Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 513-007
Date: Monday, June 7, 1971 at 5:07 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); White House operator; Woods, Rose Mary
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/513-007

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:03] Oh, yeah.
[0:12] He's a nice man, man.
[0:14] The real charge here isn't anybody but the jury and John, because the jury, he'll keep them from getting so submerged.
[0:18] He doesn't have the bureaucracy that they have.
[0:21] And they're just like him.
[0:22] They're all, you know, far-seeing guys.
[0:26] He's going to get in and sign this, and everybody else, and everybody's going to do some things.
[0:30] That's good.
[0:31] But I get him in charge and I talk to him.
[0:37] I think he was really quite impressed by that.
[0:42] Well, not impressed, but he was surprised that I knew, you know, I had a feeling about, you know, making big breakthroughs in science and other things.
[0:48] I said, Scott Adams, we're doing all these usual things on a Monday.
[0:50] I want to break the lead for a lot of these goddamn things.
[0:52] He says, well, what about my competition?
[1:01] Well, I changed it on land.
[1:08] He says, God, it's just out of his mind.
[1:10] He loves land.
[1:10] And again, that's why I pay attention to land.
[1:11] When there can be a problem, because he wants all the left-wingers in.
[1:13] And basically, not because they're left, but because he wants right people.
[1:15] Oh, it's just the right people are all left.
[1:16] It's just like one hand who was charged up and wanted to do things.
[1:19] And the only other people who do are right people.
[1:29] Yeah, Google is 54.33.
[1:38] That's about where it was.
[1:48] Well, it's up four points.
[1:54] From our own.
[1:54] Uh, Gallup.
[1:55] That's Gallup.
[1:55] That's from our own.
[1:55] I thought we were almost 52 points.
[1:56] Uh, last one's 50.31.
[1:57] Oh, yeah, May 6th.
[1:57] That was big.
[1:57] Oh, May 6th.
[1:57] The times are right.
[1:58] After the demonstration, right?
[2:01] Yeah.
[2:04] And the one after the April press conference.
[2:06] What's that?
[2:07] May 1st and 2nd, 53-34.
[2:08] 52-53?
[2:09] So this is 54, right?
[2:13] 54-33.
[2:17] It's about the same amount of total.
[2:22] The Gallup came in at 50, and we ended at 54.
[2:27] Except we were down to 50 in our own.
[2:32] Is this 1,000?
[2:34] Yes, 1,060.
[2:37] Yeah, on approval of Vietnam, it's 4843, which is about our total.
[2:45] Well, the disapproval is up a little.
[2:48] It was down to 38 last month.
[2:50] But the approval is up two points also.
[2:54] It's the undecided .
[2:57] Sparrow Aitken, we haven't pulled since March.
[2:59] In March, he was 42.39.
[3:01] He's now 44.38.
[3:05] So he's .
[3:08] But March was his low spot.
[3:09] He had been 49, 47, 49, 48.
[3:12] Well, he isn't too bad.
[3:16] He's still positive.
[3:20] Has Gene heard or read about the press conference?
[3:23] 44%?
[3:25] Yes.
[3:25] 56%?
[3:26] No.
[3:26] That's... Well, you participated in that, Bob.
[3:31] Yeah.
[3:31] Well, you know, a press conference is not something you have a kind of memory of.
[3:34] But it was, for instance, the foreign policy report in March, the awareness was 36%.
[3:43] The last press conference was 55, but we pulled right afterwards.
[3:52] The positive reaction was 58, negative 31.
[3:58] But in this press conference, President took a strong position supporting the Washington Police Master Reference Peace Demonstration.
[4:06] The government approved or disapproved 71-19.
[4:10] You asked a really good question, rather than me.
[4:19] Not everybody said 7192.
[4:20] Not the people who heard me.
[4:22] No, not everybody.
[4:23] We told them that in the press conference you did it, and we said, do you approve of that?
[4:26] 7192.
[4:26] We were on the right way from there.
[4:28] That contrast is about the same.
