Nixon, Eisenhower & Bull on Environmental Protection Agency

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He's very confused.

He's upset.

Bring her in.

Hi.

Hi, Julie, how are you?

What are you working on?

Well, we got a couple of, uh, a couple of, uh, men.

It's just Willard, I can't remember him, Kyle Craig.

No.

So, it's just, it's here, right, right in the story.

You just called him, or, oh.

No, no, no.

He was part of the campaign.

and covered me way back during the days of history.

So he's one of my oldest friends in this area.

Great.

Well, tell me, are you going down to the Archer on this?

I'm going down on Friday to see the new research center.

Where is it?

In what town?

It's near Duke, in fact.

In Durham?

Is it in Durham?

It just says near Duke, and I haven't heard.

Right.

Triangle Park or something like that.

It's the third center they set up to the Environmental Protection Agency.

And this one is exclusively concerned with air pollution, you know, like pesticides in the air and how we can control cars.

And then we're hoping that after the ceremony,

we can meet with some of the students from Duke and around the area who are involved in the environment.

How much interest is there in this environment thing among the students?

You know, you've been out to several schools already in the last two or three months.

Is there a particular amount of interest?

I think it's the biggest, I think it's the number one interest besides...

Among students?

Yes, I think so.

Besides the thesis?

Well, I think even more than the wars, I think it really is number one.

Do you think that there are very many students involved here in the city who would help out in the like?

Yeah, but there are more and more courses in an office.

And through courses, kids find out about what they could be involved in and get involved even in local things, which is good.

Have you ever been to Duke this morning?

No, I haven't.

Well, when you go there, be sure to go to the chapel.

The law school, the building where I had the law school, they had moved the Duke of it.

I'm very proud of them.

I married his aunt since he was a little boy.

They had that bigger one.

But the most beautiful building is the chapel.

It's one of the most famous.

Were services required when you were here?

No, they weren't required.

In those days, in 34 or 37, we didn't have anything to do on Sundays.

And it was probably the best thing you could do.

That was before we used to have professional football games and that sort of thing.

But when you go inside the chapel, you can see why.

It's this magnificent garden with us.

And also the president of Duke, his governor, the former governor of Duke,

North Carolina, and one care center who has been very active in supporting us on revenue sharing.

Good.

And you can tell him that we made a breakthrough in cooperation and sharing.

We know that now, beginning in the next session, we'll have hearings on revenue sharing and that we're going to be a true government revenue sharing and government veteranization.

and gave me a reason to know about that.

Great.

I saw Mark Hart yesterday.

Did you?

Yes.

Where did you see him?

We went out to Walter Reed to see me.

She's just resting.

He's there for checkup.

And it was so funny because he had spent the whole afternoon watching football games.

Yeah.

And so the doctor said that he couldn't watch them anymore because his blood, you know, he got so excited that they said that he couldn't, you know, spend any more time doing it.

Isn't he a nice guy?

He is, yeah.

So today, so Sunday, he wasn't going to be able to watch the games.

You could only listen to him on radio.

Well, I'm glad you're going to do good.

You're not.

You're good.

Well, I think you have to get to the scene.

You asked about the law and the record, but I've read about it.

Has John Keene come in yet today?

No, I know he hasn't.

I haven't heard from him.

I don't hear him barking at all.

He must be busy doing something.

He's probably tired.

Mommy isn't getting back till 2.30.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I guess I'll go over and count over lunch.

This is going up to the Salvation Army.

It's Wednesday, I think.

She's going to the Salvation Army.

Is that in New York?

Yes.

They're giving you, along with the humanitarian award of the decade,

You got it, Christian.

Yeah, we're going to go over to, I don't know which one.

Raleigh.

Yeah, Raleigh.

Raleigh, right.

Well, how long is driving from there?

Right.

You got all you need?

Oh, yeah, sure.

Sure, go ahead.

How long is Raleigh away?

Raleigh, well, they're all very close to you.

It's the Raleigh-Durham Airport.

It's in the neighborhood of 25th.

It used to seem very far away to us when we were there.

But in this now, no, because we didn't.

Well, but didn't, if they didn't have cars, did you ever use horses?

No, but they had cars.

The cars didn't even have much gas or anything.

But I didn't call them to.

The University of North Carolina is only 12 miles from there.

