Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 685 › Conversation 685-018

Nixon, Cox & Nugent on Social visit and White House photography

Tuesday, March 14, 1972 · 3:37 PM–3:49 PM ET · Oval Office · 14 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Cox, Tricia Nixon; Nugent, Luci Johnson; Nugent, Patrick L.; White House photographerConversation685-018 on Tape 685 (tape position 05:41:38–05:55:27)StartTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 3:37 PMEndTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 3:49 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 685-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his daughter Tricia Nixon Cox, Luci Johnson Nugent, Patrick L. Nugent, and Stephen B. Bull in the Oval Office for a social visit and an official photo session. The conversation centered on casual family pleasantries, the history and legacy of the presidency, and the exchange of gifts, including a telescope. The participants also coordinated posing for the White House photographers to capture images of the group during their time in the office.

Audio

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This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

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Position in tape: 05:41:38 – 05:55:27

part C, 1:37:10

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NARA Description

On March 14, 1972, 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. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 685-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 685-18

Date: March 14, 1972
Time: 3:37 pm - 3:49 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull, Tricia Nixon Cox, Luci (Johnson) Nugent and Patrick
L. Nugent; the White House photographers were present at the beginning of the meeting.

        Greetings

Bull left at an unknown time before 3:49 pm.

       Patrick L. Nugent
             -Age
             -Lyndon B. Johnson
             -Captain Kangaroo

       Oval Office rug
       [Photograph session]
            -Positions

       The People's Republic of China [PRC]
            -Tree
            -Pandas

       Johnson
            -President of the Senate

       Patrick Nugent
             -George Washington
             -Abraham Lincoln
             -Tricia Nixon Cox
             -Franklin D. Roosevelt
             -Thomas Jefferson
             -Childrens garden
                   -Footprints

       Thank yous

       Photographers
            -Chair
                  -Patrick Nugent
            -Press briefing
                  -Ronald L. Ziegler
Show the rest of the log (28 more lines)
            -Johnson
                  -Patrick Nugent
                         -Gavel

Press photographers entered and left at an unknown time after 3:37 pm.

       Thank yous

       Gifts
                -Telescope
                      -Astronauts

       White House

       Johnson
            -Television station

       Patrick Nugent
             -Political career

Bull entered at an unknown time after 3:37 pm.

       Photographs
            -Copies
                 -Families
                 -Johnson

Tricia Nixon Cox, et al. left at 3:49 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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Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Thank you.
Thank you.
I guess if you wanted to note that the little boy's footprints are red and that, oh, I see, there's some kind of a thing.
I guess it's pretty impressive.

— 1 min 24 s with no transcribed speech —

Well, I think what you should do is give it to someone from China.
I believe you know what I'm saying.
Give him to the boy and give her one of those little boxes.
Or something else if you've got anything less expensive.
We have an awful lot of those scrolls.
I think we ordered several hundred of those.
What is it?
What is it?
We have one of those prints when you point at us.
One of those cloth prints.
It's fine.
It's not like that.

— 1 min 6 s with no transcribed speech —

Good.
Here we are.
Hi.
Well, how are you?
Nice to see you again.
It's great to see you.
And that's your old boy.
Hi.
How are you?
Well, hi.
Look at that.
So...
Yes, sir.
He's, uh...
I hear he's home.
This is where?
Oh, God.
Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it.
Yeah, yeah, how are you?
You're bored?
Was he here?
He's been in this room before, isn't he?
Yes, you remember?
He used to work here, didn't he?
Yes.
What did he do?
How old was he when his father was here?
How old was he?
I don't know.
But Ray remembered a lot from that time.
He's amazing.
Yes, yes.
And you look at President Nixon.
Yes.
He's so amazing to me.
Isn't that rough?
What's that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Isn't that something?
Isn't that something?
They remember that's always been rough.
It's a different road, but they always have a seal there.
They can get a better picture.
Uh-huh.
That's right.
Sit right there.
Right.
Right.
Right.
We're going to take a couple of little trannies out there and I've got most of these things on the road.
This is from China, that tree.
All the way from China.
And the pandas are coming.
You know what the pandas are?
Have you heard of pandas?
They're coming from China.
That little cat, one of your grandpas, I love those.
He was president of the Senate, too, once, and I was.
He liked that.
That's the way he gets it.
That's right.
That's a tree.
A little tree.
That's right.
Let's see if we can show you something else.
Why don't you come over here?
Tell me about the, tell me about the addiction.
Who was on the border?
Who was on the border in Washington?
And when, who did you tell?
Mrs. Cox and I didn't know that.
Who did you say that you saw earlier that was on the 10 out of 10?
And who is on the hill?
Who is on the hill?
And who is on the hill?
And who is on the hill?
And who is on the hill?
Do you know how there are some children's gardens?
Do you know your keys there, your footprints there?
Do you remember that?
No, I don't know if he would remember that.
Do you know if it is?
Yes, sir.
I've never seen it.
Your footprints are out there on children's gardens.
So it's there for history to see, right?
Now, as we hear this from our little city to live, Nugent's footprints.
There, and that, and that's right.
And the cement, see, and the cement before it got hard, and then now you've got to put it on your baby.
Well, you're very welcome.
You're very welcome.
You know one thing about him, he's an old boy, he likes to have it, get around, do these things.
And then he started writing about it on Sunday School.
And then he started writing about it on Sunday School.
And then he started writing about it on Sunday School.
Oh, the guy is a doctor.
chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair
They aren't.
They're in the press briefing now, so you can submit it to them as we arrive at 9 a.m. That's their return.
They're on their way, so you can get to them.
I'll let you in on this stuff.
I'll let you in on this stuff.
I'll let you in on this stuff.
That's a great one.
.
.
.
.
All right.
thank you
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Here's our, that's the particular moment where, that's what she has to do.
There you go, there you go.
All right.
Put your ears and breathe together.
Oh, we don't need that.
Hey, we don't need that.
Oh.
Now I think you better take it with you that way, because an airplane could be hard to carry otherwise.

Also recorded on March 14, 1972

  • 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.
  • 685-015 3:25 PM · 47 sec — 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.
  • 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.
  • 685-019 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.
  • 322-055 3:52 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:52 pm and 4:18 pm.
  • 685-022 3:52 PM · 47 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield, United States Secret Service agents, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:52 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 54 conversations from March 14, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 685-018, 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/685-018 (accessed November 2, 2026).