Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 781-014
Date: Monday, September 18, 1972 at 11:54 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colmer, William M.; Enger, Wallis M. (Adm.); Ryder, George; Nidecker, John E.; White House photographer; Timmons, William E.; Sanchez, Manolo; Butterfield, Alexander P.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/781-014

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:04] Well, how are you?
[0:06] Good to see you, Bill.
[0:07] You look good.
[0:08] I love you.
[0:10] All right.
[0:10] See me.
[0:11] See me.
[0:11] Well, I'm a little more scared.
[0:15] But we have a CP case.
[0:33] I mean, I was, I used to, I was, the reason I was let in, and then I asked the president for regional action, is that, that issued an order to see the installation around Santa Barbara, Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, so they all went out there.
[0:52] But, I have a word to you, I was in there, in an air, lots of white ones in there, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,
[1:36] Right.
[1:36] Right.
[2:05] Those guys were working at night.
[2:07] Those lights on the coolers were going back and forth.
[2:13] They didn't get a nap.
[2:14] Heart attacks.
[2:15] But they weren't fighting.
[2:17] The heart attacks.
[2:18] I'm at a present.
[2:20] Most gracious of you to do this.
[2:22] What picture do we want?
[2:26] We obviously haven't seen any back crimes, so it's all overdue.
[2:30] Thank you.
[2:35] Bill is also seated.
[2:38] Thank you.
[2:39] And we've .
[2:40] And you're going to put it where?
[2:42] Hopefully .
[2:42] Great.
[2:42] Great.
[2:43] Mr. Phillips, do you want to?
[3:16] and the Memorial Commission, and he raised the money for this.
[3:21] But a man that I knew within the city, he had a 22nd regiment.
[3:24] His name was White, Commander White.
[3:27] From Maine, he was an Albemarle.
[3:32] Yes, he's finished, yeah, that's right.
[3:35] He worked in St. Louis.
[3:37] Well, I don't know what you're going to do with those.
[3:42] This is how it will happen.
[3:46] I'm delighted they're having this done because that's one of the great unsung groups.
[4:00] Well, the Army engineers were great, too, but see, we should do it a little faster.
[4:06] Mr. President, I just signed the bill.
[4:07] All right, fine.
[4:09] You all gather around here.
[4:32] Thank you.
[5:45] Thank you very much.
[6:11] There were many brave men at war, but there were none who attempted terror or courage.
[6:15] I recall one day in particular, one night, there was a number of alert groups, varieties, bombers, rockets.
[6:28] The airships were big, just as big as I am.
[6:32] I got five feet through on the wall.
[6:36] I couldn't see anything.
[6:39] I'm proud to be able to see this.
[6:49] I'm happy to be able to share this with my family and friends.
[7:00] I'm very glad to be able to share this with my family and friends.
[7:14] I have a very good memory.
[7:46] Thank you.
[8:11] They were really a tough bunch.
[8:12] Right.
[8:13] Sure, sure.
[8:13] We'll see you later.
[8:40] I don't know what it was.
[8:41] Number one, this is a blessing.
[8:44] You know I am.
[9:10] I'm frequently urged to do it.
[9:14] I don't want to do it unless it fits in with your thinking.
[9:20] And I should not give you credit or discredit.
[9:23] Well, no, I suppose you don't need to talk to me about this.
[9:27] Yes, that's what I want.
[9:28] That's what I'm afraid of.
[9:30] Let me say, first of all, as far as my views are concerned, if we can't get this damn busing stopped,
[9:37] legislation, which many think does not do, then we have to have a constitutional amendment.
[9:41] Now that's where I stand.
[9:43] I do agree with that.
[9:44] The problem I have at the present time, though, is if you bring that amendment up and then have a vote where you don't get two-thirds, everybody will think that the country is that way.
[9:56] I think it will hurt the cause.
[9:58] In my view, I think you're better to keep the darn amendment out
[10:01] And let us try to get the moratorium thing.
[10:03] And if we fail, then the people will get so damn mad that eventually we'll have to get them out of there.
[10:09] And this is the wrong time, in my opinion.
[10:12] I'll talk to you very frankly.
[10:18] That's what I think.
[10:19] Yeah.
[10:24] And he thought it would be helpful if we could pass it down.
[10:27] But he doubted they could pass it.
[10:29] No way.
[10:31] No, but you and I, you talked for two years.
[10:33] You, you, you.
[10:35] And you see, we don't want to do something that's inept.
[10:40] Now, of course, let me say from a solely political standpoint, to be candid with you, if you brought it up, we'd probably hurt our, help our republic.
[10:48] Right.
[10:49] Sure.
[10:49] Sure.
[11:16] uh we had uh come on back here we had about 30 votes yeah uh on the other bill yeah but just uh but yes well i think it would be i don't know what did you do bill should be a different different thing i i meant it i just
[11:45] I don't think it'd be much different, Bill, but this thing has bothered me, and as you know, I, as a matter of fact, have thought on several occasions.
[11:55] And when you're going to call it up, I don't think he does either.
[12:03] No, he didn't want to.
[12:05] As a matter of fact, he did everything he could.
[12:19] Don't do, uh, one other thing.
[12:25] Yeah, yeah, that doesn't make sense to me.
[12:29] I've got another bill.
[12:32] A private bill.
[12:34] Uh, for the relief of, uh, a private girl.
[12:41] I mean, this is a dual bill.
[12:44] Hey, my bill, I'm waiting about three years.
[12:48] Frankly, the only reason I made it through here is that I'm anticipating that the department, the medical department, will actually be there.
[13:07] I've spent about three years only, as I say, past the House twice, passed the report out to the Senate committee twice,
[13:19] And finally, past this last session, this Kennedy's man down there, Farris, has something to do with democratic policy.
