Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 801 › Conversation 801-017
Nixon, Squire & Shriver on Women in politics and Gender discrimination
Tuesday, October 17, 1972 · 12:10 PM–12:22 PM ET · Oval Office · 12 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with representatives from the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (BPW) to discuss their organization's role and the Administration's efforts regarding women's appointments. The conversation included a photo opportunity, a discussion on the importance of economic equality and the elimination of discrimination, and a brief comparison of Chinese cultural apparel. During the visit, the participants exchanged gifts, including 1896 Republican National Convention tickets presented to the President by Jeanne Squire.
- National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs
- Women in politics
- Gender discrimination
- People's Republic of China
- Presidential appointments
- Gifts
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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This is not fairly interesting.
Oh, you're the nice man.
This is Mrs. Schreiber.
Mrs. Schreiber, the notice is here tonight.
We ought to get a press picture.
Yes, sir.
And this one, also on the desk.
Yes, sir.
Well, don't you like to be a business professional?
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm very glad.
I'm glad, too.
I'm glad I joined.
It's amazing.
It's a marvelous group.
You know, they're all for us.
I know, yeah, but I just don't join in.
They're the tribe.
I don't like it there.
In fact, I think there's nothing worse than a whole group.
These are nice people, though.
Oh, yes, they are.
Remember, part of the time, I spoke with you once in Minneapolis or someplace.
No, that was the second time.
That was the second time.
So maybe that was the best I spoke with you.
Very good.
Mr. President, Ms. Dean Clark, how are you?
Glad to see you.
Nice to welcome you here.
This is Miss Wood, my secretary.
Hi there.
How are you?
Nice to meet you.
That's all.
They're going to take a picture of us here.
You sit here.
Thank you.
You sit here.
All right.
There.
You sit there.
Well, you have done a great deal of traveling, I find.
Do they have organizations of DPWM?
Yes, we do.
We have several of those.
All right.
Are they in Latin America?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know what it looks like.
Well, I have not realized that.
I don't understand it.
I'm curious, but I don't know what it looks like.
I don't know what it looks like.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yes, there is.
And they are for the country.
But does anyone feel that they are making sense out there?
No.
No, but they're coming very close.
And they are.
And they're coming very close.
I know your organization well.
House.
When I ran for the Senate, I used to speak to Vice President, I once spoke to .
I think it's a very good thing to be here.
It's a very healthy thing to have the business professional organized and playing an instructive role so that people are aware of the fact that the opportunities
in the business world are really very great.
And the real thing, the real thing I always say here, I'm just talking to people who say they're making great money.
I said the thing about this country, you can't take any segment of our society, any talent,
and not have a sealant on it for you.
Because then the country isn't as great as it could be.
And so, it doesn't care if there's any diversity.
That's why when you get into any kind of discrimination, whether it's on the basis of age or on the basis of sex or on the basis of
The main thing is, see, we don't know whether people can come up with this, because who knows who is the best executive?
Who knows who's going to be the great guy that's going to discover some kind of a cure for something?
You know what I'm saying?
Like that Chinese, you know, they had two women doctors.
They had their group.
This is the group that came?
Yeah.
Became.
Right.
Right.
There was two women there.
You couldn't tell the difference.
I mean, the Chinese dress, of course, when you were in Taiwan, the dress is one of the most flattering of all.
The only one horrifying is the Vietnamese, where they can do more for a moment, so you're going to end up with the kind of dress.
But again, you know, the Chinese with their beautiful slits skirts and everything, and the color, and you see in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco, the people of the Republic of China, what they have done to women should be done to you.
They already have done it.
And they literally have taken all the beauty, and all the fun, and all the .
Well, this is the one of them.
You wonder what it is?
When you were on your trip to China, and the photos that we had on the television.
One of the reasons that Mrs. Nixon made such a great impression on Americans, and she wore fancy clothes, and she wore the colors, and she wore a red coat.
Everybody in America had a checkbook.
And the colored dresses, and the fact that her hair was cut.
And their hair was chopped off.
And that's about it.
The Chinese women are among the most beautiful women in the world.
They have a very great beauty, too, with the potential.
They're gentle, big, and gentle.
Well, I just want to wish you well.
We appreciate your help and support.
We want to wish you well.
We want to wish you well.
Thank you.
I have a presentation for you.
This is from my father to you.
Your father was living?
My father was living.
And he has prepared this for me to present to you today.
And these are three guest tickets for the Republican National Convention held in St. Louis June 16, 1888.
Oh, that's McKinley versus Bryan.
And he thought that perhaps you might like to have that.
How did he happen to have that?
Well, since he cannot...
He's an adult.
No, he couldn't have been.
Out of 80, 96, he was born.
Yes, he was.
My father was 78 years old.
Yeah, but he was just born.
So he could see he would be 74, he would be four years old.
But evidently it must have been in some things of his father.
He is a stat collector, but he has no way of knowing where they came from.
But he came across them.
So he said to me about a month ago or so, he said, do you think this year that you're national president that you might have a chance to see President Nixon?
And I said, well, it's a possibility, but...
Maybe, but I couldn't say for sure.
