Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 528-016
Date: Thursday, June 24, 1971 at 11:23 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Mackey, John; Mackey, John (Mrs.); Garvey, Ed; Curry, Bill; Buonconti, Nick; Cashen, Henry C., II
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/528-016

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Come in.
[0:23] Come in.
[0:23] Yeah, how are you?
[0:23] It's a pleasure to see you.
[0:24] It's a pleasure to see you.
[0:24] All right.
[0:25] Oh, I've got no chance to be there.
[0:25] I've got to wait and cry.
[0:26] I've got to wait and cry.
[0:26] I've got to wait and cry.
[0:27] I've got to wait and cry.
[0:27] I've got to wait and cry.
[0:28] I've got to wait and cry.
[0:29] I've got to wait and cry.
[0:31] Yeah, we didn't get to die, but you guys did good.
[0:57] Yeah, that's right.
[0:57] I appreciate it.
[0:58] It's a great group.
[0:58] I'm a big fan.
[0:58] I've been doing this for a long time.
[0:59] I've been doing this for a long time.
[1:00] I've been doing this for a long time.
[1:01] Good competition.
[1:15] And we can tell which guy is the football player.
[1:19] Well...
[1:21] Yes, I did.
[1:42] I did.
[1:42] I came out there.
[1:42] That was an adult, you know.
[1:43] If you're awake, you can't come.
[1:44] You know, if I'm here, I'm fine.
[1:44] I can't do it for you.
[1:45] I've got to go.
[1:45] I've got to go.
[1:45] I've got to go.
[1:46] I've got to go.
[1:46] I've got to go.
[1:46] Yeah.
[1:54] Yeah.
[1:59] Thank you, Doctor.
[2:25] I can only respond to that today.
[2:26] The only way I can remember is to be honored.
[2:30] You know, I can hardly wait for the season to start.
[2:56] I don't think about Sunday afternoon.
[3:02] Well, I... Go ahead, sir.
[3:29] Well, I... You're a... You're a... You're a... You're a... You're a...
[3:31] I don't know.
[3:48] That's the thing that's very interesting.
[4:11] I found that you make your key, you know, the problem is it's the unsigned.
[4:13] The defensive line.
[4:14] The defensive line.
[4:14] Get it in play.
[4:15] How many tackles did he make?
[4:15] Did you ever hear about offensive line?
[4:16] Offensive line.
[4:16] Offensive line.
[4:19] They had knocked them down and so forth, they were flocking with that caster.
[4:37] They were making it impossible for the run to go, but you never hear all that, this offensive line being knocked.
[4:39] You can put in so many blocks just because of this.
[4:40] Like only, only the coaches know that.
[4:41] So they had to pull and they had to turn for us, and we got down in the mines, and then, just as we said, nobody could make it.
[4:43] I must say, the defensive backs now are getting just as much as the plays as the offensive backs.
[5:07] In other words, the hard backs and all that sort of thing.
[5:11] Well, that's the last question.
[5:13] Now listen, we want to give you something.
[5:35] When you say the presidential couplets, it's the seal.
[5:36] Like that.
[5:36] In a couplet.
[5:37] So if you do, I'm preaching you to have one of those.
[5:38] You can't get a couplet to use the seal.
[5:39] Thank you very much.
[5:39] And, oh, these are all athletes, so I'm going to give you one.
[5:42] This is the, uh, this is the president.
[5:57] It's really nice.
[5:58] It's made up.
[6:00] It has a seal.
[6:00] I know people like this about me.
[6:01] Just because a girlfriend is dead, you know.
[6:05] I don't know if you'll come down here, but there's nothing.
[6:16] You have the best equipment and all the hosts you've got to have left to swing.
[6:18] That's all we've got.
[6:18] Thank you, sir.
[6:21] Did you get one?
[6:36] No, you didn't.
[6:36] Sure, sure, let's play golf.
[6:37] Say, you know, one great rooter that you've got doing a wonderful job.
[6:57] I think he misses that action out there, but he's a good call.
[6:58] Yeah.
