Conversation 822-006

TapeTape 822StartWednesday, December 13, 1972 at 3:08 PMEndWednesday, December 13, 1972 at 3:47 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Armstrong, Anne L.;  Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob");  Bull, Stephen B.Recording deviceOval Office

On December 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Anne L. Armstrong, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:08 pm to 3:47 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 822-006 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 822-6

Date: December 13, 1972
Time: 3:08 pm – 3:47 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Anne L. Armstrong and H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

       Greetings

       [Photograph session]
            -Washington Redskins-Dallas Cowboys game, December 10, 1972
                  -Result
                  -Injuries
                        -Larry Brown
                                             -6-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-08)

                                                          Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

                  -Armstrong’s schedule
                       -Ice storm in Texas


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

      Republican National Committee [RNC] Chairmanship
           -George H. W. Bush

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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      United Nations [UN]
           -George H. W. Bush’s view
           -Value
                 -Hijacking vote, December 12, 1972
                       -Africa


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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

             -Compared to Republican Party

      Bush
             -Accomplishments
             -Senate and House committees

      Robert C. (“Bob”) Wilson
           -Decision to rn
           -Newspaper reports
                  -Washington Post, Dallas Morning News
                  -Daniel H. Kuykendall
                  -Haldeman’ to follow-up on story
           -Gerald R. Ford

      Republican candidates
           -New Majority
                                      -7-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. June-08)

                                                 Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

     -Wilson, William E. Brock, III
           -Senate
     -Bush
     -House of Representatives
           -Age
           -Quality
     -Ford
           -Clarence J. (“Bud”) Brown, Jr.
     -Wilson

Refreshments

Republican candidates
     -Wilson
           -1968 election
           -Bush
           -Brown
           -Barber B. Conable, Jr.
           -Ford
           -Kuykendall
                  -Tennessee
           -Bush
     -Unified organization
           -Research finance
           -Republican campaign, committees
           -1971 campaign finances
     -Robert J. (“Bob”) Dole
           -Work during 1972 campaign
                  -Concentration of resources
     -1974 Congressional elections
           -State legislatures
           -Candidates
     -Armstrong
           -Speech at Republican Convention
     -Democratic Party
           -Public attitude
           -New Majority
                  -Tom Flynn [?]
                  -The President’s outreach
                        -Maryland, Florida
                                               -8-

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-08)

                                                             Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

                       -1972 election
                             -Florida, Texas
                       -Ethnics
                 -Divisions

      John B. Connally
           -Conversations with Armstrong and the President
                 -Invitation to support the President
                       -Texas Republican Party
                 -Leader of Texas politics
           -Future with Democrats
                 -Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
                 -Robert S. Strauss

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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      Second term reorganization
           -Armstrong
                 -Chief of Protocol
                       -Armstrong’s conversation with Haldeman
                             -Tobin Armstrong’s schedule
                                   -Parties
                                   -Trips
                                         -US image
                                         -Ranch
                       -Trips
                             -1973
                                   -Europe
                                   -Number
                                   -Europe
                                   -[Leonid I. Brezhnev’s] trip to the US
                                   -Europe
                                         -February
                             -Soviet Union, People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                                   -Duration
                       -Image
                             -Tobin Armstrong
                       -Conversation with Dwight L. Chapin
                           -9-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                   Tape Subject Log
                     (rev. June-08)

                                            Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

     -State Department
-Bicentennial Commission
     -The President’s note
     -Chairmanship
           -David J. Mahoney, Jr.
     -Management
     -Communications
     -Liaison to state commissions, governors, countries
     -Anne Armstrong’s schedule
           -Compared to Chief of Protocol
     -Tobin Armstrong
     -Problems
           -Mahoney’s schedule
           -Committee
           -Management
           -Politics
                  -1972 election
                        -Congressional relations
                              -Democrats
     -James Roosevelt
           -Franklin D. Roosevelt
           -Chairmanship
-Women
     -Appointment to high positions
     -Marriage
     -Marina von N. Whitman
           -[Robert Whitman]
                  -University of Pittsburgh
     -Atomic Energy Commission [AEC]
     -Oveta Culp Hobby
     -Frances Perkins
           -Hobby
     -Chief of Protocol
           -Ambassadorship
           -Symbolism
-Bicentennial Commission
     -Co-chairmanship
-Value
     -“Sales” ability
     -Television [TV]
                         -10-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                  Tape Subject Log
                    (rev. June-08)

