Nixon, Haldeman & Woods on People's Republic of China

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I want to take care of the old glasses and the new ones.

I do not need the distribution and the narrations because the new ones are old and strong.

And they're near, and they're very close.

You see, the old ones are fine.

And he said, well, you need to be strong.

But I would prefer to use the old ones at times.

I want to move along.

It's going to be a little more green.

So get strong.

But I would expect you to have a little more gold.

No, they just keep disappearing.

Hey, if you're going to ask for forgiveness, I'll be sure they haven't come to pick you up.

They haven't.

I'll check.

They've got a way.

I'll put a plug in here.

— 1 min 48 s with no transcribed speech —

Yeah, there's lots of people calling and sending their prayer verses and everyone is going to be praying.

Like even Angelo, I just can't tell him to pray for every day when he's gone.

And I want to send a beautiful one.

All kinds of nice ones.

It's a letter from Mel B. James, the only one who's probably standing there.

Because I don't plan to take any FYI from him because he's got too much to read anyway.

I probably won't.

Well, it's not really interesting.

There's no need.

Well, they're important.

I should see everything that I have.

Right?

Well, a lot of time is important then.

Well, you know, I'm just not going to have any time now.

When I get back, I mean, you know, I'm going to say that I'm sorry to carry it.

I didn't forget about you this summer, I guess.

No, no, no, Mr. Snowden.

From Bedford, I'm thanking you and throw you a birthday message to her.

You'll hand it to her.

Walter Amber, if you'll note me.

She's regarded as an accessibility to Ken Rush.

Should I give that to her?

Just back at the kitchen, sir.

I don't know if there are more.

I think I hear this from Flannigan, yeah.

We have one, sir, if you need one of those.

And we have a lot of stuff.

Either one of you can go to them.

And this one, too.

Flannigan is the best of them.

Go to Flannigan.

He'll be there.

And we had prepared a letter, which will go as soon as we get back to the regiment, for their 20th wedding anniversary.

They had an exit.

Yeah, Pat was going to be up there at home that day for lunch, lunch break.

And she turned down, you know, dinner, saying she was going to be there for lunch.

And then she was going to say, Amanda, you would not be in the state.

Yeah.

So we, Cap asked her, and I said, my question is, can we just kind of get Nick to go and go and do it?

Yeah.

that you ever saw.

All right.

That's all I do with everything else.

I think, uh... Let's make it all right from then on.

I think I will.

I don't have that close of a...

I mean, I just adopted the, uh, that sort of thing.

— 1 min 4 s with no transcribed speech —

Well, yeah, I thought I was working.

Oh, I know you're working, but I just thought maybe it was a little more relaxing.

But it's a better, it's a better place to sleep.

Yeah.

You see here, here, uh, it's the, I mean, it's a place that, like from the time Bob stopped at 30 in the morning, the planes start going over.

The planes go over, and there are people who come in, and they're going to the river to clean, and they do.

And so forth, and you can't,

You do want to say that the 9 o'clock or 9.30, you never do.

I just never can.

I never can sleep past 8 o'clock every year.

I've tried.

But this does seem much like a hotel.

But I think the change is going to go there.

Oh, I think everyone does.

In fact, an awful lot of your friends have done.

You sent them to me.

I saw that on the ground.

I felt bad about it, but I...

I didn't think that.

They sent that in.

I told them if anybody returned to call in, Pat returned, didn't...

I guess you did.

I didn't send a notice to you because I wasn't going to... Who were you going to call?

Well, I told Alex or, you know, somebody to suggest that Pat could return, but I think Butterfield's not going to.

She didn't go?

I noticed that on the phone check that Butterfield didn't go.

Well, she wouldn't go.

Apparently, she said that she didn't want to do it, so... Well, I was going to suggest something to you.

I want to take Julia's over to, you know, I was going to will her, you know, I don't want to overwork her, but I want to thank her that she'd be delighted to do it.

She could call and get away with it.

I know Julie would return the call.

He should have had a call.

I couldn't do it.

