Nixon, Fitzsimmons & Schoessling on International Brotherhood of Teamsters

2:55:43And I think we were given an ashtray or... What was the ashtray for?
2:55:49An ashtray for their wives.
2:55:53Okay, do you want me to interrupt on this?
2:55:56No.
2:55:58Colson.
2:56:26Yes, I want to see you.
2:56:27Good to see you.
2:56:53You've got to beat these guys down, Mr. President.
2:56:56This has been this.
2:56:58If you mind sitting here in this chair.
2:57:10I think you all should know that the church, other than the city, and the church, and all the other distinguished guests when they come back here, before you get to the start of this, you know,
2:57:39throw his weight around about that, I should have reminded him.
2:57:44One of the fellows recently sat in my chair and hung on the address.
2:57:47So don't feel too good about that.
2:57:49I'd like to do that, because my commission is getting ready for an order to the IA board this morning.
2:57:58Oh, you did?
2:57:58Yeah.
2:57:59You meant the people were all there?
2:58:03Yeah.
2:58:07That's why we .
2:58:07Keep the east coast .
2:58:09Well, I appreciate your work on that.
2:58:12It's a miserable job.
2:58:16And I look forward to the day when we can have those darn controls off.
2:58:24They can't stay.
2:58:24They can only work beyond for a certain time.
2:58:26And then you've just got to let the market take care of these things.
2:58:29Don't you agree?
2:58:31I agree with you wholeheartedly.
2:58:34I agree with you wholeheartedly.
2:58:36What about your own contracts that you don't have anything that's, I trust, that's coming up?
2:58:43Yes, we have.
2:58:43Vice President Sessom has got that Chicago contract, which it seems a couple of my associates on the board wants to contest.
2:58:55The Z-Rays contract fell in between his dates, fell in between ours and Max's for three months.
2:59:03How many of you are socialists?
2:59:04I shouldn't be asking this.
2:59:07You're going to have to board.
2:59:10We've checked into a week.
2:59:11You know what I mean?
2:59:13I think the less controversy we can have over these things, the better.
2:59:20Right now, I mean, particularly in the retroactivity business.
2:59:27The one out there on the West Coast was just a little more, I mean, small because it had gone on so long.
2:59:39I mean, I don't know.
2:59:41I don't blame Bridges.
2:59:43I really think it's true, you know.
2:59:44As long as what you were talking about, he thought the radicals took over.
2:59:49Yeah, he said that all the time.
2:59:54This is the last time I get to hear you.
2:59:58Well, I just want to say while you're here, that I'm very grateful for the
3:00:23not so much to the administration, but basically to the country in terms of this whole area of foreign policy.
3:00:32I'm not surprised at that, because I remember going clear back to the days that they backed up mine very well and had great respect for it.
3:00:42My god, he was a patriot.
3:00:44I think that was a favorite time.
3:01:21I do kind of go along and see a brave, deep gravel truck with a Nixon stare on it, and a guy waving to me, and, goodbye, I'll make sure he's all right.
3:01:28But apart from that, what's the most important thing, really, is that we need people at a time when there's many Saudis in this country who have a vigorous dedication
3:01:56principles of, which is the basic character that we need.
3:01:59And your followers, your followers, whenever the issue has come up in terms of a strong American or a weak American, an American that's going to surrender, an American that's going to see something true, you call us to come up on the right side.
3:02:16And I appreciate it.
3:02:17Your statement was excellent the other day.
3:02:19One of the few guys, we've got to say this for George, I mean, he's been a private, I paid him fairly, he's been
3:02:24and had been very good at this in this particular case.
3:02:26He got with him.
3:02:27Well, he will later, but in his heart, I don't think he would have fallen like this, this McGarrett or anything, huh?
3:02:31Could be.
3:02:31You can't buy the concepts.
3:02:32That's right.
3:02:33And all the things that made me a little sick to my stomach as far as I'm at today's show, and I see this.
3:02:43Dave, let me see if I can get a statement.