                                          Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

           -Women
-White House staff
     -Cuts
     -Barbara H. Franklin
           -Recruitment
     -Blacks, Jews, women
     -Anne Armstrong’s schedule
           -Texas
     -Bicentennial Commission
           -Liaison
           -Leonard Garment
           -The President’s conversation with Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
           -Liaison with former Presidents
           -Special consultancy
           -Congressional relations
           -Ethnic quotas
           -Office location
                  -Jackson [Place]
                        -James Biddle
                        -Compared to Executive Office Building [EOB]
           -Purpose
     -Role
           -Advisor
           -Speaker
           -Liaison
           -Bicentennial Commission
           -Republican Party
     -Woman
     -Role
           -Compared to Garment
           -Special Consultant or Special Counsel
           -Bicentennial Commission
           -Other duties
     -Women’s groups’ criticism
           -Special Consultant
     -Possible title
           -Special Consultant
           -Importance
     -Anne Armstrong’s schedule
     -Women
                                               -11-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. June-08)

                                                            Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

                              -Point of view
                              -Franklin’s office
                                    -Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
                                    -Personnel
                                    -Policy
                              -Virginia H. Knauer
                                    -Consumer Affairs
                                    -Depart of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW]
                        -Office location
                              -Jackson Place
                                    -Bicentennial Commission
                              -EOB
                                    -Counselors
                                           -Cabinet
                        -Bicentennial Commission

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 3:08 pm.

       The President’s schedule
            -George P. Shultz

Bull left at an unknown time before 3:47 pm.

       Second term reorganization
            -Armstrong
                  -Bicentennial Commission
                        -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
                              -Concern
                              -Francis J. (“Frank”) Sinatra
                                    -Chairmanship
                              -Chairmanship
                              -Garment
                  -White House staff
                        -Need for specific responsibilities
                              -Charles B. (“Bud”) Wilkinson
                                    -[National Center for Voluntary Action] [NCVA]
                              -Bryce N. Harlow’s view
                                    -Counselor to the President
                              -NCVA
                                    -Wilkinson
                                           -12-

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-08)

                                                            Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

                                   -George W. Romney
                                   -Compared to Bicentennial Commission
           -Bicentennial Commission
                -Possible failure
                -Richard M. Nixon era
                -Possible failure
                      -Congress
                      -States’ responsibility
           -Armstrong
                -Bicentennial Commission
                      -Possible failure
                -White House staff
                      -Possible staff
                      -Office location
                      -Specific responsibilities
                             -Announcement
                                   -Bicentennial Commission
                      -Political meetings
                             -Bush

      The President’s schedule
           -Shultz


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

      Wilson candidacy
           -Message to Ford
           -The President’s support
                 -Fundraising
                       -House Campaign Committee
                       -Photographs with the President
           -Role for women
                 -1972 campaign
                 -Dole
                 -Clark MacGregor
                       -Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
                       -Lack of women on staff
                 -Rita E. Hauser
                                           -13-

                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-08)

