On April 4, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John K. Andrews, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:12 pm and 3:45 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 702-004 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
There are a few of the old-timers, the guys that made it and so forth and so on, but for the most part, they're a new managerial class that have come up through the numbers, and they are playing both sides, putting a little on one horse and the other when it comes to strength and courage and guts and so forth.
I'm referring particularly to the business elite in the very highest levels.
Out of 10, you might find one or two that really hit.
You see what I mean?
Character is not necessarily found among, when you talk about the unbought grace of life and so forth, I suppose that we could say that our labor leaders didn't have much, and so forth, and our business leaders should, and they should.
But I wonder, I think, what I'm wondering, I suppose I'm searching for here is to, is for really,
Where the character of this country is, where are we headed in that respect?
Now, you were, I think, somewhat pessimistic in 54.
So was I.
How do you feel that it's a 72?
Well, I feel more pessimistic, less.
Now, look what's happened since 54.
First, you had the Great Society, which was not a disaster.
Then we had the race thing, where everybody would hog that issue for the wrong reasons.
I mean, obviously you and I, as intelligent men, as I trust in good men, good men in the sense of some religious identification, the rest, we have no racial, we have no religious prejudices, whatever, and so on and so on.
But I think we both have to agree that the way that we've handled
Say, our black problem in this country has been certainly most depressing.
And depressing not for the reason that we have it now, but perhaps because we try to do too much.
And without any imagination.
No imagination, that's right.
And because we didn't think of the character.
I mean, here's my name, right?
When he puts the paper, it can't be said.
Perhaps get away with it by political means.
But he's right when he says the problem is the family.
As far as that's concerned.
When you talk about it, 55% of all children born into this group, this year, will be illegitimate.
Now, they're illegitimate.
A lot of white people are illegitimate, too.
55% of you will be illegitimate.
In New York, same thing.
That's what it is.
Now, you cannot build...
You cannot build any kind of, you know, character in society and so forth and that.
But I digress.
What I'm getting back to is this.
When we talk about, use these simple words, when we talk about guts and character and idealism and patriotism and honor and these things which you write about,
I found that when I had to go to the mat and ask for it, on the 3rd of 69, when I made my decision, I had 350,000 people marching in the White House, and we had to make a decision on Cambodia, and we had to stand up against a number of people.
We'll do it.
We'll have to do it again.
We'll have the campaign.
Every time, I find that I get very, very little support from the media.
Hardly, usually, all the opposition.
I get hardly any support from the intellectual community.
I have a few college friends, students, not only students, but professors and the rest of the community.
The business community, except for Main Street business, and Midwest and Southern and some Western businesses, curious and silent.