3:02:48Who's Dave?
3:02:49He's with Mr. 61.
3:02:50He's right here.
3:02:51He's with Mr. 65 from the office.
3:02:56Is he dangerous?
3:02:57No, no, no.
3:02:58No, no.
3:02:58Okay.
3:02:59He's one of those these friends.
3:03:01He's, uh... You're on.
3:03:04No, uh...
3:03:05I see.
3:03:06He's the... Oh!
3:03:08He's the fellow with the Gibbons and... Oh, oh, yeah.
3:03:14He's begging us to come into the team's desk.
3:03:17He's in my office maybe at the end of the day.
3:03:19You're pretty good.
3:03:21You're pretty good.
3:03:22What's he supporting?
3:03:23Ray, he got out of his time.
3:03:23I had to miss that because I had to catch him in the plane.
3:03:27Don't say that.
3:03:28Don't say that.
3:03:28He's our guy the wrong way.
3:03:30Our bad bro played this morning.
3:03:31He said, what's his name?
3:03:33The high monkey monkey.
3:03:34Are you cute?
3:03:35What the hell are you doing?
3:03:43He says that he sat there and told us that he was for a coalition government as far as the thing was concerned with the independents.
3:03:55They didn't want no communist government.
3:03:58And he made that statement.
3:03:59Well, that bum told me the same thing when I left Washington Monday.
3:04:02I met him on the plane going back to New York.
3:04:05He told me the same thing.
3:04:06And I tore into him a little bit on the way back to the class.
3:04:10I said, how the hell did you get that line?
3:04:14That's why they brought him.
3:04:16Yeah, and I said, how the hell did you get to get him?
3:04:20Was there coal?
3:04:21I wonder how some people...
3:04:21They don't have anybody but the people they think are their friends.
3:04:25They don't have that expectation.
3:04:27And as far as coalition government, no, they have a lot of coalition government.
3:04:31They simply mean that they want one.
3:04:34There's never been a coalition government with the communists.
3:04:36The communists didn't take over.
3:04:37That's right.
3:04:39You know, you just got one of those.
3:04:42You can't have a coalition.
3:04:46You can't have a coalition.
3:04:49You know that.
3:04:50You've got to throw them out.
3:04:52We just meant to do that.
3:04:54We can't.
3:04:54We're going to try.
3:04:55Oh, they're working.
3:05:04Are you in the world where, is that what it is?
3:05:07Well, I think it's better if you get an accident.
3:05:10I don't know.
3:05:14But, uh, that's another thing.
3:05:15Well, speaking of the ILO, that's one thing.
3:05:19I'm trying to, I'm trying to support financial support.
3:05:23We're giving them.
3:05:24They're actually using our money to advance the situation.
3:05:36Well, I mean, let me say one thing that I want you folks to have in mind, you know, in politics
3:06:22I think it's very, very bad for Trump and the Lakers to be in the pocket of one political party.
3:06:28I think it's a mistake for the Lakers always to endorse a Democratic candidate.
3:06:34I realize a lot of Lakers are Democrats, and I'm not more than a Republican.
3:06:43That's just all I can say.
3:06:45My point is that as long as I'm trying to do in this administration,
3:06:53where we have our doors open to everybody that wants to support our principles.
3:06:59And that's the reason that I'm very fortunate to have this relationship.
3:07:06I remember the first time he came in and we had a picture taken of the flag.
3:07:11This is before you were elected.
3:07:16Uh, we, uh, we want to have a, uh, we don't want this impression that this administration is pro-big business and hanging on to labor and all that stuff.
3:07:27And the only way we can do it, frankly, is to have a good relationship with the major leaders and put them right on the table, and that's what we'd like to have.
3:07:37And Vince and I have got a good personal relationship.
3:07:39What I want to do with the Vice President is sit here and write it for me.
3:10:04He's a great guy.
3:10:05You know, the thing I always wondered about is that I don't know whether there are problems.