                                                            Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

                 -Pat Hutar
                       -Volunteer

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************


      Second term reorganization
           -Armstrong
                 -White House staff
                       -Politics
                       -John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
                              -Garment
                              -Modern art
                              -Nancy Hanks
                       -Bicentennial Commission
                       -Kennedy Center
                              -Modern architecture and art
                                   -The President’s view
                                   -Henry A. Kissinger
                                   -Garment
                                   -1973 Inauguration
                                         -Reviewing stand
                                         -Weather
                                   -“The Movement”
                                   -Physical appearances, lives
                                         -[Robert H. Bork]
                                               -Solicitor General
                                               -Beard
                                               -Conservatism
                                                     -Barry M. Goldwater
                                   -Lifestyle
                                   -The President’s views
                                         -Public opinion
                                   -Ted Cummings
                                   -Hollywood
                       -Compared to Chief of Protocol
                              -Image
                                   -Tobin Armstrong
                                   -The President’s travels
                                           -14-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                      (rev. June-08)

                                                             Conversation No. 822-6 (cont’d)

                                           -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
                       -Anne Armstrong’s schedule
                       -New Majority
                              -Bicentennial Commission
                       -Anne Armstrong’s relationship with Bush, William E. Brock, III
                       -Women
                              -Political meetings
                                     -Fights
                                           -Republican Party
                                           -Constance Armitage of National Federation of
                                             Republican Women
                              -Groups’ criticism
                              -AEC
                                     -Dr. Edward E. David, Jr.
                                           -Shultz
                              -Change
                                     -Cabinet
                              -Supreme Court
                                     -Preparation
                       -Anne Armstrong’s possible conversation with Haldeman
                       -Possible title
                              -Compared to Garment’s title
                       -Office location
                              -White House, EOB
                       -Bicentennial Commission
                       -Politics
                       -Special projects
                       -South
                       -Recruitment
                       -South
                              -Democrats
                                     -Relationship with John E. Tower
                                           -Background
                                                 -Texas
                                     -Southern Republicans
                                           -Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
                                                 -Linwood Holton’s view

Armstrong and Haldeman left at 3:47 pm.
                                               -15-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. June-08)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

