Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 519-009
Date: Monday, June 14, 1971 at 1:30 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose Mary; Butterfield, Alexander P.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/519-009

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Well, I'm wondering if you have any further thoughts about how to handle that situation.
[0:20] I have the rest of the last about you.
[0:20] Don't you dismiss me around 4 o'clock?
[0:22] 4 o'clock?
[0:24] Call Pat and talk.
[0:24] I'm in this meeting.
[0:24] All right.
[0:25] Just stay for them not to wait down for you.
[0:25] Don't hold it.
[0:26] Because I have this issue as I told you last night.
[0:35] Oh, my guess is that Pat returned her call this morning.
[0:47] And invited her over.
[0:48] I think that was pretty obvious.
[0:50] 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.
[0:57] We're leaving.
[0:58] We have to leave Friday morning.
[1:00] Somebody in Ray's office.
[1:03] Ray, yeah.
[1:04] He said the other day he was going to go back to my book to New York.
[1:14] He's probably hanging around his wedding to see what's going on.
[1:23] No, I can't, because she doesn't know that I know that Elaine is here.
[1:31] I don't want her to wait for me.
[1:36] so we could get through to Laura.
[1:40] Well, I can call her a couple other things.
[1:41] I'll try to get through to Laura.
[1:42] I'll have somebody take a note to her.
[1:48] Yeah, I can talk to her on the phone.
[1:50] It's better.
[1:52] Oh, really?
[1:52] She'll answer.
[1:53] Yeah.
[1:57] You know, I can be gone.
[1:58] Talk to her.
[1:58] She'll pick up the phone.
[1:59] Yeah.
[2:00] She's actually turned on the NBC coverage.
[2:02] And it really was the wedding.
[2:03] Oh, and the reruns.
[2:06] Yeah, that was a famous picture.
[3:08] Well, there's no problem, really, because she knows we're going someplace.
[3:25] And I think we'll just tell her, let's let it wade through in the present time.
[3:26] Be sure you get to her, Donovan.
[3:27] Don't send any word over there as to where we're going from the Florida part.
[3:29] I hear.
[3:29] Back to the last.
[3:29] And then I'll just tell her and Percy that we're going to go to Florida instead of the Maine.
[3:31] Say the word.
[3:31] Say the word.
[3:39] that we've ever told you.
[3:41] She turned out for that one.
[3:42] Yeah, she didn't fly that far, was that?
[3:43] Yeah.
[3:44] They'll fly right out there.
[3:45] Because Pat did say they wanted to go there.
[3:49] They wanted to come.
[3:51] And you see, too, we don't have an excuse there that you have a name for the house.
[3:55] No.
[3:55] If it was there, we know we've got an extra house.
[3:57] The girls aren't going to be there.
[3:59] So Jack and Jack would just be right there, too.
[4:01] They'd flock right along.
[4:03] So that shit's knocked that one right out of the land, out of the band box.
[4:07] They haven't already told her people where I...
[4:17] Yes, they haven't already told her people about the change.
[4:24] Yeah.
[4:24] I'm telling you.
[4:25] I'm telling them about it, but you tell them to where...
[4:34] I want to just keep that, where they have to, where we need to go.
[4:36] Correct.
[4:36] Well, that's fine.
[4:36] Just say we, at this time, we can close down.
[4:38] The real problem I've got is the upcoming one in California.
[4:57] I just, I really am at a point where I can't stand here.
[5:00] And I frankly can't stand here.
[5:01] I don't mind if they're in a crash.
[5:04] I mean, I'd be fine.
[5:05] But I'd be goddamned if I could sit there, you know.
[5:07] And just to hear them, it just drives me up the wall.
[5:14] And under the circumstances, I just think that... Well, I think Pat must do the perfect total.
[5:18] I think you should just say, now, let's just understand.
[5:21] 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.
[5:26] But I need that.
[5:28] I need what you need.
[5:30] I need not to be bothered with someone I don't want to talk to.
[5:32] I need, you know...
[5:51] So I just think we just say that that's it.