Ann could have, but she didn't.

So it wouldn't have happened.

I'm sure he just wanted to wish you well.

That was it.

On purpose of the call, sure.

And he felt bad that he couldn't get it through.

I don't believe there's a thing wrong, except that on those personal things, on those personal things, I think you can have a call from you, or if you really want to get a family member, get Julie to make a call.

I'll tell them, tell me who's calling me.

That way, that can help.

About all they have to work is 75%.

I have to do so much other work, you know, I have to work in my reading and so forth.

I have to do an enormous amount of other work.

But I get as much to read as everybody else does.

You know, I've been in a secret location.

I don't have anything else to do.

I know what you mean, too.

Well, they're a little important also, but period.

You see, I have all of them, and the domestic problems, the domestic problems.

The arms, the domestic problems.

Your new suit may have come in today.

I don't know if you wanted to look at them or not.

They're made of weight though, aren't they?

Well, I think you don't need new suits.

We've got some really handsome ones.

The only reason for taking them is being lightweight for long, long sessions.

The light weight is much easier on me than that.

I don't want to get heavy with the suit, which is the bottom of the hell.

I mean, I've got what I need, and I take what there's left of it.

I want to stay here.

Did you finish that rule?

They're just finishing, proofing it now.

Just when you get it, bring it to me.

I want you to go to the... Oh, no.

I was just going to ask you, would you like it fastened and cold, or maybe like a book?

With that, that would be...

Put you in a book.

I'll label it.

Just say, all right, first one.

All right.

There's no meaning to it.

Okay.

It is nice that all these people, they realize that they are a trip, and they also realize that not all are right.

Oh, it's even like all the people who don't know you, or security people in our building and other places like that, tell the president good luck, and, you know, it's just amazing.

I think it's amazing.

All right, boots.

You'll take care of those little items.

Just be sure to follow up on that with Texas if they get it done.

You know, Manolo doesn't know what he'll do.

Or if you get it for the Hudson, you can find him and he'll fix it.

Either one.

Absolutely.

What other things do you have in the home front to do?

Not really much.

The, uh, I've got, I've got to get back in.

I've got an initial on Malik.

He's in the closing room.

We're going to, we're bringing Malik into the campaign structure as a guy to, to refine things together that they need to do.

Yeah, we're just starting that.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

But, uh,

Mitchell's going to, we're going to keep him in the White House, but he's going to work basically under Mitchell's direction as the guy to brand-run everything from the political side with the domestic counsel, develop the White House staff, and so on.

So we get everything kept in Ann Coulson's group, keep everything tied together, and have some of that John, and we'll show us what they're down to.

No, he's on his way in.

He's coming to the meeting.

Show us what's going on right now.

How old are they able to come?

They have you at 4.30.

I don't know.

5 o'clock.

the voter block we've touched on, and the citizens' organization kinds of things.

Anything that, if you watch the mail, that's a lot of minor things.

He'll function as a management guy on anything we're doing in here.

It's political.

He's moving.

He has a little crew of people and he's going to worship them.

His people are so good that it just shouldn't be wasted looking for talent now.

I want everybody to understand that I don't really give a damn.

He's got one of my things that he's going to say in general.

Could I ask if you worked out that German ambassador thing?

What happened to him?

He just walked out.

Still looking for another man?

No, I didn't do anything.

I just go without a friend.

My idea is to go with Bill Burns and drop him the day after the election if we don't want him.

You know what I mean?

There's no problem with dropping him.

We're handling these things.

I'm interested.

pretty well agreed to that, that maybe it's a better thing to do than to try and train a new guy that we've been in trouble with.

The training of the guy is ominous.

We were lucky with Rush.

Most of these surveyors are going through that much time.

I don't want to beg somebody to take the job.

Well, and that's it.

For a guy to relocate now and go for a journey for many, many years.

Yeah.

Now, they'd be through three months, but no case.

They're all right now.

Sure, they're likely to.

So, uh, it...

That's good.

