Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 708 › Conversation 708-003

Nixon, Hess & Cole on Oval Office and Travel

Thursday, April 13, 1972 · 4:28 PM–4:31 PM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hess, Stephen; Hess, Elena (Shayne); Hess, Charles P.; Cole, Kenneth R., Jr.; Bull, Stephen B.; White House photographerConversation708-003 on Tape 708 (tape position 00:21:45–00:25:03)StartThursday, April 13, 1972 at 4:28 PMEndThursday, April 13, 1972 at 4:31 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 708-003 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon hosted Stephen Hess and his family in the Oval Office for a brief, informal meeting. The discussion focused on pleasantries, the exchange of presidential gifts, and photographs of the Hess children. Nixon also shared personal reflections with the children regarding the value of travel, the importance of experiencing the world while young, and anecdotes concerning his recent outreach to China.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:21:45 – 00:25:03

21:16

708a.mp3

NARA Description

On April 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen Hess, Elena (Shayne) Hess, Charles P. Hess, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Stephen B. Bull, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:28 pm to 4:31 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 708-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 708-3

Date: April 13, 1972
Time: 4:28 pm - 4:31 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen Hess, Elena (Shayne) Hess, Charles P. Hess, James R. Hess and
Kenneth R. Cole, Jr; Stephen B. Bull and the White House photographer were present at the
beginning of the meeting.

       Greetings

       Photographs
            -Family
            -Arrangements

       Presidential gifts
             -Apollo viewer
             -Money clip
             -Compact

       Biography of the President
            -Charles P. Hess
                  -Age

       Hess children
            -Favorite school subjects
                   -The President

       Dwarf tree
            -People's Republic of China [PRC]
            -Age
            -Size

       Travel
            -Future
                  -PRC, the Moon and the Soviet Union
            -Value
            -Age factor
                  -Money

       Hess children
            -Sidwell Friends School
            -School subjects
                   -The President's daughters

Hess et al left at 4:31 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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Well, here they are.

One, two.

Well, how are you?

I'm glad to see you.

You've got a nice family picture.

How would you like that?

You've got to have it anyway.

You stand, or either of you on one side, or you on the other side, each boy.

That's how that sounds.

That's a great thing to have, to give the grandmothers and mothers that.

Thank you very much.

We want to give you a little something, too.

What do we want to do?

We want to give you a shot of something.

This is one of those jiggers that you do.

This is the money, but that's very expensive.

Very expensive.

You already have much of it in front.

I'll tell you that we have a second generation Nixon biographer, Charles.

He's a writer.

He's just written a biography of you, Mr. President, but I don't think it's ready for public display.

I'll argue.

I don't know.

That's a good answer.

This one, I showed it, and I showed it to another teacher in here, taking charge of this in China.

And that tree is 22 meters old.

That's one of those dwarf trees that never gets any bigger.

It'll grow up and get straight like that.

But one day, you see, because of what we've done, at least we started, you'll be able to do it.

Want to do it with me?

Or even the moon.

Twitter.

I don't know.

Channel specials.

Or Russians.

I travel a lot.

Since you get old enough and you get through school, you can necessarily borrow money and trust.

I tell you why.

When you get too old, when you've got enough money and you get too old, you're too old to enjoy it.

I see old people, you know, walking around in jeans and dresses, coming off the tour ships.

They save their money all their lives to take a trip and they're too old to enjoy it.

So when you're young, borrow the money in the bank and take a trip.

Oh, they've got to be smart to go there.

A friend of mine's girl.

New man, new sign.

Right.

Goodbye.

Also recorded on April 13, 1972

708-004 4:31 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:31 pm.
708-005 4:31 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:31 pm.
708-006 4:31 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Frank DeMarco, Jr., and John W. Dean, III met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:31 pm to 4:34 pm.
708-007 4:34 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:37 pm.
708-008 4:34 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:37 pm.
708-009 4:37 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Henry A. Kissinger, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:37 pm to 4:46 pm.
022-123 4:38 PM · 9 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:38 pm and 4:46 pm.
022-124 4:38 PM · 11 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:38 pm and 4:46 pm.

All 22 conversations from April 13, 1972 →

Nixon & Eisenhower on China and Jesus Christ Superstar March 30, 1972 · 7 min
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on White House Conferences and Youth Activism April 22, 1971 · 8 min
Nixon, Black & Southall on Oval Office and Public relations February 19, 1971 · 5 min
Nixon, Romas & McQuaig on Young Republicans and Revenue sharing February 19, 1971 · 7 min
Nixon, Fauntroy & MacGregor on Oval Office and Social visit March 25, 1971 · 3 min
Nixon, Howard & Northrup on White House Photography and Pearl Bailey May 7, 1971 · 2 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 708-003, April 13, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/708-003 (accessed November 15, 2026).