3:10:12I'm not trying to get into their business, but it seems to me that the construction trades, the building trades, the teachers have got so much in common that they really ought to be, you know,
3:10:34Like that.
3:10:35I don't know.
3:10:37We are in Chicago.
3:10:38You are.
3:10:38You work close to us.
3:10:40We are.
3:10:40We are.
3:10:40They're a great bunch of guys.
3:10:41Those are really good folks.
3:10:43I think Pete Brennan and the y'all over the years have been terrific.
3:10:47In fact, we were just talking about it this morning.
3:10:52I don't know him.
3:10:55I've met him.
3:10:56I've met him.
3:10:57I'm a rocky-nosed clown.
3:11:00He's a pretty good fellow, too, isn't he?
3:11:03Yes.
3:11:03He's the head of the center.
3:11:05He's president.
3:11:07He's president of the building trade.
3:11:11The building is in Chicago?
3:11:13Oh, yes.
3:11:13We worked together about 200 years ago when he came on his vice president.
3:11:20He was a real American.
3:11:22They tried to get me to .
3:11:47I sat around here, got a little jittery with Life magazine and CBS was,
3:11:58As for his resignation, I didn't give political liability.
3:12:02I threw him out of the office.
3:12:05I said, look here.
3:12:06I said, there's an old sheriff, 76, but I said, as long as he feels he can do his job, as long as I can get him to do the job, I'm not going to drag him out.
3:12:17He's going to go where he wants.
3:12:19It wasn't a great thing, but it was a great way to go.
3:12:22But I stood up for him.
3:12:25I said, in a bragging way, it was the right thing to do.
3:12:28By golly, I don't believe that when a man is under fire, particularly, I tell you, I would never go against it.
3:12:34Now, if a guy isn't under fire, you should not talk about it with him.
3:12:37Yes, but when a man like that who's cared for 50 years of his life for the service of this country is under fire by these left-wingers, by golly, that just made me dug in harder.
3:12:49But you think it's right?
3:12:50Oh, I think it's right.
3:12:51I thought it was right.
3:12:53We got a good man.
3:12:55It's a temporary appointment, but I'm sure he was a good man.
3:13:01Ray, I got to know him.
3:13:03He was Admiral Radford's administrative assistant as well.
3:13:07By age, I mean.
3:13:09And Radford was a tough, strong, as you know, chief of camera at the time, chief of staff at that time.
3:13:16He was a very immediate man.
3:13:17And Pat Gray, he was a young officer.
3:13:22Very big.
3:13:23A guy you can talk to.
3:13:25He'll run a bureau well, I'm sure.
3:13:27You can chat in case something devolves.
3:13:32Yes, sir.
3:13:33I just had .
3:13:35And any time there's any problems that you want to discuss with me, you can talk to me.
3:13:48Very confidential.
3:13:52It is a first-class thing.
3:13:54He'll be totally non-voteable, totally fair.
3:13:57And you can talk to him, I'm sure.
3:14:03He's from Atlanta.
3:14:05He's from Atlanta, Connecticut.
3:14:06Yeah, he's from Connecticut.
3:14:07Years ago, after the Navy was going through the politics, he said, lawyer, he didn't.
3:14:11Well, in a sense, he didn't.
3:14:12He was going to be a dictator in general.
3:14:17But you like him.
3:14:18It's your reason why you're trying to follow him.
3:14:21Yeah, that's what you want.
3:14:23Joe T, the vice president, was telling us this morning that he believes in kind of a subtle stance towards the
3:14:42I was telling him about the incident.
3:14:43I already saw the word St. Patrick's Cathedral.
3:14:45We got an invitation, my wife and I, to attend Mass that Sunday.
3:14:48It was the beginning of the Charity and Educational Appeal that Sunday.
3:14:56So we got this invitation to go.
3:14:59And the leader and I went.
3:15:00And you know how a leader is.
3:15:02I've got a wife who's as timid as a... We got in front of the cathedral.
3:15:08I got sick with my stomach aching, see?