[4:29] In May, we said where the police justified making the mass arrest is 7610.
[4:36] So roughly the same.
[4:37] In this press conference, the President came out against legalizing marijuana.
[4:45] Do you agree or disagree?
[4:48] Agree 73, disagree 22.
[4:49] She's an excreta.
[4:51] Nobody wants to legalize marijuana.
[4:53] Well, that's very good of you, Bob.
[4:55] You saw a couple of the columns from the Automatic.
[4:57] Yeah.
[4:57] I am delighted that they were elected.
[5:00] Probably smokers.
[5:00] Do you believe Communist China should be admitted to the United Nations?
[5:03] Should 37, should not 44?
[5:06] And that contrasts with Gallup, who says, yes, 45-38, and Harris, who says, yes, 48-27.
[5:17] Which is basically the same as in March, before the thought.
[5:20] In March, we had 38-48.
[5:22] There's a lot of people, even Gallup, don't want to admit it.
[5:30] See, my point is, it's the word communists.
[5:33] But they all ask, they all say columns.
[5:37] This is interesting.
[5:40] Have you seen, heard, or read anything about the so-called salt talks that are being held between the United States and Russia?
[5:48] That's all we get.
[5:52] Yes, 29, no, 70.
[5:53] Yep.
[5:54] In 1970, we asked the same question.
[5:56] Basically, we put in Vienna and Helsinki then to help.
[6:00] And there it was, yes, 18, no, 79.
[6:03] So it was 29, 29, 70.
[6:05] Jesus Christ.
[6:08] When you just call ourselves.
[6:11] Then of the 29, we said, what are these talks?
[6:12] The ones who said yes, they heard about them.
[6:15] We said, what are these talks about as you understand it?
[6:18] One of the 29 said strategic arms cementation, 1%.
[6:23] 13% said limiting arms or weapons.
[6:26] So 14% or half of the 29 could identify them correctly.
[6:32] The rest said arms or something else or I don't know.
[6:37] What this really says is that only about 15% of the people know what the self-talk sector is.
[6:49] That's what it says.
[6:51] Then we said of the 29 who are aware of, do you believe these talks are making progress or aren't they?
[6:59] 33 yes, 38 no, and 29 no.
[7:01] That didn't get through.
[7:03] Now, have you seen, heard, or read about President Nixon's recent initiative regarding U.S.-Russian discussions of nuclear arms limitations?
[7:11] Yes, 38.
[7:12] No, 59.
[7:14] So we did get some through other agencies.
[7:17] So whatever's on the news, just think of how low it is, right?
[7:22] How low the top is.
[7:22] Then do you approve or disapprove of the Presence Initiative?
[7:26] 71% of the 38 approved.
[7:28] Of the 38?
[7:29] Yeah.
[7:31] The others don't know about it.
[7:34] This is interesting.
[7:35] In your opinion, is it important for the U.S. to keep ahead of the Russians in military strength, or does it matter if we fall behind the Russians?
[7:42] Good.
[7:43] Seventy-five percent keep ahead.
[7:45] Seventeen, it doesn't matter.
[7:46] Eight, no opinion.
[7:50] Good.
[7:50] Good.
[7:50] I'm glad you brought that up.
[7:52] And this is another interesting one.
[7:53] Which of these phrases best describes your overall attitude toward our armed services in general?
[8:00] We had asked this question in 69.
[8:02] Same question, very favorable, moderately favorable, half and half, moderately unfavorable, very unfavorable.
[8:12] And now the favorables total 45, in 69 they total 68.
[8:17] The half and half was 18 in 69, it's now 33.
[8:22] And the unfavorables were 9 and now 14.
[8:27] So it has to move very strong in the unfavorable, but it sure dropped a chunk of the favorable.
[8:33] And the very favorable went from 34 to 21.
[8:39] The moderately favorable, 34 to 24.
[8:43] That's not a lot of questions to put in one poll.
[8:47] We can do them.
[8:48] Then, to which of these two should government policy give the highest priority, reducing unemployment or fighting inflation?