Well, how are you?
Hello, Mr. President.
Good to see you.
Good to see you.
Thank you very much.
How are you?
Oh, good to see you, too.
Oh, good to see you.
That's what we did to the rich kids, huh?
Oh, God, you heard me.
They were right.
They were right.
They were right.
No, I didn't.
I was driving on a mighty road in Texas.
We had a big ice storm, and we thought we would get to where we could get to.
Yeah.
Well, I'm delighted about my fellow Texan, George Bush, and I think he'll make us just a great show.
You know, it's really terribly hard for him to take it, you know, because he likes the U.S.
I don't know why.
I think he likes the challenge of this useless body action.
Necessarily useless in terms of what he accomplished on the big scene.
And that vote, the other, if there was any doubt vote on the hijacking judgment, he couldn't get those medical evidence even to go along with that, you know.
He showed you what we're up against.
And they're uncivilized, you know, those people.
But we have to deal with it.
But George will find this uncivilized with the U.N. and the Republicans are more uncivilized.
Not really.
I think not if you wait in there and put your effort behind it.
George doesn't do a lot there.
George is, it depends too very much on what happens.
His counterparts at the House of Representatives.
And so where Wilson was going to run again,
Really?
It's in the morning, in the morning paper.
Here?
In the post?
In the post.
It's the only one I've read.
No, I have read the Dallas Morning News, too.
It could have been under the tube.
And I was amazed because I know about the Ohio and the, this is back in 4th D. And about the Kirkendall one.
I didn't know.
I didn't know that.
Who was following up on that?
You better follow up on the day.
Yes, sir.
Because you didn't check it today or like that.
My God, if Jerry Ford doesn't step up for that, there it is.
Well, I've heard about the hassle, but...
If you see some of our candidates for the House, we have to work for them.
And, of course, I think that's the secret to the whole consolidation of the new majority of candidates.
Now, Brock, apparently, is going to do the same thing I saw him last night.
When I said he was going to do it, he's going to get it.
Well, he'll be great.
He's going to get it.
Well, he's got the right attitudes and so forth.
So Bush, Brock, they're two good ones.
So they do well in the Senate.
But the real key, the place to begin is House members.
And it's so easy, really.
It takes me 25 years of age.
Our candidates were, they tried hard, and there were some good ones.
But generally speaking, they were too old for the wrong kind of candidates in the wrong places and so forth and so on.
And...
I mean, I shook hands with all of them.
It was a very miserable collection.
And I knew when I got through, I was like, my God.
So what we, when did you, when have you heard about, has anybody been checking the board around here?
The last I heard was that he had it all set.
He was going to move ahead on the background.
You see, Bob Willis said all along, Bob Willis, there's something, as I knew 10 years ago, in 1964, he was younger, older, enthusiastic, and he set up this business where he went out and tried to get money.
And it was very good, because he created a lot of steam.
People were saying, even now, he ran out of power.
Well, actually, he ran out before the 16th elections.
I mean, I can see that.
The candidates were loud, saying that Bob's interest was almost exclusively about the incumbents.
Now, trying to just get the incumbents elected, fine, gets him elected.
But this gets you a majority, you see?
So, um...
Can't backtrack on it.
Maybe again, maybe Bush will be the answer on this deal.
Because, of course, I would hope that you could accomplish more consolidation at the top as far as leaders are concerned.
Well, what we're trying to do, the deal is, the deal is actually Bush, Brown, or this fall from New York, either one would be all right.
Brown probably, I don't know, but Ford knows he Brown is the best of the three.
Kirby Bell would be a good man, but he's more of a matter.
I mean, you kind of have to kind of see how these
who would probably be brown.
There you would have three relatively young men, but you would have three men with a different approach.
They want to win.
They want to do things differently.
And Bush would have to be responsible for the end.
We tried to pull them all together under one tent.
They all worked together.
They should have one research organization.
They should have one finance organization.
They should have one organization in addition to that for the purpose of
of the building, the candidates, and so forth.
Now, that's the way they ought to work instead of going off.
You know, when I think of the year 1971, the committees, those three spent $11 million.
Now, what in the hell did they do with $11 million?
I mean, you know.
Let's see.
For $12 million, you can pick out 60 House candidates.
There you go.
Top notch.
The first would win.
That's right.
And you can... What you need to do is to consecrate your money.
My dad would just pick the dough.
He'd say, all right, we're going to do this.
And you take their whole staff and just freeze it down to just enough to answer the phone, you know, and a few things like that.
Right now, this is the beauty of it now.
