Conversation 519-009

TapeTape 519StartMonday, June 14, 1971 at 1:30 PMEndMonday, June 14, 1971 at 1:44 PMTape start time02:24:38Tape end time02:35:31ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Woods, Rose Mary;  Butterfield, Alexander P.Recording deviceOval Office

On June 14, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:30 pm to 1:44 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 519-009 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 519-9

Date: June 14, 1971
Time: 1:30 pm - 1:44 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Rose Mary Woods

******************************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 01/09/2020.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[519-009-w001]
[Duration: 1m 54s]

     The President’s schedule
          -Call from Rose Mary Woods to Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
                -The President’s meeting
                -Dinner
          -Jack Drown and Helene (Colesie) Drown
                Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
                      -Telephone calls
                -Length of visit
                -Ray M. Hare
                -June 17, 1971
                -Rex W. Scouten
                      -Ray M. Hare
                -Jack Drown
                      -Length of visit
                      -New York
                -Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat) Nixon
          -Call from Rose Mary Woods to Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon

                -Message delivery

******************************************************************************

     Tricia Nixon Cox and Edward R. F. Cox’s Wedding
           -National Broadcasting Company [NBC] coverage
           -Tricia Nixon Cox
                 -Picture

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 01/10/2020. 7m
5s segment cleared for release with three segments of 37s, 16s, and 9s remaining closed as 519-
009-w002, 519-009-w003, and 519-009-w004 respectively.]
[Personal Returnable]
[519-009-w002]
[Duration: 37s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

******************************************************************************

     The President’s schedule
          -Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
                -Rose Mary Woods’ role
                      -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                      -Florida
                      -Maine
          -Jack Drown and Helene (Colesie) Drown
                -Florida
                -Maine
                      -Space for guests
          -Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon’s staff
                -Rose Mary Woods’ role
          -Maine trip
                -Cold weather
          -California trip

              -Jack Drown and Helene (Colesie) Drown
                    -The President’s opinion
         -Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
              -Potential visits from the Drowns

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal Returnable]
[519-009-w003]
[Duration: 16s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

******************************************************************************

    The President’s schedule
         -Jack Drown and Helene (Colesie) Drown
               -California trip
               -Maureen [last name unknown]
               -The President’s previous conversation with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                     -Robert H. Finch
                     -White House staff
         -Helene (Colesie) Drown
               -Interaction with Rose Mary Woods
                     -Previous party
                           -June 12, 1971
                     -Eleanor S. (Stegeberg) McGovern
               -Contact with the President

******************************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[519-009-w004]
[Duration: 9s]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

******************************************************************************

     Jack Drown and Helene (Colesie) Drown
          -Raymond J. Arbuthnot
                -Africa trip
          -Earl C. Adams
                -Interaction

     The President’s schedule
          -Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
              -The President’s time off
                      Validity
              -Helene (Colesie) Drown role
          -Workload
              -Newspaper articles
          -Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
              -Helene (Colesie) Drown role

     Dwight D. Eisenhower
         -Work schedule
             -Golf
             -Bridge
         -Mamie G. D. Eisenhower
         -Note from Julie Nixon Eisenhower to Rose Mary Woods
             -Gift of White House ashtray
                     -Past use of ashtrays
             -The President’s gift policy
                     -Mamie G. D. Eisenhower’s policy

     The President’s schedule
          -Congress meeting [?]
          -June 14-15, 1971
              -Melvin R. Laird

Rose Mary Woods left and Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 1:42 pm

The President and Alexander P. Butterfield left at an unknown time before 1:44 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.

