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

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 onTape 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

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 167.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 161.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 4) · 40.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 05:32:14 into the tape and ends around 05:38:13.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) ·JSON data · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.

5:32:14I thought that they might, in their future stories, watch that and work the correction into that, which is a big deal.
5:32:18I don't know.
5:32:19I think what they're trying to do is divert attention a little bit and not get very far off the other thing they may have.
5:32:30Let me just think.
5:32:31I'm just thinking that this may be a time.
5:32:41This is a...
5:32:42This conference...
5:32:44This conference...
5:32:48Rather than spanning all of it, this Congress is, unless it gets down to business, working on it, I mean, where can the President's program go?
5:33:05We started out in Michigan as the Smear Day Congress.
5:33:11Why don't you try that?
5:33:13Would I then?
5:33:13Well, the problem with that would be taking them to court for instance, and a lot of our supporters up there would say, let's, let's leave you here for a while.
5:33:21So many upset them all.
5:33:23I think it would be funny if somebody else would say, you've got to put a higher reason on the planet, or you're going to go very hard, you know, under this thing together.
5:33:29I don't believe you're breathing.
5:33:40You think of anything else you can do?
5:33:44Oh, thank you.
5:33:46No, I think of, I say, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have, we have,
5:34:00consumer groups, business groups, labor groups, religious groups, education groups, people of color, we hear our critics as well as our colleagues in civil rights, and the men and women, you could say, the men and women in the president's staff, have an obligation to listen to all groups.
5:34:27And the question is, the presidential, that's what the president said, does he conduct himself as a president?
5:34:34And you 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,
5:34:55Those that are so loose with their smears, what does that mean, with their smears?
5:35:00Those that are so loose with their smears, they're going to come off the nail, and I acknowledge you, and we would do the same.
5:35:11And they've been in one instance.
5:35:16They've been in one instance.
5:35:25I'd just like to go for a quick minute.
5:35:27I'd like to ask you to introduce a new student, a four-and-a-half-year-old child.
5:35:31Yeah, it's Jessica.
5:35:33She might just come over right after the commencement.
5:35:36The commencement?
5:35:37Yes, the second year of the school.
5:35:39That's Johnston's daughter?
5:35:41Yes, sir.
5:35:41Yeah, I got you on the cards.
5:35:49Mrs. May, I was with the commencement, and this may have got you decorated.
5:36:18Thank you.
5:36:18Thank you.
5:36:18Thank you.
5:36:19Thank you.
5:36:19Thank you.
5:36:44That's right.
5:36:47That's very well said.
5:36:49The, uh, the, uh, she's, she's just coming along.
5:36:52You're okay, dude.
5:36:54Just wanted to talk to you.
5:36:54She'd be impressed with you.
5:36:55What a great partner.
5:36:56Yeah, wonderful.
5:36:57You've been to all these places?
5:36:59No, we haven't.
5:37:00You haven't been once?
5:37:02No.
5:37:02Oh, really?
5:37:03No.
5:37:07How about Steve?
5:37:09Have you heard of him?
5:37:11Oh, yeah.
5:37:12Mr. Hayford was.
5:37:14And Ray Hayford, who worked with him before we began.
5:37:17I can't even remember his name.
5:37:20I can't even remember his name.
5:37:23I can't even remember his name.
5:37:24I can't even remember his name.
5:37:30Come on, let's get a picture.
5:37:31How do we want to set this up?
5:37:34Well, let's see here.
5:37:36First, you ought to have two, three of us.
5:37:41Three of us.
5:37:43Yeah.
5:37:44All right.
5:37:48Oh, yeah.
5:37:50Yeah.
5:37:51Yeah.
5:38:08Well, you want to be sure over and down.
5:38:08Have you got a good one?

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.

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 · 55 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 41 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 September 18, 2026).