You see, during the last regime, next year you had the election.
Everything had to be concentrated on that.
Bob Dole had a great job out there, you know, foot of the knife and everything.
You did a great job of that.
But now, all they've got to do is to try to allow, you know, members, not only just to the House and the Senate, but even state legislatures.
That, of course, is a matter of state organization.
But it all gets down to a new spirit.
They just can't go with the old hacks anymore.
Isn't that it?
They can't go with the old hacks, and they can't go with people who don't know how to talk, you know, as you did so effectively at the convention.
to the Democrats.
I mean, most of these people don't really want the Democrats in.
That's the problem.
That's the problem.
That's the problem.
I talked a lot about that, and he said, he said, this is the one my folks in, and I said, all right, we'll get to that.
So I had to speak to the Democrats from Maryland.
I had to speak to the Democrats from Florida.
I did all two comments on apparatus.
Republican Texas come on.
But you don't carry Florida with 72% of the vote.
You don't win Texas 2 to 1 by winning all the Republican cities.
Huh?
No.
That's the good news.
But you know, the point is, some of our people understood it.
But so many of them, I really think, fear bringing the other people in.
They don't want these, they don't want these so-called layup makes and so forth and so on.
Well, basically, they all just love to have anybody come in.
And particularly now that the Democrats are having such a dickens of a time, pulling themselves together.
This is our chance to just walk right in there, keep them open, keep them divided.
Correct.
I absolutely agree with you.
I was going to see Mr. Connolly yesterday, and I made an appointment, and then something happened because I wanted to personally invite him.
You know, you just assumed that by you, naturally, you talk constantly to him.
But I thought, my gosh, I wonder who of the Texas Republican Party has urged John Connolly to join the party.
No one has.
And I said, how long can we be?
They probably all do know very well.
John plays his own game.
He wants to be the boss of Texas.
I'm trying to kill the party.
So anyway, I failed yesterday.
I had to take an appointment, but I'm going to see him just for that very reason.
Good.
We'll, uh, I discussed it very handedly with him.
It has been discussed with him, of course.
But, uh, and he'll take his time.
He'll make up his mind.
But he had no future in the Democratic Party.
None.
I was scared to death that he might think he did, because I don't think he does either.
Good.
He knows me.
Well, he can.
I've read him off.
He was strong.
He was strong.
I was astounded, frankly.
Even after he was elected, I could see him reading him out before, but when he repeated that, I figured he meant it.
Pretty strong, yeah.
He made comments all the time.
Let me ask you this, would you do anything for us, or are you just going to be too busy?
We've talked about this a little bit, and I raised the protocol, possibly, and Anderson is interested in that, and has a very valid point that he raised, well, it is a very valid point, which is that it's a tough job for a woman to handle without her husband there.
And the question of whether we're really putting our best foot forward to have a woman as chief of protocol with a husband, without a husband, without her husband on tap, in other words, at parties, on trips, and that sort of thing.
He couldn't always be alone.
This might not look right, but she's going to explore that.
On the other hand, he wouldn't have to always be alone.
That's the point.
But do we do the check?
Huh?
Do we do the check?
I think our image of the United States should be of...
And I want to put you in the best light and our country in the best light.
And you have to lose time and lose image explaining that my husband had to be back on the ranch working now.
I asked Bob about how many trips you might be making next year.
Well, there'd be one here.
I said there'd be one and maybe two of this about.
That's right.
You don't need a group.
And then maybe, you know, we might take a flip and do, but the travel is surprisingly small.
You know, we've been to a number of countries, but except for the Russian and China trips, both of which were long, they usually took about two weeks, but we, you know,
Your trips get a lot of attention, but they don't take that long.
Well, I'm concerned about you.
I'm concerned about you.
There you go.
I was just lately with Bob.
I have, frankly, a problem with image selling this to my husband because it has an image of frippery.
And I asked Bob to whom I could talk without divulging a confidence that this might be an offender.
He suggested Dwight.
I suggested you talk to Dwight because he's worked with the chief of protocol, knows what the job is, and wouldn't get into anything over at the State Department.
And don't talk to us.
I'll try to get a better idea of it before I discuss it, both for myself and for .
Well, here's something I thought of.
and i wonder then if you were going to turn your interest towards that because to me that would be a natural climax
And I thought, particularly with your sense of history, that this might be something that you became increasingly interested in, and that maybe I could be useful to you in some role in that.
