Nixon, MacGregor & Smith on State of the Union and Legislative Strategy

4:19:11Oh, that sort of thing.
4:19:12I'm not interested in shooting the room, the shots, the feet, the two shots, the rest.
4:19:16I mean, there's only one thing.
4:19:18How does it look in my pocket?
4:19:20And we must not, we must not rationalize here.
4:19:24We've got to be absolutely ruthless.
4:19:27It may be in trouble, and it's so heavy, and it's unemployed and good, just simply aren't up to it.
4:19:33We need the best possible, the absolute perfect best in this respect.
4:19:39Yeah, there was one shot that wasn't good.
4:19:44There's no question.
4:19:46There were some other shots that were superb.
4:19:49And the second was extremely well done.
4:19:54It makes a difference.
4:20:02I saw that
4:20:21Well, there's another tractor, which would be interesting to see, because I'll get there without cooling and get there at race 11 and then see what I get and then travel on.
4:20:42They can only do so much that NBC may have done.
4:20:45The network would be ABC people by now if we had that problem.
4:20:50We can't order them to take the shot we want.
4:20:52We can only persuade them.
4:20:54But the first question is whether they were satisfied with it or whether you were trying to persuade them.
4:21:02I'm not sure they know nothing about it, Bob.
4:21:04I'm really not.
4:21:06I'm not sure.
4:21:06I don't know as much about it as anybody in the business.
4:21:10Okay, well, nobody knows more about it.
4:21:13And he's better than most at getting people to do what we want them to do.
4:21:18Well, maybe he's best.
4:21:19But let's see what he's not damn sure that we are getting.
4:21:22Now, I think you may be right, though.
4:21:26Maybe CBS or something didn't want to go there.
4:21:31See, for most people, it's...
4:21:35what they want them to take.
4:21:36Most of them want them to shoot down, but we have fun and we know that you shouldn't shoot down.
4:21:46And there's just no question about that.
4:21:47And you always get a benefit if you shoot it out of the check around, just to get an honest opinion.
4:21:53People always tell you what you want to hear.
4:21:55Why they help you check with the few people around here is because they're young people, young people who can.
4:22:03Sapphire, Garmin.
4:22:04I mean, people ask where you can get some television from them because they know a hell of a lot more about television than the people that sit in there, you know.
4:22:10They watch it all the time.
4:22:12Watch this.
4:22:15I mean, at least our own people, let's see what they know about it.
4:22:18More, more is different.
4:22:23I mean, if you didn't feel it, it was a two minute shot, so it would seem better.
4:22:30I didn't think it was bad.
4:22:32I mean, that's the way they felt.
4:22:34It wasn't bad.
4:22:36But it ought to be the best, it ought to be the best.
4:22:38Listen, for Christ's sake, one is to be on the whole road.
4:22:42But in God's name, there isn't any excuse for not having a good child.
4:22:46That's right.
4:24:05over the weekend.
4:24:07We're gearing up and I think we're going to be well prepared when they come back on the 18th.
4:24:23I plan to see you the 20th.
4:24:30I think that's wise.
4:24:37That's good.
4:24:38If I'm late, I wouldn't be here.
4:24:59I hope that consistent with what I expect you to be doing all year, if you would be very much the President of the United States and giving a vision, constantly demonstrating a difference in your stature vis-a-vis that of most of your opponents.
4:25:15Well, I request that it's time to see you, and it's a very unusual mission, Mr. President, because it's out of my field.
4:25:24But it comes...
4:25:27My reason, the fact that I have been, Barbara and I have been friendly over the years with Anna Chenault.
4:25:36Anna called me a week ago today and said she had a matter of great importance and she wondered, could she come in and talk privately with me?
4:25:42And I said, of course.
4:25:46So she came in and she said...
4:25:50that earlier in December she had talked personally with President Tu, with President Park of South Korea, and with President Marcus.
4:26:02And she said the heads of government of five anti-communist countries from Thailand, South Vietnam, Philippines, Republic of China, and South Korea
4:26:16had been talking among themselves about the five of them getting together.
4:26:23And they did not want to pursue this inquiry to you through regular State Department channels, but they wanted to know.
4:26:35And again, I have to, I don't know about Anna's credentials or how close she really is or whether she's trying to puff herself up.
4:26:43They wanted to know if it was the embarrassment to you if the five leaders did get together either in Bangkok or in Manila before February 21st when you opened your talks in Peking.
4:27:04You felt it was not helpful they would postpone that meeting of the five heads of government until after you had visited with the leaders of the People's Republic of China.
4:27:19What I think that she was really angling for was to know whether there was any possibility that at some time after February you might meet with these five
4:27:33heads of government.
4:27:35And I said, what about Australia and New Zealand?