3:15:10Well, I couldn't resist it.
3:15:11We were a little early, and I said, wait for me on the steps.
3:15:14And I just walked with one of them, by the way, you know, and carried signs, what does the church do in the bottom of it, and stop the killing, and all this shit, see?
3:15:19I'm just furious.
3:15:20So I walked with one of them, and I just laced them into it, see?
3:15:36How ashamed I am of being a Catholic.
3:15:39You should be ashamed of yourself, and so on and so forth.
3:15:42Well, we got through this, and of course Anita's watching me, and she's saying, Joe T., come on, it's getting close to 10 o'clock, you know.
3:15:51Well, we couldn't do too much then, but then I was wishing I had some of my guys there to do a little talent parade, if you know what I mean.
3:15:59But we couldn't.
3:16:00When you did the church, I was telling these fellas, five minutes in the car, I was there, and the bishop had celebrated the ransom, because he had his vote.
3:16:10The nuns did?
3:16:27The crowd was more of the people, you see.
3:16:31Yes.
3:16:31I'll tell you, sick to my stomach.
3:16:34I wasn't worried.
3:16:35They had a couple of guys from the labor patrol there, and did I know what happened?
3:16:43Frankly, I'll tell you, I just said to him, I said, well, no, I like him.
3:16:49You know why?
3:16:50I can't understand it enough.
3:16:51It's just a label.
3:16:52You know what happened to Mark Vietnam in 1954 with the Communist Party?
3:16:56Jesus Christ.
3:16:57The Communist murder started, according to the Catholic bishop
3:17:07When they, if they, if we were to just walk out and turn it over, it's obvious to the communists, can you imagine what they're going to do?
3:17:17But you see, my biggest problem is that we can't tell that to a lot of people.
3:17:23That's it.
3:17:25You know, this is what's bothering me today.
3:17:28I'm not kidding.
3:17:29See, this is what's bothering me.
3:17:31I know how I feel.
3:17:34But this is what's bothering me.
3:17:37We can't do this.
3:17:38How the hell do we settle to it?
3:17:41See?
3:17:43Well, we're going to do it.
3:17:44We're going to do it.
3:17:45Where are we in this?
3:17:46Where are we in this?
3:17:48We just can't let the counties take over, you know?
3:17:51It just becomes a little problem.
3:17:53We've just got to get some good groups.
3:17:55The same way as you say it.
3:17:57Count up Beck and then .
3:17:59You want to speak in the money.
3:18:01Yeah.
3:18:02Very good.
3:18:03Down the beach.
3:18:16Yeah.
3:18:36Let me repeat that.
3:18:37I appreciate it.
3:18:37I got a present for you, please.
3:18:38I was going to tell you another story, but this is the other day.
3:18:40I had a little dinner earlier for the retired members of the House and Senate.
3:18:58about 36,000 men.
3:18:59One of them was John Sherman Hoover of Kentucky, very decent probably, a little soft on some things, but a good man, a good man with a good heart.
3:19:07And he's a great story-teller.
3:19:08He's from the hills of Kentucky.
3:19:14And John was telling a story about this old Kentucky couple.
3:19:16They'd been married 55 years.
3:19:17And they were sitting out on the porch at their house.
3:19:21And it was one of those lovely,
3:19:30back in the old days.
3:19:33He was flippin', she was nippin'.
3:19:34So he finally turns and we go to her and she says, you know, I'm proud of you.
3:19:42She put her big hearing aid on one of her ears and says, what's that?
3:19:45And he said again, I am proud of you.
3:19:48I can't hear you.
3:19:48He said, I'm proud of you.
3:19:51Put her hearing aid on one of her ears and said,
3:20:00On car, you too.
3:20:03That's pretty good.
3:20:07Well, you can tell that with anything.
3:20:13For your wives, this is the presidential ashtray.

Nixon, Fitzsimmons & Schoessling on International Brotherhood of Teamsters

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Also recorded on May 4, 1972

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