And I gather it's been kind of a jumble and a mess lately.
And I don't necessarily see myself as the chairman if Mr. Mahoney should decide to depart.
I think my court is not managerial.
I know it isn't.
If I manage things, I have to get a manager.
But I think... As far as big states as well in my religion...
Well, I think the thing I bet that is communicating, whether just talking to people or making a talk.
And I enjoy that, and I was thinking perhaps
The bicentennial would need a liaison or a roving ambassador to the state bicentennial commissions, to the governors, to foreign countries.
It would enable me to gauge my own time to be more flexible than, say, the protocol job would.
I think my husband would be far more interested in that, and I think he could be a big asset.
He loves history.
This would be new ground.
It would be something...
that we would believe in both for our country and to be the capital for you.
Let me say that the bicentennial at the present time is immense.
And part of the problem is that the committee is weak.
Part of the problem is that the management is poor.
And then there's an overriding political involvement that the area doesn't tackle.
And up to this point, nobody wanted to, before the election, and actually our Democratic friends in Congress didn't want to help us function.
But now they've got to go along some way.
It's going to be rather hard, but, you know.
We've already made some commitments on that.
I mean, Jimmy Roosevelt was doing good work on the Bicentennial, you know, abroad or something.
That was the only commitment we made, which isn't bad, you know, to use the Senate more.
We have not made any, uh, we have not made any commitments with regard to his chairmanship or his... See, the difficulty at the present time, what we, what we do, what we would like to do, and, and, and your problem is, is that the only one that is always raised when they talk about appointing women in life books, is that, uh, the appointment of a woman to a high
Or Dr. Whitmer, who would move her.
Yeah, but what I had is she could go, yeah, she could move.
But her husband, of course, had to be transferred here, and that was a little hard, too.
He's teaching at Pittsburgh, and so he's got to get a sabbatical.
But I understand.
It is not as easy.
We've done a lot of appointments there.
We've got them in the Atomic Energy Commission and many commissions where we've never served before.
uh the only time uh you know on the women's again it'll be the hobby that uh we've had that experience for a while that's why it's perfect yes years before everybody uh
What I'm trying to find, the only recent protocol that appealed to me was that no woman has ever held me.
So I said, all right, just put a woman.
You've got Ambassador Ernst wrong.
That's pretty good.
Now... Well, I think that is necessary.
Then where's that symbolism?
Now, we just put you in, in the Bicentennial, and she's going to be our co-chairman of the Bicentennial Committee.
I wonder if that reaches our goal.
You see, basically, you're a good property.
I mean, I don't think you have that.
You're a good property.
You're good.
You make the parents and all that sort of thing.
You can do their sales.
You can sell.
You can sell on television.
I wonder if there's any way, basically, Bob, if you could just bring her in the White House.
I mean, because here,
Yes, we have.
We have.
Who's it?
Franklin.
Yeah, very Franklin.
Yeah.
She's done a very good job recruiting, very good job recruiting.
But it isn't just that.
You just don't want to have a house black or a house Jew or a house woman, right?
What I'm thinking of is something else.
Are we missing something here?
Probably.
We may see, if you have the White House situation, that we have total control over the time and all that.
You don't have to worry about whether you were here and you had to go to Texas or this or that.
Everybody would understand because we run our own show.
That's the main thing.
The question is how you do it in a way that you can get out front on that, basically the White House.
The House is an office.
Our inside rather than outside.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
Bicentennial is a possibility.
But who are we talking?
Do we have any other names?
And the way you can do that, the way you can do that, maybe, is go to a presidential appointment, not on the Bicentennial Commission, but on the president's staff.
as the president's...
The president's bicentennial director in trying to have, on that basis, work.
Bicentennial is going to develop visibility, or it can't.
It can't.
We have Leonard Kierman who started fiddling around with that, but a lot of other things, too, and he does everything well.
But somebody's got to spend full time on it.
It's got to get going.
Coble was mentioned to me yesterday, and he was on that.
We're closing in on the President's Office of Special Assistant for Liaison of the Former Presidents, because you'll be it.
The former presidents are either dead or dying, and don't write to the liaison.
And so you can go the other way and set up a new office, which is Special Consultant for Liaison of the Bicentennial, or Special Consultant on American Bicentennial.
That might be better, too, as far as being a free agent of, you know, free congressional pressure, and free of this ethnic, quota system pressure, and... Be clear with the presidents.