[13:31] Now, you've got to clear this twice, both sessions.
[13:36] And frankly, Mr. President, it's an unusual situation.
[13:40] The choice came with some justification.
[13:48] I'm going to buzz in with the details, but we don't think it does set a precedent.
[13:57] We think under the compassion against the Texas city, blow up your mouth.
[14:08] Now, without going into a lot of detail, this woman was a lieutenant in the Navy.
[14:24] She did transfer about two months old to the Air Force as a captain in the Air Force.
[14:36] She went out to Walter Reed.
[14:40] She had an automobile like about 10 years prior to that.
[14:44] At the time, she was the only way ever assigned to Iceland.
[14:50] I knew it was a high school attack.
[14:52] Great to swim on.
[14:54] off on all of these.
[14:57] And she had a cancer.
[15:06] It was about a high.
[15:08] And it meant that she must die.
[15:10] And they weren't satisfied.
[15:12] They wanted to do it again.
[15:14] And her private doctor advised against it and talked with them and didn't make it.
[15:23] They were under some risk and so on, and they said no.
[15:26] When she got on that table, right there, healthy, what she was, a healthy woman, with the exception of this little eye trouble that she had.
[15:41] And in 15 minutes, she was a wreck, a human wreck.
[15:46] She said that it would mean that if she died too fast, she'd live with enough to adopt this
[15:53] It's an unusual case, but it's one that I think is justified.
[16:01] As I say, I've been waiting on it for about three years, and I would appreciate it if you could.
[16:25] Yes.
[16:25] Oh, yeah.
[16:25] It's down here.
[16:26] It's down here, yes.
[16:27] We've got to get it stamped out with the Defense Department and everything.
[16:33] Okay.
[16:34] Well, I got your point, Bill.
[16:35] Yes.
[16:35] I appreciate it.
[16:38] Yes.
[16:38] And then you want to go.
[16:40] Well, the thing is this.
[16:41] I just wanted to know that my daughter, Patricia, I can't go to every state.
[16:48] In fact, I can't go to many other states, but
[16:52] Mr. President, you are going to get a minimum of 70% of the vote in Mississippi.
[17:25] Uh, we've got some complications down there.
[17:30] Of course.
[17:31] Jimmy's under running now.
[17:33] Uh, this fellow Carmichael, who hasn't got a chance in the world, who's ever, ever been made...
[17:55] Right.
[17:56] That's where he's from.
[17:57] I told you he's from Florida.
[17:59] And McClellan.
[18:00] Right.
[18:00] The gentleman down there.
[18:03] Oh, my God.
[18:05] You'd have to be Mr. President.
[18:06] Of course.
[18:07] Why?
[18:07] Have you been at all?
[18:08] Sure.
[18:08] He's just a Republican.
[18:09] The chairman's administrative assistant is running for his seat.
[18:15] Great.
[18:15] He's a Republican.
[18:16] Great.
[18:17] I hope he wins.
[18:19] And Jerry Ford is going to tell you.
[18:32] I made a Republican.
[18:36] He got up the old flag.
[18:38] And likely because of this, he's done things.
[18:42] So there's people who want to be here, Jim.
[18:44] All right.
[18:45] Now, what kind of a ballot do you have?
[18:49] You have one for you and one for you, right?
[18:52] And you don't have to pull one like those.
[18:57] All right.
[18:57] Yeah.
[18:58] Right.
[18:59] And Jim,
[19:01] He must be particularly trying to do the thing.
[19:04] But I know that the Democratic Organization down there is trying to do something.
[19:11] Jim is going to be elected by the same vote you are.
[19:16] Great.
[19:17] I'm all for that.
[19:18] Yeah.
[19:19] Now, Jerry was going to talk to you about the possibility of having an appreciation down for me down there on October 1.
[19:30] I took care of that.
[19:33] That would be the height of my life.
[19:36] But I realized that all these demands were made on you and so on.
[19:43] So he was talking about either you make him a little tape for this or a telephone call at the dinner.
[19:52] So he's going to mention that to you.
[19:55] We'll cover it either way.
[19:57] Let me suggest this.
[20:00] If you wouldn't mind, so that I'll have representation.
[20:04] Either of my daughters or Mrs. Fiction could come along.
[20:07] Oh, that'd be great.
[20:08] They could represent me everywhere.
[20:09] And they could read the tape, read the message you sent to me, rather than do that.
[20:14] Do that, but at least have that tape with you.
[20:16] Oh, we have a tape, too.
[20:19] Let's present this.
[20:20] We want to show our support.
[20:21] All right, let's do it the whole way.
[20:22] We want to show our support.
[20:24] Let's do it the whole way.
[20:26] Somewhere in there.
[20:27] And this is what I'm thinking.
[20:32] If you could put a little plug for this boy, Trent, like my sister's drum or a plug, we can sing.
[20:42] That'd be all right.
[20:43] It's your dinner.
[20:44] Ooh.
[20:44] All right.
[20:45] I'm sponsoring it.
[20:49] All right.
[20:49] This is a little gift for you.
[20:52] It's a small thing for you.
[20:54] It's a small thing.
[20:56] But I thought that you'd like to have this as a medal of your years of service.
[21:02] And it's only for special people.
[21:05] Very few of them are coming to Congress.
[21:08] I can't give it to anyone unless they've been chairman or retired.
[21:13] I think you guessed it.
[21:20] I'm going to try to get approval to send a letter.
[21:27] But we will not receive any applications for a room beyond Augusta.
[21:33] Get it done.
[21:34] Get it out of there.
[21:35] Okay, Bill.
[21:36] Thank you again.
[22:20] said in regards to