4:27:38And she said, no, these are the non-whites, the Asians, and they have a feeling, she said, that as things are developing, and they're developing very fast, it will be necessary for the five of them to develop a closer working relationship, or there he said.
4:28:10Mayor, I just want to congratulate you on the day of your inauguration.
4:28:16And as the youngest mayor in the country, winning a very exciting campaign, I'm sure that you're going to do a fine job.
4:28:25I mean, your town is one of the largest, but it has all the problems I'm sure that other towns have.
4:28:32And at least this is the beginning.
4:28:34I just wish you the very best.
4:28:41I understand you work hard as a bus driver, right?
4:28:48Did you play basketball and baseball too?
4:28:51Yeah, you know, even if it's so hot, I didn't have air conditioning.
4:28:56And, uh, you worked in your father's garage.
4:29:01Well, I worked in the service section.
4:29:03My wife was in the service section, so we had something in common.
4:29:06And, uh, it wouldn't be a better arm to teach you what people were thinking.
4:29:11Right?
4:29:12Well, I guess we should at the very end, uh, we would have to take their oath even as we've been called by and send my congratulations, will you?
4:29:27I see.
4:29:27I see.
4:29:28Well, I'm sure you are.
4:29:30You don't have to get done with it.
4:29:33It was a nice place at that time.
4:29:39I see.
4:29:40Right.
4:29:41Well, good night.
4:29:43That was a thoughtful thing to do.
4:29:47That'll set that mayor up for a long time.
4:29:51That's true.
4:29:51Thank you, sir.
4:29:56The great people like
4:30:29So you'd like them to be these four on the first?
4:30:33Yes, sir.
4:30:41This is an unusual mission for me.
4:30:44I probably should have discussed this with Henry first.
4:30:47He was ill. She came to visit me on Tuesday.
4:30:49Well, I thought I'd best just come to you with her.
4:30:55I just wanted to get
4:31:13She's a very good gal, I tell you.
4:31:21And, uh, you know, amazing woman.
4:31:25She really is.
4:31:26Oh, she had, you know, got the Chinese erasers.
4:31:30She never said it, I'm sure.
4:31:34Did you guys support him?
4:31:40My guess is she's very close to 50.
4:31:42I can't remember exactly when she married Claire Chenault.
4:31:47I was over there at the time, Mr. President, serving in Burma when she married Claire Chenault.
4:31:58I'm 49.
4:31:59I don't think she's any younger than me.
4:32:01She could be a year or so younger, but I wouldn't think closer.
4:32:04She's much closer to 50 than she is to 40.
4:32:13Speaking about our shop, I'd like to take a moment to share.
4:32:17Don Timmons and Dick Cook and Tom Corlew and some of the others share my optimism.
4:32:29They may not be quite as bullish as I am about revenue sharing, health legislation.
4:32:39and some compromise on welfare reform that probably won't be acceptable to you, both governmentally and politically.
4:32:50Oh, the Senate's going to cut up Title IV, which isn't family assistance.
4:32:55They don't like to hash it.
4:32:59But in conference, we're optimistic that something that would be acceptable to you can be worked out that won't cost you
4:33:09any more than you've already been.
4:33:11If they could just take the time for it and make it start on the program, that's all we want.
4:33:16That's the answer.
4:33:17If they all want to get reasonable and do it, then I'm off the hook.
4:33:22I think that's best.
4:33:23I'm not sure that that's any more my song for you.
4:33:27No.
4:33:27I'm not sure it's going to work.
4:33:29I wish it were.
4:33:30I wish it were.
4:33:31But I can't be so damn sure.
4:33:34I'm going to oppose that on 200 million people.
4:33:36It's just a terrible risk.
4:33:37Yeah, it is a risk.
4:33:38So let us try to experiment with it.
4:33:41That's good.
4:33:41My point was that the climate is such right now so that I think notwithstanding the fact that it's a presidential election year and notwithstanding the fact that the Senate has just shot through with candidates, you have in Bob Byrd, Harry Byrd, you and I can tick off the list of Democratic senators,
4:34:05You have in, who are in a leadership position, and you have in the Speaker and in Hale Boggs and George Mahon and a few others, you've got the fabric along with tighter and tighter Republican cohesion and unity of effort behind your initiatives.
4:34:26You've got the makings of another three or four or five productive months.
4:34:33in the Congress, where they will be giving you what the press calls victories for the president.
4:34:40And indeed they are.
4:34:42They're legislative victories that benefit the whole country.
4:34:45But as you know, we've been having this trade legislation meeting, and I wouldn't look to see any
4:34:56We look to see a record, Mr. President, five months from now, which is considerably better than the record you have now, which everybody says is a whale of a good record.
4:35:19Over the Christmas New Year period, Barbara and I went to a number of gatherings where most people don't think as you and I do.
4:35:27And they're very complimentary to your performance.
