Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 685 › Conversation 685-015

Nixon, Wright & Mahon on Giant pandas and White House photography

Tuesday, March 14, 1972 · 3:25 PM–3:31 PM ET · Oval Office · 47 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Wright, Debbie; Mahon, George H.; Schafer, Raymond L.; Edwards, Macon T.; Hazelwood, James T.; Nidecker, John E.; White House photographerConversation685-015 on Tape 685 (tape position 05:32:14–05:38:13)StartTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 3:25 PMEndTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 3:31 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 685-015 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a brief, informal meeting in the Oval Office with Debbie Wright, Congressman George H. Mahon, and several associates to host a photo session and discuss personal matters. The conversation touched upon Debbie Wright’s academic studies at Texas Tech University, her upcoming international travel, and recent diplomatic developments regarding the gift of pandas from the People’s Republic of China. The meeting served primarily as a social engagement and a photo opportunity for the guests.

Audio

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Position in tape: 05:32:14 – 05:38:13

part B, 1:23:10

685a.mp3
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685d.mp3

NARA Description

On March 14, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Debbie Wright, George H. Mahon, Raymond L. Schafer, Macon T. Edwards, James T. Hazelwood, John E. Nidecker, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:25 pm to 3:31 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 685-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 685-15

Date: March 14, 1972
Time: 3:25pm - 3:31 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Debbie Wright, Mr. and Mrs. George H. Mahon, Raymond L. Schafer,
Macon T. Edwards, James T. (“Terry”) Hazelwood and John E. Nidecker; the White House
photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

        Greetings

        Places visited by Wright

        Hazelwood

        Schafer

        [Photograph session]
             -Positions

        California

[General conversation]

        [Photograph session]
             -Positions

        School
             -Wright
                  -Studies
                        -Texas Tech University

        Presentation of gifts
             -Mahon
                    -Previous gift from the People’s Republic of China [PRC]

        Pandas
             -Washington National Zoo
             -Others outside of Peking
                  -Moscow
                  -London

        White House tour

        Wright’s forthcoming travel
             -Tokyo
             -Europe

Wright, et. al. left at 3:31 pm.

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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I thought that they might, in the future stories of the past, watch that and work a correction into that, which is a big deal.
I don't know.
I think what they're trying to do is divert attention a little bit and just not get very far off the other thing they may have.
Let me just think.
I'm just thinking that this may be a time.
This is a...
This conference...
This conference...
Rather than spanning all of this, this Congress is, unless it gets down to business, working on it, I have a question.
Where can the President's program go, with respect to how efficient is the Smear Day Conference?
Why don't you try that?
Would you like that?
Well, the problem with that, they're taking them on full purchase, and a lot of our supporters out there, they say that's, that's what you get for a while.
So many upset them all.
I think it was somebody else who said, you've got to put it higher, it's not a planet, you've got to put it very high.
I don't know how to do this thing together.
I don't know where you're breathing.
Do you think of anything else you could do?
Oh, thank you.
No, I think of, I say, on this, we have, we have, we have, we have, this white house is, the door to this white house is open.
The door to that is open.
Consumers, businesses, players, businesses,
consumer groups, business groups, labor groups, religious groups, education groups, format people that deal with law and policy.
We hear that our critics, as well as our colleagues at Civil Rights, and the men and women, men and women, you could say, the men and women, the president and staff, have an obligation to listen to all groups.
And the question is, does the presidential, that's what the president said, does he conduct himself as a president?
And he could say he's planning on some honest, dedicated, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
Those that are so loose with their spears, what does that mean, with their spears?
Those that are so loose with their spears, they're stuck on all of the other ones.
And I acknowledge you for that.
And we would do the same.
But I challenge you to think of any one instance.
Any one of you.
Yeah.
What do you think?
Yeah.
I'd just like to go a quick minute.
That's great, Pastor.
I'm going to ask you a question.
Who's the new student, the 21-year-old child in this?
Yeah, it's Jessica.
She might just come over right after the commencement.
The commencement?
Yes, the second year officer.
That's the commencement?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, that's actually a long time, isn't it?
Mrs. May, I was with the commencement, and this may have got you decorated.
Amen.
That's right.
That's very well said.
The, uh, she's, she's just coming along.
Why don't you open the gate?
Just wanted to talk to you.
Oh, gee, we have traveled with you.
What a great partner.
Yeah, wonderful.
You've been to all these places.
No, we haven't.
You haven't been twice?
No.
Oh, really?
Oh, really?
All right.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
All right, let's get a picture of how we want to set this up.
Well, let's see here.
First, we ought to have two, three of us for one.
Three of us.
All right.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Well, you want to be sure over here that you've got a good one up your head.

Also recorded on March 14, 1972

  • 021-067 3:15 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 4:18 pm.
  • 685-013 3:16 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:16 pm to 3:24 pm.
  • 685-014 3:24 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:24 pm to 3:25 pm.
  • 685-016 3:31 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:31 pm and 3:37 pm.
  • 685-017 3:31 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:31 pm and 3:37 pm.
  • 685-018 3:37 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Tricia Nixon Cox, Luci Johnson Nugent, Patrick L. Nugent, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:37 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 685-019 3:49 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:49 pm.
  • 685-020 3:49 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:49 pm to 3:52 pm.

All 54 conversations from March 14, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 685-015, March 14, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/685-015 (accessed November 2, 2026).