[5:55] 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.
[6:02] Because they, as I would be the two, they'd be down there.
[6:04] They'd have Maureen down with her, two kids and everything, you know.
[6:10] Well, frankly, it's not bad for some of us, but the two of them are taking more than anyone else.
[6:16] Yeah, hold on a second.
[6:17] You asked Ben Shaw how he was.
[6:18] She said worse than him.
[6:20] bitched about everybody, everybody in the White House, down at the fan, everybody, you know what I mean?
[6:32] This fan.
[6:33] I told you all she did to me was walk up to me and bitch about something.
[6:35] I felt like this hitting her.
[6:36] 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.
[6:43] Mrs. McGovern, I saw, and I wanted her.
[6:48] So I took her.
[6:48] Anyone that, you know, I'm trying so hard to just help people out.
[6:51] Sure.
[6:54] Bitch.
[6:54] You know, if it were my own house, I think I'd do it.
[6:58] I just, I didn't understand her at all.
[7:01] Simply because I see what she does to others, you know, what she does to you and what she does to me.
[7:06] It isn't just that, but the loneliness of God damn, by the way, is selfish.
[7:20] Let me say this.
[7:22] Helene, there must be something wrong, because she has, everybody, all of the other people hate their guts.
[7:29] That's right.
[7:30] It isn't.
[7:31] Don't they?
[7:32] They are, but not.
[7:32] But Ray still says he's nuts, doesn't he?
[7:34] Oh, well, they were trying to, now they're going on a trip with him to Africa.
[7:38] He thinks it'll just be terrible.
[7:40] He's just dreaded it.
[7:41] But yesterday, when they were coming over to my house, they did not know the rest of them were coming over here.
[7:51] But the adults and the young adults all said, oh, let's see if we can get out of the hotel without the driver.
[8:02] So they sort of snuck around to get out, but they didn't want to.
[8:08] The whole White House staff and all of your friends.
[8:14] And that's the bad part about it.
[8:17] Because then that takes in past time.
[8:19] That's the bad part.
[8:21] 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.
[8:30] That's not true.
[8:31] That is not true.
[8:31] That's why I cannot say that that's not true.
[8:33] I think she gets that point.
[8:35] I think she does too, because Helaine wants to be a lawyer.
[8:40] Helaine puts it in there, and Ron, you better watch this.
[8:41] On the contrary, the articles are written that you are the hardest working president we ever had.
[8:46] This is not in the papers.
[8:48] I've seen papers.
[8:50] The whole point is that even if it is, the hell with it.
[8:54] Even if it says that, you have to.
[8:56] You know what we're doing here, and I work every place I go.
[8:58] But I just, I know that there's places here about every time.
[9:01] I know she did.
[9:02] Because of one of the places.
[9:04] I used to go off, they used to have golfing all the time.
[9:07] We used to go every night in the afternoon and play golf.
[9:09] Really?
[9:10] They never typed in that off.
[9:13] He was even working.
[9:15] He wasn't working.
[9:17] Sure.
[9:17] You know, I don't know, I guess I'm getting old, but I know people are so kind.
[9:20] You know how tight that dog got man, he always was.
[9:23] She never even wanted anybody to have a cup of coffee, free or anything.
[9:26] Yeah.
[9:27] 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.
[9:38] And I thought, man, she told me, don't we ever got a presidential ashtray?
[9:41] You didn't even get one from them if they had one when he was in.
[9:46] So she's going to use it as a gift for Susan Sanderson.
[9:49] We've gone too far with the gifts and all that crap.
[9:52] Well, and Mrs. Eisenhower, too.
[9:59] I mean, really, we've done everything for her, and she, how did she do that?
[10:08] I don't know, three times in a day.
[10:09] I don't know.
[10:09] I don't know.
[10:10] I don't know.
[10:10] I don't know.
[10:14] I don't know.
[10:18] I don't know.
[10:18] I don't know.
[10:18] I don't know.
[10:19] I don't know.
[10:19] I don't know.
[10:22] All right.
[10:27] All right.
[10:33] All right.