[6:58] Well, I wish you the best, and I wish you the best.
[7:23] You know, there's an interesting thing that went quite well through all these groups.
[7:25] I'm going to try to speak to
[7:30] It's a great spectator sport for all of us that are going to follow it.
[7:44] If you follow it again, I hope that this is for you, and for you, and should be for you, and for a lot of others, and so forth and so on.
[7:49] But it needs a lot of love from the kids, and the youngster, and the youngster, and a lot of them that are making big games and so forth.
[7:52] I see you both out there.
[7:53] I thought it was, and I'm so glad to see so many of you after you.
[8:04] We'll take things like on the soldiers, drugs, and all the other stuff.
[8:07] And Ken sees it, and he's, oh, he's admired, you know.
[8:08] Oh, he's a great athlete or something like that.
[8:09] And he says, look, bud,
[8:10] It's like the preacher said, it's like a politician, somebody he admires, he really means a lot.
[8:26] And I know a lot of you, a lot of you next to you, you appear in all that band, and certainly you must have seen it.
[8:30] Every group of young people, you get that across.
[8:31] And the other thing is, there's kind of this spirit, too many people these days, you know, they start to talk to colleges, and, you know, that's making everything more winning, you know.
[8:37] Well, it makes a very great deal of sense.
[8:48] It doesn't mean that you've got to win all the time.
[8:50] You don't win at all.
[8:52] But it's what really makes this nation.
[8:55] It's the drive.
[8:55] People have got to keep trying regardless.
[8:57] You start from the very bottom.
[8:58] You've got to keep going.
[8:58] You know, the competitive spirit is what made America.
[8:59] And that's what you guys represent out there in that piece.
[9:01] They see out there.
[9:01] I mean, I was actually just...
[9:03] You know, one of the pro golf ball players, I said, you know, when pro baseball first became popular 30 years ago, they wondered, well, will they have the spirit?
[9:16] You know, because like the college kids, well, now, as a matter of fact, nobody's going to go out there and take what you call a stick just for the dog.
[9:20] I mean, there's only dogs, but I mean, you've got the chances.
[9:21] Oh, I tell you, I've seen, I've been in dressing rooms after proteins lost.
[9:26] They feel just as bad as how they feel.
[9:30] And that's what you need in this country.
[9:33] I mean, we just need that kind of spirit.
[9:35] That's why our sports, not only because of the physical effect, because of the stimulating, it's good entertainment.
[9:38] Also, because it's good for a country to see people try to beat worse somebody.
[9:46] Win or lose, the main thing is to beat worse somebody.
[9:48] It's these people that stay on the sidelines and aren't for anything.
[9:50] They're the ones, you know, that aren't going to come out and get it.
[9:53] Well, you know, we have a lot of people.
[9:54] I want to ask you before you let us know what's going to happen.
[9:58] We all believe there's a sign of those wars that should have been done.
[10:01] That's right.
[10:16] That's right.
[10:17] Listen, we want to prove it to all candidates.
[10:37] Well, I'm very grateful, and I wish you the best.
[10:38] And I'll be watching you on television.
[10:39] I've had to catch one game in Miami sometime.
[10:40] No, in Baltimore, Mr. President.
[10:41] Are they going to play in Miami this year?
[10:42] I don't know if you're going to get a season.
[10:43] Are you going to get a season?
[10:43] Well, I've got a lot of time.
[10:44] I'm going to go to Peter's Vineyard.
[10:45] Oh, Pete?
[10:45] Oh, yeah, yeah.
[10:45] It's not in his locker room.
[10:46] It's in the locker room.
[10:46] Yeah, yeah.
[10:46] He's a great baller.
[10:53] He's a large skier.
[10:54] Yes, a great large skier.
[10:55] He's pretty wide.
[10:57] Tom Harden, I remember him as a large skier.
[11:00] He's a locker.
[11:02] He is a locker.
[11:03] That's great down here.
[11:03] I like it.
[11:03] I'll be your neighbor, Mr. President.
[11:04] We'll go over to you and skate in three months.
[11:05] All right.
[11:07] Go over there.