The only, the one thing, what I mean is to tell them, with regard to the lower places in the administration, you know, as people leave, as assistant secretaries and the rest of it, they inevitably will.

Just don't bother me with it.

Leave it open.

Maybe we'll abolish the job.

I really mean to sell them if we can.

And to leave as many open as you can.

You're only going to get people now.

You're not going to get the best people if you

Or use them as slots to slip in some political person we have that we need to push.

That's why this ties together.

That's why on that protocol thing, I think the best thing is to take a smoker or whatever his name is.

Okay, that was the one thing I wanted to ask you.

So whether you wanted... Racket does want the job.

Who does that?

Jim Racket.

He's offered a $100,000 contribution if he can get it.

He'll give $50,000 anyway.

Why the hell can't we give it to him?

I don't know why we can't.

I don't know why we shouldn't.

Well, I think Smokin' understands.

We can become locker strong there.

He's not a very impressive ball anyway.

If he wants the job, we can come back here.

We don't have as much to it, but we're just getting incredible pressure from him moving.

That was just an astonishing thing, but you'll get it if we don't appoint Rooley as working, because it's roads, Whitaker, all the old guard that we can't, all meaning the point that Rooley was available in the cold days when we couldn't get anybody else, get him something else, and that he wants the job just for this eight-month period so he can stay and receive the protocol.

Bob and Allison, let me tell you the problem, basically.

You and I are the people who know him.

We know he isn't fine.

But he is a strange fellow when you first meet him.

Right?

But she doesn't get along with him at all.

And I just raised that because I...

But I don't think we could put Dick Rowe in that thing at all.

Now the thing that I was thinking is, why don't we get him in Portugal or something?

He loves Portugal.

You know?

Sure, Kevin, why not in Portugal?

He's our ambassador.

Do we have an opening there, for example?

I think we do.

Yes.

Throw that bastard out that's there.

He's not a person.

He's a career guy.

He's been there a long time.

Now that's a good plumb.

And they've made Dick an ambassador to Portugal.

He loves Portugal.

He's got great friends there.

and let Reynolds take a photo call if he really does want to.

If Reynolds wants to let him, of course, we could suggest that Reynolds get a photo call or a question next year.

But we don't have time.

I will say this, that you're just foolish to take it now because we've only got one person coming.

Listen, let me tell you one thing I've got to tell you.

First, Jim, you're not going to rush it.

Do you understand?

I'm not kidding.

That's our photo call on the trip.

So if you don't go on trips, the president decided that.

Second, so then what is there in it for you?

You're going to have only one foreign visitor.

of two, the Turkish and the Mexican.

That's all.

There ain't no more of them.

So in the name of God, stand there and understand.

I'd rather come in and he gets an absolute commitment for it.

And then he gets it for the period and he doesn't come back here for this length of time.

Well, if under those circumstances he still wants to take it now, that's fine.

But that means it's worth his while.

On the other hand, he smokes me good.

It's not.

He's not bad, but he's no good.

Well, he didn't do any harm.

Now, I did, but I wouldn't name him Chief, because we've been acting.

He'd just be acting.

And then we'd be in a position to throw him out.

Okay, I see.

Now, I think of Nick Royale, but don't you really, even though the cast didn't do it.

Now, our old friends here, the production is incredibly bad.

Well, it would be impossible in that job, Bob.

He would.

He does drink too much.

And there are things that, you know, there isn't anything to do in it this year's season.

And others, they know it would be impossible.

I don't know.

We can't throw a knee.

Why not Portugal?

Why not?

It's a good job.

It's a good idea.

Portugal's a place he loves to go shoot in there.

It's a hell of a, the best ambassador's job in Europe.

Okay.

Could you also get the,

I would certainly say that, no, getting in on that personnel thing is just a waste.

And we aren't going to be a bit worried about people leaving and then your monitoring response, except for things like the Federal Reserve.

What we need now is what, really what is real assignment is to make the government responsive to the political needs for the next eight months, ten months.

He's going to work through the domestic council guys, the OMB guys that he got .