Well, I'm wondering if you have any further thoughts about how to handle that situation.
I have the rest of the last about you.
Don't you dismiss me around 4 o'clock?
4 o'clock?
Call Pat and talk.
I'm in this meeting.
All right.
Just stay for them not to wait down for you.
Don't hold it.
Because I have this issue as I told you last night.
Oh, my guess is that Pat returned her call this morning.
And invited her over.
I think that was pretty obvious.
But if Pat told them Ray or whatever it was that she'd be here to do Thursday, then Pat must have told her, you can cancel Thursdays.
We're leaving.
We have to leave Friday morning.
Somebody in Ray's office.
Ray, yeah.
He said the other day he was going to go back to my book to New York.
He's probably hanging around his wedding to see what's going on.
No, I can't, because she doesn't know that I know that Elaine is here.
I don't want her to wait for me.
so we could get through to Laura.
Well, I can call her a couple other things.
I'll try to get through to Laura.
I'll have somebody take a note to her.
Yeah, I can talk to her on the phone.
It's better.
Oh, really?
She'll answer.
Yeah.
You know, I can be gone.
Talk to her.
She'll pick up the phone.
Yeah.
She's actually turned on the NBC coverage.
And it really was the wedding.
Oh, and the reruns.
Yeah, that was a famous picture.
Well, there's no problem, really, because she knows we're going someplace.
And I think we'll just tell her, let's let it wade through in the present time.
Be sure you get to her, Donovan.
Don't send any word over there as to where we're going from the Florida part.
I hear.
Back to the last.
And then I'll just tell her and Percy that we're going to go to Florida instead of the Maine.
Say the word.
Say the word.
that we've ever told you.
She turned out for that one.
Yeah, she didn't fly that far, was that?
Yeah.
They'll fly right out there.
Because Pat did say they wanted to go there.
They wanted to come.
And you see, too, we don't have an excuse there that you have a name for the house.
No.
If it was there, we know we've got an extra house.
The girls aren't going to be there.
So Jack and Jack would just be right there, too.
They'd flock right along.
So that shit's knocked that one right out of the land, out of the band box.
They haven't already told her people where I...
Yes, they haven't already told her people about the change.
Yeah.
I'm telling you.
I'm telling them about it, but you tell them to where...
I want to just keep that, where they have to, where we need to go.
Correct.
Well, that's fine.
Just say we, at this time, we can close down.
The real problem I've got is the upcoming one in California.
I just, I really am at a point where I can't stand here.
And I frankly can't stand here.
I don't mind if they're in a crash.
I mean, I'd be fine.
But I'd be goddamned if I could sit there, you know.
And just to hear them, it just drives me up the wall.
And under the circumstances, I just think that... Well, I think Pat must do the perfect total.
I think you should just say, now, let's just understand.
You can have Helene while I'm not there, or you can come back down here and spend two or three weeks with Helene and do whatever you want.
But I need that.
I need what you need.
I need not to be bothered with someone I don't want to talk to.
I need, you know...
So I just think we just say that that's it.
And I'm just not going to be exposed to them because, you know, it's for me to be in California and to have those two out there.
Because they, as I would be the two, they'd be down there.
They'd have Maureen down with her, two kids and everything, you know.
Well, frankly, it's not bad for some of us, but the two of them are taking more than anyone else.
Yeah, hold on a second.
You asked Ben Shaw how he was.
She said worse than him.
bitched about everybody, everybody in the White House, down at the fan, everybody, you know what I mean?
This fan.
I told you all she did to me was walk up to me and bitch about something.
I felt like this hitting her.
I was trying, you know, a thing like Saturday was lovely and gorgeous, but I work every minute on that because there are all these people who don't know anyone else.
Mrs. McGovern, I saw, and I wanted her.
So I took her.
Anyone that, you know, I'm trying so hard to just help people out.
Sure.
Bitch.
You know, if it were my own house, I think I'd do it.
I just, I didn't understand her at all.
Simply because I see what she does to others, you know, what she does to you and what she does to me.
It isn't just that, but the loneliness of God damn, by the way, is selfish.
Let me say this.
Helene, there must be something wrong, because she has, everybody, all of the other people hate their guts.
That's right.
It isn't.
Don't they?
They are, but not.
But Ray still says he's nuts, doesn't he?
Oh, well, they were trying to, now they're going on a trip with him to Africa.
He thinks it'll just be terrible.
He's just dreaded it.
But yesterday, when they were coming over to my house, they did not know the rest of them were coming over here.
But the adults and the young adults all said, oh, let's see if we can get out of the hotel without the driver.
So they sort of snuck around to get out, but they didn't want to.
The whole White House staff and all of your friends.
And that's the bad part about it.
Because then that takes in past time.
That's the bad part.
Like how Pat Rose is constantly raising this point that there are so many articles about the fact that I take too much time off.
That's not true.
That is not true.
That's why I cannot say that that's not true.
I think she gets that point.
I think she does too, because Helaine wants to be a lawyer.
Helaine puts it in there, and Ron, you better watch this.
On the contrary, the articles are written that you are the hardest working president we ever had.
This is not in the papers.
I've seen papers.
The whole point is that even if it is, the hell with it.
Even if it says that, you have to.
You know what we're doing here, and I work every place I go.
But I just, I know that there's places here about every time.
I know she did.
Because of one of the places.
I used to go off, they used to have golfing all the time.
We used to go every night in the afternoon and play golf.
Really?
They never typed in that off.
He was even working.
He wasn't working.
Sure.
You know, I don't know, I guess I'm getting old, but I know people are so kind.
You know how tight that dog got man, he always was.
She never even wanted anybody to have a cup of coffee, free or anything.
Yeah.
Julie sent me a note, and of course we sent it out, saying that Mrs. Eisenhower would like to have one of the presidential ashtrays because she wanted to give it to someone.
And I thought, man, she told me, don't we ever got a presidential ashtray?
You didn't even get one from them if they had one when he was in.
So she's going to use it as a gift for Susan Sanderson.
We've gone too far with the gifts and all that crap.
Well, and Mrs. Eisenhower, too.
I mean, really, we've done everything for her, and she, how did she do that?
I don't know, three times in a day.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
All right.
All right.
All right.