They're deadly rivals.

Raleigh's about 30 miles.

Eddie went there, you know.

He got his master's from North Carolina State.

In geology?

What did he get it in?

I didn't know he got it.

Geology, yeah.

I didn't know he got it on the run.

And yours is going to be in?

Education.

Where?

Summers.

Oh, did you check something?

Did you check the, uh... Well, that's when we started activating the White House.

Yes, this week.

Thursday.

Wednesday, Thursday.

Why?

Do you want to have some people always do the same thing?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I guess there is...

But I just want to mention one thing to you that, uh...

I want you to be sure to tell the chef that I think that was the best beef, you know, that roast beef they had, they had ever fixed.

That was done differently from the way he's done it before.

He always had good...

I saw him doing it.

Yeah, he broiled it.

Yeah, he brought it, but he also had some kind of a marinating or something.

Yeah.

It was done exceptionally well.

Tasted like steak that was cooked into roast beef.

Yeah.

Just, just check it on him and tell him that that's the way I like it.

Good.

And so he can try it again for a small dinner, like he might even try, well, it's too late to try for the Canadians tonight, but when they do do something good, we want to repeat it.

Good.

So I go right into the door?

Come on.

Hello?

Oh, she's on her way down.

Here.

Oh, thank you very much.

Yeah.

Now, uh, I was going to say that, uh, down in, uh... What is she, what kind of TV?

You and David will not do the casting.

No, because it's, uh, it's in the middle of the day and he's, you know, working.

I mean, he'll be at the, uh, blood cancer warfare school.

But he's driven through there.

On your program, is it required that you answer any question or what kind of questions you would have in your television program?

It will be non-political, I hope.

I think just any question.

Usually they want to know about...

Well, the other day I didn't send one off too well, David told me, but I usually try to.

I was asked who I thought the strongest Democratic candidate would be and did it hard.

Oh.

It was funny.

Well, after all, you have to be candid.

Yeah, right.

That's right.

because it's just a scoop.

Right.

That was the last way I looked at it, but anyway.

Sure.

Never worry about it.

Absolutely don't.

What would really change you in your case is the freshness, the spontaneity.

The moment you begin to act, the moment you begin to put on a show, it's one of the reasons, you know, I refuse ever to see myself on television.

I've turned it off.

Yeah, always turn it off.

Because it makes you too self-conscious.

The moment you watch the television, you hear people, you know, they crack.

I didn't mind seeing Patricia's Wedding on television, because that was so different.

That's a very different thing, but you weren't the actor.

Yeah, right.

There, we were watching others.

I don't mind that either.

But the difficulty of watching yourself on television...

is that then people begin to pose.

You'll even notice some television commentators actually pose.

Probably because they do watch themselves.

Well, many politicians do.

In fact, we pose probably more than we... we all tend to pose to an extent without realizing the real self-consciousness.

I think the theory, though, is if you watch yourself enough, you'll realize, you know, what you're trying to do.

You can find out about that in other ways.

You can read articles about it.

I didn't like that gesture.

Why did you drop your voice?

That side is worse than this side.

Yeah, I agree.

But then you can go to the other side.

And in your case, if you get in the Q&A or one of these television shows, you're too cautious, then you won't be interested.

I've often said to members of the cabinet, I've often said to young congressmen and senators that are on the way out there, they say, well, gee, I just don't want to make any mistakes.

I want to be non-controversial.

Well, that's fine.

No mistakes.

Be non-controversial.

You can be dull.

But that doesn't mean that you seek controversy, that you seek to fool yourself.

When you get a tough question, you've got to handle it.

You can't just say the same assignments, you know, it was like going down to that AFL-CIO convention.

Most of my staff said, don't go.

I mean, it's very difficult.

You have to come in reception.

Well, you have to face the hard ones along with the easy ones.

And usually the hard ones are the best performances for that matter.

I think so.

You only do as well as you need to do.

So don't let them wash out the spontaneity.

Sure, listen to criticism.

Especially if it's from a pro like David, right?

Yeah, David is a pro.

So look, I'll let you get back to what you're doing.

I'll see you when you get back to me in time.

Yeah, I'll be back on the set.

Right.

All right.

Okay, bye.

See you later.

Nixon, Eisenhower & Bull on Environmental Protection Agency

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on December 6, 1971

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