Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 702-001
Date: Tuesday, April 4, 1972 at 2:47 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/702-001

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[2:49] Yes, he's operating in the United States.
[2:53] It's been 21 years in your country.
[2:59] 21 years.
[3:00] He's old enough to vote.
[3:03] Yeah.
[3:04] Three times.
[3:06] Yes.
[3:06] First time, 35 to 42.
[3:07] Yeah.
[3:08] Second time, 53 to 59.
[3:10] Yeah.
[3:10] Privileged to know you.
[3:18] He said, I've been on a several seasons in the house.
[3:23] And he said, now I am going to closer to home.
[3:29] A complicated situation there, actually.
[3:35] Well, it'll be a very interesting potion.
[3:39] And an enormous amount of activity, of course.
[3:44] You'll have a very difficult time keeping and seeing all the people because there are too many parties.
[3:54] And I'll never forget when I took that trip to Rome.
[4:03] It took me about four hours, I mean, ten minutes each to get there.
[4:16] We have the same problem in my country.
[4:19] You see, the Italians, I always have said, need a constitution like France's.
[4:26] They need to go to France and get a constitution.
[4:29] They cannot run it the way they have.
[4:31] They need a strong president.
[4:34] And they cannot run it without wins.
[4:38] And incidentally, they need it more than the French.
[4:40] The French are much more, you know,
[4:44] have a longer, a longer history as a country.
[4:47] So, therefore, I have much more stability than the Italians.
[4:52] Yes, but only once, I'm sure.
[4:55] And the poor Italians, oh, they are just, I mean, they're wonderful people, but they just, government is not something that they're very good at.
[5:06] I don't know who is, but they're not very good at it.
[5:10] You know, one of the men, frankly, who would have made a great prime minister
[5:15] in my view, was, uh, Rosio.