Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 788-008
Date: Friday, September 29, 1972 at 12:11 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Butterfield, Alexander P.; [Unknown person(s)]
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/788-008

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[3:50] Teksting av Nicolai Winther
[4:41] Thank you.
[6:02] They make more news, unfortunately, that the media, this is one area that they're going to screw us on.
[6:11] They make more news out of the fact that we're exploiting it than the fact itself.
[6:30] I think the second year was a bit more of a...
[7:00] It really worked.
[7:01] Big red banners get lettered in yellow, just like in China.
[7:05] Clock banners, they hold up huge banners that said, Communism must win in Southeast Asia.
[7:14] That's one of them.
[7:16] At this century present.
[7:19] And another very big thing saying, all workers unite under socialism.
[7:25] It looked like the same as a model.
[7:27] I was thinking Georgie Pumpkin.
[7:36] Well, I don't want to...
[7:41] I don't want to say it's a...
[7:43] It's a...
[7:46] It may be, Mr. President, that...
[7:50] I think the government people are radical, and they're going to get a goddamn extreme right now.
[8:00] I don't know.
[8:02] I'm sure some of them.
[8:06] But there, a lot of it is there, you know, the frustration that those kids, most of the demonstrators at the Century Plaza were not radical, were not extremely typical kids out for a thing, like most of the demonstrators here, even in the hard days.
[8:25] I don't think, I don't think... And very small, right?
[8:28] Well, it was...
[8:37] I think guys on the Hill have to keep hammering it, but I think we have to give the impression of not... We are not in debt or something.
[9:12] What is, what is, what, I think that surrogates can use it, I think people can use it, I think it's a good idea.
[9:25] They're going to be good enough.
[9:30] Just keep it away from here, it's a silly child.
[9:34] That's right, that's normal.
[9:37] But that, from here, my house, I want,
[9:46] I wondered if you ever did anything in charge about giving out that, what I call that, his own words, and he just constantly emphasized that.
[9:58] Has that been done?
[10:00] Every week, well, we've done two things.
[10:03] We send it out in personal memos to the circuits, 35 of them.
[10:08] We also now give them, every Friday night or Saturday morning, they get a fresh briefing
[10:14] It turns out, the Vice President got widely quoted, widely reported, using the quote out of the right-wing piece.
[10:22] I just have to pick up this week, Senator Dominic got quoted using it.
[10:26] Bill Rogers said it in his speech last night in the U.S.
[10:30] They are using it.
[10:31] I think it really, I think it's a terrible thing.
[10:33] I think it's a terrible thing.
[10:36] I think it's a terrible thing.
[10:56] Thank you very much.
[11:40] Ja.
[12:22] They had not completed their interviews.
[12:25] They haven't been able to interview one of the agriculture people who is in Japan.
[12:33] They had butts and fountains stickable for interviews today.
[12:37] They have not interviewed any other continental or cargo people.
[12:42] What they have... That's part of our concern.
[12:44] To get them going.
[12:46] The...
[12:51] The other thing is they took out a CVS and went, why not the FBI?
[12:59] They're here full time?
[12:59] They went and pulled it out on the wood.
[13:04] John is kicking them on the head.
[13:07] John is kicking them on the head.
[13:11] So, so they have about...
[13:15] So their only conclusion is that they can't, at this point, find anything that they would call a violation of the federal statute.
[13:21] How about anything that we would call stupidity in the fire?
[13:27] Stupidity is not a violation of the federal statute.
[13:29] There's a lot of stupidity.
[13:30] We've got to find the stupidest guy.
[13:34] If it's all made a mistake, it was a serious thing.
[13:38] He should be demoted or fired on the basis of competence.
[13:41] That's right.
[13:43] We fire people.
[13:52] Yeah, I think he is.
[13:55] Way out there.
[13:56] I think he is.
[13:57] Carlo raised a very interesting point.
[14:00] I've been very eager for us to act and cut it off and take whatever losses there are and get rid of it and show you as being one who would be impatient for this kind of thing.
[14:13] But Carlo makes an interesting point.
[14:14] Of course, Carlo was very close to all this.
[14:18] So you have to put that in
[14:21] He says, the minute you do this, you're going to confirm in the public's mind that there's something wrong, not only in this, but then they'll say, well, there must have been something wrong in ITT, and he only did this because it's a campaign.
[14:32] I look at it, I agree, I think just the opposite.
[14:34] I think an outraged president.
[14:35] He says that when there is really something wrong, he does something.
[14:40] You've got to do something on something, because we are not perfect.
[14:44] We're not that, we're not perfect.
[14:46] And they've got the Watergate.
[14:51] I don't know.
[14:53] Well, I raise it only because
[16:33] The biggest vulnerability is the line Joe Kraft picked up, which is that we got snockered by the Russians, because with their disastrous crop failure, we continued to pay export subsidies months longer than necessary.
[16:48] And that's what Crockett was on to when he said large amounts of taxpayer money was wasted.
[16:53] Well, we didn't know about that.