[8:54] Fighting unemployment.
[8:57] Unemployment, 31.
[8:58] Inflation, 33.
[9:00] Both, 30.
[9:03] No opinion, 6.
[9:05] We didn't ask them.
[9:06] We didn't give them both as an option.
[9:08] We just said, which of these two should they do?
[9:10] And what it is, a third said inflation, a third said unemployment, and a third said both.
[9:19] Even spot on.
[9:25] My fellow, ask me and all the rest.
[9:29] Don't overestimate what the people learn and hear.
[9:32] I'll solve every thought and everything.
[9:35] I don't know, I shouldn't talk about it, because half the other people in the staff, and everybody here, and Colson, and everybody knows about it.
[9:49] So I felt great yesterday.
[9:50] I was in this.
[9:50] Great thing.
[9:51] Great thing.
[9:51] Everybody knows about this.
[9:54] I did it with the maximum impact.
[9:54] I was on television.
[9:55] I had to take it off.
[9:55] And everybody knew.
[9:56] Huh?
[9:58] I don't know, but that three minutes was every network.
[10:04] That's right.
[10:08] All that time.
[10:09] That's right.
[10:10] Wow, every, that's right.
[10:10] So it was on the news.
[10:11] That's right.
[10:11] You know, we had to leave at 9 o'clock.
[10:12] We were going to find ways to make an announcement at 9 o'clock.
[10:18] Isn't that interesting?
[10:18] So you know about it.
[10:20] So we haven't gotten much lift out of that.
[10:24] On the other hand, I would say that it shows that at least we're not dropping.
[10:35] We're not dropping.
[10:36] In fact, we're probably running a little bit better.
[10:39] We've got the Trout Needs also.
[10:43] The Trout Needs against Muskie is now 41-35-14.
[10:50] This shows us the way at six points.
[10:55] Our last phone poll, and that was in April, and then it was 41, 35, 14, exactly the same.
[11:04] But our poll, our field poll, you know, personally, it was always 38, 40, and 12.
[11:11] But phone polls are not considered as accurate.
[11:15] They're not as accurate.
[11:15] Aren't they more loaded for the rich people?
[11:17] They go, that's an argument.
[11:18] He does it himself.
[11:19] I mean, they say they balance it, so it's not.
[11:23] Against Kennedy, it's 41-39-12.
[11:25] Kennedy runs stronger than Muskie.
[11:31] What was the last time?
[11:32] On the phone, it was 43-38-12.
[11:38] 45-34-12.
[11:41] He's the leader.
[11:42] Before, it was 44-36-14.
[11:48] It's not really much change.
[11:49] Don't you think, actually, that there's no statistical significance?
[12:02] Don't you think something is not right on this story?
[12:07] Don't you have a feeling, at least, that they've just got to not maintain it?
[12:08] Hey, Jackson.
[12:08] Jackson, go with it, because it's most just a nice way to go about it.
[12:10] Really?
[12:10] Will Jackson go on a trip with that old man?
[12:12] Yes.
[12:15] That is your brother's campaign.
[12:34] Isn't that true, General?
[12:34] Yeah.
[12:34] I think he was a Catholic.
[12:35] I don't know.
[12:35] Take it.
[12:35] Light it up.
[12:36] Miss Woods, please.
[12:47] I think the marijuana question and the demonstration question.
[12:59] Check to see whether Jackson, whether he's a Catholic Protestant.
[13:07] Henry Jackson.
[13:07] Yeah.
[13:08] Or do you know him?
[13:11] I just said, well, just check, you know, if you've got one of those directories.
[13:15] Yeah, anything on the night is all set.
[13:22] Terrible.
[13:39] Now, I think we should not take any more polls now, for a while.
[13:49] Again, I think we have a tendency to sort of worry about the thing.
[13:53] We've got it done.
[13:54] Oh, we've got some questions.
[13:56] Well, basically, this is going to get down to the bottom.
[13:57] We've got a reason to take one.
[13:58] We've got a reason to take one.