

Or rather than doing it on an individual basis, you know, on the basis of, well, I think you can do one for a long service for anybody that's served 30 years.

five years ago, 30 years maybe.

And second, for, of course, acts of heroism, right?

Now if you get beyond that, the leadership and all that, I get that too, but I think it would be sort of an unusual, like, personal gap, you know, where that leads the whole thing.

I think you've got a tremendous opportunity to use the kids.

I wonder if we could get the principals around, high school principals around.

I suppose it's too late now, but can we get anything in the way of commendations for student leadership or some damn thing?

I just don't know.

Who's in charge?

Is that the commendations?

Is that her job?

She works on them.

Can we put somebody on a high level and try to get something on that?

I think it's worth it.

We already have a duty time shot.

If that's the new driver we're bringing in, I don't know what that means.

I don't know what that means.

This guy worked for some 60-odd men, and I had received a call to answer.

There were these commendations around the country.

They could get me in the arms.

But I'm just saying, man, I had to go to the police.

You see, every police chief can send you an outline.

I have a list of them.

I don't mean, of course, big cities get 10, others get 5, and so forth, and you'll have to fight out a scene, but I want a scene presented to me that I can approve, and we'll send out those commendations by God, and I'll read them on appreciation night, a picture, you know, something.

And a city like Kansas City, it's a big front page story.

Hell yeah, it's a big popular issue.

Yeah.

That's kind of neat.

Yeah.

Makes your story worth it.

Yeah.

He said it would be big in L.A.

Right, that's right.

Down the side of the police and they shoot the Mexicans and they shoot the Negroes.

For a while.