4:35:32This very liberal Mel Elton, who is with Newsweek and who substitutes for Vronsky, invited Barbara and me for a New Year's Eve thing at their house.
4:35:42He said, you may not see too many people who think of you, Clark, but they're interesting people.
4:35:48And so I said to Barbara, well, let's go.
4:35:51so we did and aside from the garments and the sapphires everybody there was you know galbraith and k graham and you know but it was very interesting to hear uh complimentary comments about your capacity to to uh to leave well they uh
4:36:21They have a great big issues out of those things.
4:37:38What is charisma?
4:37:42What is charisma?
4:37:46Jack Kennedy made that charisma look at the lousy performance.
4:37:51Yeah, but you know what it is?
4:37:53It's on the media.
4:37:58Besides, I can talk about those teenage girls jumping up and down and squealing when you came out of the Capitol after that, after that Armed Services Committee.
4:38:07They do.
4:38:08They do.
4:38:09They're pretty selective.
4:38:10So they call that grief?
4:38:12I've got one picture of that little girl.
4:38:15She was screaming down her face.
4:38:17Well, I don't want to make a lot of noise.
4:38:22You've got a good job in your spirit.
4:38:24You're up all the time.
4:38:25And you've got to be.
4:39:17That's the main thing that I'm trying to get across to them.
4:39:19The regular intent that in the foreign policy, it's the long view that comes.
4:39:24Like, if it had survived any young people, I heard that they should have been appealed to for that point.
4:39:29I'm thinking about where the hell are we going to be 25 years from now?
4:39:35I mean, that's when you find out that because of China, China caused Korea.
4:39:40It had contributed to Vietnam.
4:39:42Our 20-year-old daughter sat with us last night, sat with Barbara and me, watching it, and she was absorbed by the whole thing.
4:39:56She didn't say a thing until the George Wallace question came, and she had it.
4:40:00paper or something in her hand, and she threw it down, and she said, that's no question to ask the president.
4:40:05In other words, she was irritated at not only the content of the question, but rather his manner in asking about, did you think George Wallace was a minister of the country or something like that.
4:40:16Our 20-year-old was incensed that that question would even be asked you.
4:40:19She said, that's no question.
4:40:20I thought it was better to twist it.
4:40:23Oh, sure.
4:40:24It's a question for the other party.
4:40:26It's a question for the other party.
4:40:28It's not our problem.
4:40:33Thank you for the time that you've given me.
4:40:38I've been embarrassed by the
4:40:41rumors that have been in a number of publications.
4:40:44And so I, and I can make light of it until finally they seem to be so persistent that about a month ago I called Dick Klein.
4:40:51He said, Dick and I work together all the time.
4:40:53We work very well together.
4:40:55And I said, this is Emily Dick.
4:40:56I'm embarrassed by these stories.
4:40:58I don't know where they're coming from.
4:40:59They're certainly not coming from me and not coming from anybody I can control at all.
4:41:04And he said, well, Clark, I can answer that for you.
4:41:06They're coming in part from me.
4:41:07And I said, well, why would they be coming from you?
4:41:09He said, well, the press is after me to find out, you know, when and if John Mitchell is going to step down, am I going to be the attorney general?
4:41:16And when I say, when I answer them, I'll do whatever the president wants me to do.
4:41:20I'd be happy to do it.
4:41:21Then they say, if you're not going to be the Attorney General, who else?
4:41:24So he said, I always liked your name.
4:41:25I said, well, please stop.
4:41:26I said, please stop.
4:41:27Then a story appeared shortly before Christmas that I was actively seeking it.
4:41:32And I asked John Mitchell if he'd step into my office.
4:41:35He did.
4:41:35And I said, that's a lie.
4:41:36I wrote a letter to the press and had them retract that.
4:41:40But I didn't feel I had to bother you about it.
4:41:44I just wanted you to know that I said I wanted all of it.
4:41:46I like the job I've got.
4:41:47I think it's an important job.
4:41:48I think the President wants me to stay in it, and that's fine with me.
4:41:53Let me say at this point, there is nothing more I'm hoping that you could do.
4:41:59Nothing.
4:42:01Should we survive the Great Battle of 72, then I think you should do something else.
4:42:11You should prepare somebody to do this.
4:42:18that you should do something else.
4:42:21And it should be, of course, cat and dairy.
4:42:27Because it's my view that if you give your cat, I think they should always drink coffee.
4:42:42And, uh, I'm being a cabinet officer.
4:42:45You can't pay any ads.
4:42:46I mean, uh, except that you're gonna be writing your own show, and something that an individual should welcome to join at some point.
4:42:51And, uh, that, uh, and, uh, as far as, uh,
4:43:06I would hope you keep in mind this as long as you can.

Nixon, MacGregor & Smith on State of the Union and Legislative Strategy

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Also recorded on January 3, 1972

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