What are you doing with the ?

What do you do with Colson?

How does he do that?

No problem.

Not on that stuff because we're trying to get .

Colson's 1,000% for this.

Coastal Sparks have been playing together.

I just don't want any of this going on.

Oh, no, no question.

This started with Charlie Pratt.

Do you think we'd do better off looking at our little old friends who got moved land over with the campaign?

I have a few of these.

He may just sort of feel a little frustrated, you know, working in these groups.

I don't know.

Does he like it here?

I don't know.

Let me talk to him.

It provides a balance for Mitchell.

It's sure quite a challenge for you to be on 12 on Preston.

I think we made the right decision on John, so we can top him back on that.

And taking his resignation now, Alan, don't you agree?

Yeah.

It's, we need somebody over there in China.

That's right.

And we need to get a bar over there on the land side.

That's done, Alan.

And we get that stuff the hell out of the White House, Alan.

We need it out of the White House.

Exactly.

Don't you agree?

Yeah.

See, that's the other advantage of Malachi.

Whatever we do here, he is an inside man.

Coulson is a, to a degree, a marked man.

And there's no problem with Chuck at all.

He won't work with Coulson.

He will, but he doesn't trust him.

He doesn't like him.

He thinks Coulson's stupid, so he does like Malachi.

I think Colson's too slippery.

I think Colson is slippery as hell.

But he's slippery for us.

He's slipping in the right ways.

Why don't you go in all the way to the thing that Rose was saying?

a great number of people, even on the spectrum, are wiring and writing and calling on this damn trip.

I'm getting tired of Dr. Hoover on this road.

And then O.B.J.

Read Hoover's letter?

Yeah.

That's the most important thing I've ever seen.

And the greatest diplomatic...

That's the one where I held out against our liberals and also other honest conservatives I've heard of.

If I had pleaded your option,

It's funny, all that alarm that everybody was so concerned about.

And the Frenchman drove it right through it.

Where do you think it was going?

It's all gone.

He drove it through.

He fucked his operation together.

He'll survive anymore.

It's in good shape.

Where's that?

This thing out here is all set up.

And that's great remarks, if I don't mind.

And they don't have the camera.

We hadn't planned on it.

We're going to leave it that way.

It's not a camera platform right now.

Partly because we wanted it ground level to get a view of the caution and stuff behind the leaders and all that sort of thing.

Mansfield said to Scott that if it would be helpful to you, he would be willing to fly to the airport with you.

Good.

And we were saying no because, well, you have a hell of a problem if you take them and not Ford and other people.

There's a lot of people coming here to wish you, send you off.

And he didn't, he wasn't pushing.

Let me ask you, are we going to have a picture of the airport too?

No.

Well, they are always out there.

What are you going to do?

Throw them out?

No, you'll have, but it won't be these pictures.

The farewell stuff will be here.

Oh, let me mention, the lady in my house is making them careful out there.

That's the spirit of something you say, it's not the stamina.

You don't have some, you know, this isn't, well, TV would carry this.

Because this is what they're set up to carry.

And you say something here, or you don't say anything there.

Equal here.

I don't know why he suggested that, but he thought that, because he didn't know what, you know, what the terrible plan, but why did he say it's a plan?

What do we do here?

That's what they're...

I think it's very important to have him up there.

I'd rather have him safe very well than Frank B. Hector.

We're not going to have anybody sitting down here as we do.

Just you.

I don't...

I keep getting in trouble if you have someone else.

Oh, they got to the end and they say, why not somebody else?

That's right.

Yeah, I would point out that we're just going to, the second one will be here because of the problem.

He didn't realize that, so he'll be here for the ceremony here after your leadership meeting.

Nixon, Haldeman & Woods on People's Republic of China

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Transcript (AI-generated)

Also recorded on February 16, 1972

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Nixon, Haldeman & Woods on People's Republic of China

AI Summary

Audio

NARA Description

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Transcript (AI-generated)

Also recorded on February 16, 1972

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Cite this conversation