So when we talked to Henry, he said, well, and then this was arranged, so he said, well, I'm going to fix this.
And maybe he would like to have some of them.
I don't know how many there are.
So we live in a little town outside of Cleveland called Berea, Ohio.
Oh, I didn't know that.
I think he was more excited with the prospects of this than I was.
That's possible.
Because this is a very good story.
For your time.
We wish you well.
We will certainly go on.
Yes, they had a great deal of concern, too, with the conditions of the world.
Sure.
This conference was totally about better understanding of the women in the country.
Mr. President, this group has been extremely helpful to us in our search.
Yes, I know.
Very grateful.
I know.
We're doing quite well.
How are you?
How are we doing?
Very good.
Uh, let's see, now, in terms of numbers, we're up to 121.
That's comparative.
Well, that's quadruple.
Four times as many as executive positions.
Yes, you have your administration.
That's what I think.
Four times more.
No, keep going.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Merry Christmas.
It's yours.
Thank you.
Well, thank you.
Good luck to you.
Good luck to you.
My father was born in Ohio, too.
Good.
I'm sorry to ask, but my mother is Indiana.
So I'm in Worcester, too.
Well, thank you.
Well done.
Well done.
Well done.
Now, Rose, you should join her.
She wants to join you.
She should.
She should.
She should.
She should.
She should.
Why don't we pay her a great deal of money?
No, no.
Okay.
Have fun, now.
Thank you.
And bring the girl for me.
NARA Description
On October 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Rose Mary Woods, Jeanne Squire, Lucille Shriver, Barbara H. Franklin, Henry C. Cashen, II, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:10 pm and 12:22 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 801-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 801-17
Date: October 17, 1972
Time: Unknown between 12:10 pm - 12:22 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Stephen B. Bull.
The President’s schedule
-Gale E. Sayers
-The President’s view
-Forthcoming meeting with Jeanne Squire, Lucille Shriver and Rose Mary Woods
-Press photograph
Woods entered at an unknown time after 12:10 pm.
Woods's schedule
-Forthcoming meeting with the representatives of the National Federation of
Business and Professional Women’s Clubs [BPW]
Bull left at an unknown time before 12:11 pm.
BPW
-Woods’s view
-The President’s view
-The President’s previous speech in Minneapolis
-Unknown secretaries’ organization
-Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
[Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Airplane crash
-The President's call to Corrine (Claiborne) (“Lindy”) Boggs
Squire, Shriver, Barbara H. Franklin, and Henry C. Cashen entered at 12:11 pm; the White
House photographer and members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting.
Introductions
Photographs
-Arrangement
Squire's schedule
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] [?]
-El Salvador
-BPW organizations in Latin America
[Photograph session]
BPW
-International organizations
-State Department [?]
-The President’s previous interactions with BPW
-The President’s experience as a member of the House of Representatives
-The President’s experience during his Senate campaign
-The President’s experience as Vice President
-BPW national convention
-The President’s view
-Value of BPW
-The President's conversation with Sayers
-Chicago Bears
-Economic opportunities for all Americans
-Opposition to discrimination of all forms
-Age
-Gender
-Example of women doctors from the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
PRC
-Women’s clothes
-Traditional Chinese apparel
-Taiwan, Republic of China
-Vietnam
-Color
-Taiwan
-Hong Kong
-Singapore
-San Francisco
-Communist Chinese apparel
-Pants
-Lack of beauty
-The President’s previous trip to the PRC
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon’s appearance
-Colors of her clothes
-Red coat
-Hair style
-Compared to PRC women’s hair styles
-Women
-Appearance
-The President’s view
Presentation of gifts by the President
-Presidential seal
-Presidential pin
Presentation of gifts to the President by Squire
-1896 Republican National Convention tickets
-St. Louis
-William McKinley-William Jennings Bryant campaign
-Squire’s father
-Age
-Desire to give tickets to the President
-Value
Squire’s hometown
-Berea, Ohio
Presentation of gifts by the President
-Cuff links
Squire’s forthcoming trip to Latin America
-Forthcoming BPW convention
The Administration’s appointment of women
-Role of BPW
-Number of appointees
-Compared to other administrations
The President's father [Frank Nixon]
-Ohio background
-The President’s mother [Hannah Milhous Nixon]
-Indiana background
Woods’s possible enrollment in BPW
Woods et al. left at 12:22 pm.Also recorded on October 17, 1972
- 031-102 11:30 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 11:30 am to 11:32 am.
- 031-103 11:32 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:32 am and 11:33 am.
- 031-104 11:33 AM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Corrine ("Lindy") (Clairborne) Boggs talked on the telephone from 11:33 am to 11:34 am.
- 801-018 12:22 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:22 pm and 12:24 pm.
- 801-019 12:24 PM · 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Dr. Carl Laughlin, Dr. William O. Chase, Hal M. Christensen, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., White House photographer, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:24 pm to 12:50 pm.
- 801-020 12:50 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:50 pm and 12:52 pm.
- 368-001 12:52 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:52 pm and 2:10 pm.
- 368-002 12:52 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:52 pm and 2:10 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 801-017, October 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/801-017 (accessed October 10, 2026).