Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 679 › Conversation 679-006

Nixon, Applegate & Huenemann on Child nutrition and School lunch programs

Tuesday, March 7, 1972 · 10:49 AM–10:57 AM ET · Oval Office · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.; Applegate, Bennett; Huenemann, Ruth; Johnson, Jacqueline; Martin, Josephine; Murphy, John F.; Farnell, Dale; Schwartzkopf, Edward; Warson, Cola D.; Whitcomb, Roger; Lyng, Richard E.; Hekman, Edward J.; Rorey, Herbert D.; James, Russell H.; White House photographer; Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation679-006 on Tape 679 (tape position 00:56:44–01:04:16)StartTuesday, March 7, 1972 at 10:49 AMEndTuesday, March 7, 1972 at 10:57 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 679-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with members of the National Advisory Committee on Child Nutrition to receive a formal report on the committee's two-year progress in managing national school lunch programs. The discussion highlighted the administration’s commitment to improving child nutrition and the logistical successes of the program in serving millions of students. Nixon expressed appreciation for the committee's efforts, distributed commemorative gifts, and briefly discussed the importance of government support for rural populations.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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The members of the attraction may not be able to say how they did it.
There are some foot rules on the canvas.
Where's Mark?
Where's George?
Who was the director of the party?
Mr. Johnson from New York, what's your name?
Mr. Johnson, how can I help you?
How can I help you?
It's the worst possible way to get out of Nebraska, and I want you to have one.
Mr. Johnson, everyone says it's better to get out of here.
I, I, I thought so.
I used to be my mother in Nebraska.
Dr. Barnett out in Oregon.
Mr. Johnson, oh well, you know there's all kinds of things, Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson, I'm James.
I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and I work for the Department of Agriculture.
Uh, Dr. Barney, you've been crushing.
I've been really interested in explosive boots.
Thank you.
And, uh, one of the visitors, uh, just the expositors.
Yes, thank you.
And, uh, Kirk O'Rourke.
Kirk O'Rourke's been watching it.
I've been really interested in it.
This is the group that made the report.
Mr. Kennedy, this group wants to present to you.
Let's be sure we don't watch where we might get all these lit here.
Come on.
All right.
All right.
All right.
We've been in existence for two years.
They've got three weeks.
They've worked hard to develop it.
It's very fun to report to them.
I think it's a pleasure to match your own desire to eliminate the punditry that you've spent a few years working on.
You don't want any of them having to be dominated by pundits.
You want them to be under control.
In the three years that we've had service, we've had a great experience.
We've had about 25 million lunches on two lunch programs.
And every time we've had lunch, we've had about 70,000 two lunches.
And that's more time for us than we've had service in the past 50 years.
That's right, yes.
I was like, I'm not going to do it.
I'm going to drop it.
I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to do it.
Geogeogeogeogeogeogeogeo
I don't get much for being on these committees and these little presidential compliments to the men.
And for the ladies, it's the same thing with the bow.
That's all you got.
We hope a lot of youngsters settle in the battery.
That's the main point.
For all of us, we do appreciate your work.
I can say this, and I said to you very much, you've got a real charger in hand.
I got it at that stage.
I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said,
My brother-in-law criticized me for being too much bigger than too little.
He gets the charge and he plays it out.
You give them the signal and the president back goes to the office.
I had three months, I had a secretary, I had a secretary, I had a full back in the president like this secretary did.
And it's costing money too.
But when I came in here to give me attention, I did what I should do to the income of rural people.
And that's what I'm doing back here now.
That helps a lot of young people.
Thank you very much.
Well, I hope you guys have a great holiday.
We really appreciate it.
We appreciate you.
Thank you for your work.
Thank you for all the children.
That's good, that's all the way you know.

NARA Description

On March 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield, Bennett Applegate, Ruth Huenemann, Jacqueline Johnson, Josephine Martin, John F. Murphy, Dale Farnell, Edward Schwartzkopf, Cola D. Warson, Roger Whitcomb, Richard E. Lyng, Edward J. Hekman, Herbert D. Rorey, Russell H. James, White House photographer, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:49 am to 10:57 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 679-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 679-6

Date: March 7, 1972
Time: 10:49 am - 10:57 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield, Bennett Applegate, Ruth Huenemann,
Jacqueline Johnson, Josephine Martin, John F. Murphy, Dale Farnell, Edward Schwartzkopf,
Cola D. Watson, Roger Whitcomb, Richard E. Lyng, Edward J. Hekman, Herbert D. Rorex and
Russell H. James; the White House photographer and members of the press were present at the
beginning of the meeting.

     [General conversation]

     Introductions
           -Members of the National Advisory Committee on Child Nutrition

     Report on child nutrition
         -Committee’s work
         -Congress
         -Quality
         -Time
         -Nutrition

     Gifts to the committee

     The committee’s work
          -Earl L. Butz

     [General conversation]

Applegate, et al. left at 10:57 am.

     Meeting concluded

Butterfield left at 10:57 am.

Also recorded on March 7, 1972

  • 021-008 9:58 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:58 am and 10:57 am.
  • 679-002 9:58 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. Allen Smith, Clark MacGregor, and William E. Timmons met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:58 am to 10:02 am.
  • 679-003 10:02 AM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:02 am and 10:05 am.
  • 679-004 10:07 AM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:07 am to 10:48 am.
  • 679-005 10:48 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:48 am to 10:49 am.
  • 021-009 10:57 AM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Timothy G. Elbourne talked on the telephone from 10:57 am to 10:58 am.
  • 679-007 10:57 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:57 am.
  • 679-008 10:57 AM · 1 hr 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Timothy G. Elbourne, John D. Ehrlichman, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Patricia Haig, Barbara E. Haig, Alonzo Fox, John K. Andrews, Jr., John V. Brennan, Vernon C. Coffey, Jr., Sarah Coffey, Karen Coffey, Vernon C. Coffey, III, Craig Coffey, Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:57 am to 12:31 pm.

All 43 conversations from March 7, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 679-006, March 7, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/679-006 (accessed October 12, 2026).