[16:56] The Russians, they knew what I did, but the Russians,
[17:02] The point is that the agriculture marketing people did not call this one right.
[17:06] They should have stopped the subsidy much sooner than they did.
[17:10] They didn't forgive.
[17:11] You can't be so sure that they did for other reasons.
[17:14] They were trying to be nice to the farmers.
[17:16] But the point is, on the Russian problem, who the hell knew?
[17:20] I mean, this man's secret was very well kept.
[17:24] They didn't tell us.
[17:25] We had no idea that this thing was going to be of this magnitude.
[17:27] You see, they kept it to the Russians.
[17:48] I don't know, that's the thing you wonder about on this, when they make this stuff about the Russians.
[18:26] The point is, if the Russians hadn't had the short drop, we would have been delighted with the deal.
[18:33] I mean, we sold the wheat at good prices.
[18:37] We were happy with it.
[18:39] It's like farmers will give you the best day of your life.
[18:43] Oh yeah, that's right.
[18:45] And that affects all the other things.
[18:47] Wheat affects all the other things.
[18:49] Farm prices go up, trade prices go up.
[18:51] But you've got the same attitude now, the guy who goes out and buys a new car, and then next week the dealer knocks the prices down, you know, and the guy misses the sale.
[19:03] He won't win, so he knows he's got a good buyout of the car, but he's...
[19:15] If we had a live candidate against us, a president who was smart, he'd be sitting over at the Eastern Shore plotting the campaign, and he'd be picking an issue like this, and really deciding to go with it.
[19:53] The whole thing in one 15-minute speech time altogether would make anybody mad except the government's comment supporters who can't leave him anyway.
[20:02] And would make major inroads for him with major voting box for a week.
[20:09] And, as Pat says, he wouldn't run into any effective media opposition.
[20:13] The right and the conservative columnists have never been enthusiastic about selling anything to the Soviets.
[20:17] The left is concerned about detente and wants trade with the Soviets, but is more concerned with his Jewish friends who claim the president's leave.
[20:29] It's a very tough issue to wait for.
[20:31] Well, there's only one thing that I would totally disagree with you, Canada.
[20:34] The Jews.
[20:37] The American people do not want, therefore, policy hostage to the Jews.
[20:42] That's for sure.
[20:43] Oh, no, but he's making a bunch of, you can tie that into it.
[20:45] I know, I know.
[20:46] And pick up the Jewish community where he's getting, where he has trouble.
[20:49] We don't have the Jewish community.
[20:51] We've got 30 percent of them.
[20:53] We're not going to get a goddamn bit more.
[21:01] Exit fee issue is an emotional issue with a few of the Jewish professional leaders.
[21:11] I'm not sure it cuts that deep as you get down the line.
[21:13] Even the Jews?
[21:14] Even the Jews.
[21:17] Exit fee issue is a way to get them out of there.
[21:21] The Russians, they don't have to give exit fees.
[21:25] If you're trying to get a visa to get out of Russia, the exit fee is a way to get them out of there.
[21:31] The Israelis have an exit.
[21:33] Why, of course.
[21:34] They will let people out of the bay.
[21:35] You can see that myself.
[21:36] I have to educate somebody that takes off.
[21:40] It's not a bad idea.
[21:44] I should make a question for all of you.
[21:48] Who would you pay to do that?
[21:49] We were talking about doing the same thing at the University of California.
[21:53] We were going to have a tuition rebate for people, graduates of the med school who stayed in California.
[21:58] Charge an exit fee to those who left.
[22:08] I think so.
[22:09] And I think that what's happening is that they're fighting against the NDR among themselves.
[22:36] he isn't now in a position to sit there and take good advice and sift it out in his own mind.
[22:42] On the other hand, he tends to go along with whatever issue the media, his media, goes up.
[22:50] His media built up wiring, so he talked about that for six months, six weeks.
[22:54] Now, his media now are really like the Randy.
[22:57] Maybe we'll talk about that for six weeks, right?
[23:02] CBS, New York Times, Washington Post,
[23:08] But on that, I don't know what you can do with something like that.
[23:15] It may not look a lot like what you're supposed to have to set it on.
[23:21] That's right.
[23:23] Why is that?
[23:45] One of them we do, yeah.
[23:49] That's one of them they can do.
[23:51] They've got some threatening folks, though.
[23:55] Craftsmen?
[23:55] Yeah.
[23:57] From the post?
[23:58] Yeah.
[23:58] If I get back to work, I'll beat the shit out of them.
[24:07] Play rock.
[24:08] Black boots and leather jackets.
[24:12] I think we will pay anything.
[24:14] This is the one period of time which the Post ain't about to start publishing.
[24:21] They will.
[24:23] They will.
[24:25] If we can get the price up.
[24:26] I'd like to see the very Post coming.
[24:29] He can't pull us in.
[25:27] Tomorrow you have the signing.
[25:29] I think it's not big enough.
[25:34] Isn't it?
[25:35] Let's wait and see how many people we've got.
[25:42] It's going to be a lot.
[25:44] It's going to be a lot.