Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 781 › Conversation 781-007

Nixon, Ziegler & Meeuwsen on Miss America and White House photography

Monday, September 18, 1972 · 11:18 AM–11:33 AM ET · Oval Office ·8 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.;  Meeuwsen, Terry Ann;  Meeuwsen, Beverly;  Schaefer, Laurie Lee;  Schwager, Dorothy;  Cashen, Henry C., IIConversation781-007 onTape 781StartMonday, September 18, 1972 at 11:18 AMEndMonday, September 18, 1972 at 11:33 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 781-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Miss America 1973 Terry Ann Meeuwsen, pageant officials, and White House staff for a courtesy visit and formal photograph session in the Oval Office. During the meeting, the President discussed various White House memorabilia, including presidential seals, gifts from foreign heads of state, and needlepoint work by Julie Nixon Eisenhower. The conversation also touched upon the activities of Tricia Nixon Cox and concluded with a brief exchange regarding the administration's position on prisoners of war.

Audio

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, congratulations.
47.
What'd you miss?
State of Washington.
What?
Go to COVID.
Both?
Uh-huh.
You've got to go to COVID.
And Hawaii.
How many of you not there?
Well, I've been there, I think.
A lot of them.
I was involved in that.
I was a champion.
You were a champion.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Oh, that fits well.
We're kind of red-white twins.
Mrs. Brown, how do you get such dumb honors?
There you are, girl.
Just contact your own manager.
Well, at least I have a president.
She has an identical twin, and I'll tell you, the nice girl in the crown, she was taking many of the pictures.
Who isn't a mentor?
Oh, yeah.
Where are we going?
Do you want to listen to your first response?
Oh, yeah.
Well, I'll take a picture.
Well, we have to send the pictures for you.
The official file is here.
21 first.
Two of us alone first.
Send her the best one.
Is that right?
Well, I had this this evening.
Do you think it's all right to teach your friends about it?
Oh, I'm okay.
It's not okay to teach them to do it.
Okay.
You're right.
Well, that's very well that I enjoy it.
Go there and get on a horse.
Now, we gave you your badges.
These are new ones that you got here last year.
The mark of this room, the main thing is the seal.
Of course, I just put there Leo Roosevelt, because it's very old, 70 years ago.
And it's always, it's always open in the rug, you see.
This is in the rug, but about three years ago, the nails were sealed.
It's there.
And this is a piece of work.
Here, this is a piece of stupid use.
It was made by stupid, by the ambassador of Annenberg had created it.
and a star and a seal on my back.
I'll show you one more place so you can know what you're going to get.
Here it is.
And a flag.
And here it is and a pin that you can wear.
And you get a jersey.
You get one.
That's that.
That's true.
Well, that's Julie's, and that's the one that she did, but it was Cruel, Cruel World, whatever that is.
Anyway, what happens is that there's a lot of interest in that, and they send it around to exhibitions and raise money for the Girl Scouts, and that little piece of Cruel World has been sent around.
They sell both the kits.
It's already raised $60,000.
Oh, thank you.
That's why this is here.
I owe it to you.
Where's our crew?
Where is he?
And this is another excuse.
We always put the official statement gifts.
This is from the Mexican president.
It's an antique.
I don't know what it is, actually.
Oh, that's beautiful.
It's probably a baby.
Oh, that.
Oh, my goodness.
It's quite an interesting description.
Yeah.
Sure.
It's kind of a slide.
Oh.
Yeah.
Was he here?
Yeah, he was here.
Yeah.
And of course, we have all of them, so you can be reassured that you didn't get any.
Like somebody said, we missed the day of the inauguration.
We're going to knock some doors around so that we can see her.
But now, for our picture, Mr. Sinclair, who is in charge of beauty.
That's impressive.
What do you suggest, Rob?
I think you could get something.
There's three of you.
Three queens.
No, no, two queens.
All right.
You see, I'm going to take you to her house now.
I'll walk you over to where you started.
Is that right?
Is that right?
No, no, no.
That was made by a wounded veteran in Louisiana.
I was really disappointed.
I thought I was going to meet your daughter, Tricia.
She was in Columbia.
Yeah.
And I was down in Florida for a little vacation.
And I thought that she had just done that.
Yeah.
She was there for some sort of voter registration.
I think it already should be short.
She was born the first year I did it.
The first year I did it.
She was born in 1946, which is the year I did the conference.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.

NARA Description

On September 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Terry Ann Meeuwsen, Beverly Meeuwsen, Laurie Lee Schaefer, Dorothy Schwager, and Henry C. Cashen, II met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:18 am to 11:33 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 781-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 781-7

Date: September 18, 1972
Time: 11:18 am – 11:33 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler, Terry Ann Meeuwsen, Beverly Meeuwsen, Laurie
Lee Schaefer, Dorothy Schwager and Henry C. Cashen.

[The White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting]

             Introductions
                  -Beverly Meeuwsen
                  -Schaefer

             Schedules
                 -Washington State
                 -Hawaii

             Beverly Meeuwsen

             Terry Ann Meeuwsen’s home state
                 -Wisconsin

             Photograph session
                 -White House photographer Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins

                                        (rev. Oct-06)

[Photograph session]

             Schaefer, Terry Ann Meeuwsen
                 -Ages
                     -Hannah Milhous Nixon

             Horseback riding

             White House gifts
                -Presidential seal
                    -Oval Office
                    -Theodore Roosevelt
                    -Steuben glass
                         -Walter F. Annenberg
                    -Crewel embroidery by Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                         -Exhibition
                              -Fundraising for Girl Scouts
                -Head of State gifts
                    -President of Mexico
                -Domestic gifts
                    -Music box
                         -1969 inauguration

             Ronald L. Ziegler
                -Press pictures
                -Tour of White House with Miss America

             Domestic gift
                -Unknown disabled veteran from Louisiana

             Tricia Nixon Cox
                 -Columbia, South Carolina
                      -Voter registration
                 -Age

             Terry Ann Meeuwsen's comment on Prisoners of war (POWs)
                 -The President’s view

Terry Ann Meeuwsen et al., left at 11:33 am.

                                          (rev. Oct-06)

Also recorded on September 18, 1972

  • 781-033 11:17 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:17 am to 11:18 am.
  • 781-008 11:33 AM · 22 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:33 am and 11:36 am.
  • 781-009 11:37 AM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:37 am.
  • 781-010 11:37 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Jack O. Hicks, John J. Keller, William F. Rhatican, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:37 am to 11:44 am.
  • 781-011 11:45 AM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:45 am.
  • 781-012 11:45 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, David N. Henderson, John E. Nidecker, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:45 am to 11:52 am.
  • 781-013 11:53 AM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:53 am.
  • 781-014 11:54 AM · 23 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William M. Colmer, Adm. Wallis M. Enger, George Ryder, John E. Nidecker, White House photographer, William E. Timmons, Manolo Sanchez, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:54 am to 12:16 pm.

All 44 conversations from September 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 781-007, September 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/781-007 (accessed September 18, 2026).