Let's just...
I mean, say, look at the capitals.
In other words, we would get to put somebody...
Thank you very much.
We've had a lot to do.
We didn't just kick them off.
take office over there in the Jackson Square, which is where the Bicentennial people are, where we've got the other presidential... My first cousin is Jimmy Bipper.
Is he tough to get along with?
I wonder if that's going to help recruit him.
It shouldn't be.
I think he'll be in the Jackson Square.
The better office.
Huh?
Well, he may be the sensational ruler.
Yeah, yeah.
I think you have to weigh that versus the prestige and leverage.
I think it's a matter of fact.
I want to remember we're using the Bicentennial, but...
That's right.
Let's be quite candid about it.
What we really want, we'd like to have you, what I'd like to acquire is the capability of having you here as a special advisor, as a speaker, as a, you know, the... That's a liaison, I think.
Well, yeah, but first, the mic, the mic.
That would be your job.
You've got to have something subsidy.
But what I meant is, as I would look at it, you would continue your party work, you'd continue your work in the White House, you know, and the rest of it.
Why don't you really talk about it?
A top-flight woman, basically, on the White House staff.
is probably an excellent idea on the President's side.
A similar role to Land Guards is the kind of general, special consultant to the President, or special consultant to the President.
And that can give you as one assignment.
As one assignment.
Now, that would be the major assignment, but we might give you something else, too.
There are other things that come along here that are maybe temporary, for example.
We'd say, all right, we would point to Ms. Armstrong to do this or that or the other thing.
That's right.
That might answer some of the criticism we're getting from the women's groups, too.
Yeah.
You haven't had a woman, what do you call it, special consultant?
No, no.
There would not be a woman special consultant.
I would not call it a special consultant, though.
It has to be the title of a special assistant.
The title is terribly important.
Right.
I think the title is terribly important because of the...
That way, you could work on a loose time basis, too.
You could work... Yeah, yeah.
You could work on the basis...
The more I think about being able to get three minutes...
The more I think about it, too.
You could see, you could get the woman's point of view into various discussions.
You could get it... You see, taking the Franklin office, it's a very good office, but it basically deals, it's not a boy's business.
No, it's White House, but it's out of the personnel office.
But the thing is, she's at a different level.
She's out of the policy level.
The only other one we have is Darn in some way, and that's going to be changed.
Moved over to AGWs.
Yeah.
All right.
I think that would be the way to do it.
No, I think the idea of a...
But not...
But Bob?
But I'm thinking, too, is that I don't like the idea of Jackson Square or whatever that is.
I don't know about that.
Well, I was thinking that in terms of Isententa.
Well, you're talking about Isententa.
She had an office there, too.
You know, my point is, my point is you get the maximum, the maximum stroke here.
She should have an office in my view, I think, in the EOB one.
Right.
As a matter of fact, you can take that one right across from me.
Well, it's EOB.
Well, we're going to have accounts of proximity there.
We're going to have account writers there, you see.
That's right.
We have a new system that people won't hear much, people won't hear about it, because they'll slip in eventually about it.
Accounting officers and account counselors.
But I think you have that.
Because I think that to just, here's the thing I'm concerned about, I don't know if I can say it three times, Chris.
As you know, there's been some thought of having Mags work on a special project.
He'd kind of like to do it.
He's a little afraid of it, too, because he's afraid it's a loser.
You know, he knows it's a lot of money.
But how's that standing at the moment?
Now, we couldn't, I would not, he's pushing, you know, Frank Sinatra for the
Yeah, and the other thing, let me say, though, let me say, does Agnew think he's going to be this, or how far down the track?
No, Agnew sees this as a responsibility, but not as chairman.
But she cannot be, we're just going to have someone outside the chair, but she cannot be working for Agnew on this.
I've had one work even before, and he'd be working...
With that, in the way Garment would be working with that, you move the bicentennial responsibility, in a sense, from Garment's office to Dan's office, and you move some other responsibilities in the White House.
You can't just come into the White House staff with a sort of vague thing that just doesn't work.
We've found that with other people.
You've got to have specific responsibilities.
You've got to come in with a...
I think this was his volunteer.
Well, that's the other thing.
Bryce made that point when Bryce moved to council.
He said that you can't have people who don't have the line center.
He had the situation, for example, of the Voluntary Center, which Bud worked on.
He couldn't act.
It was just hard to get off the ground.
It's still hard to get off the ground.
That, of course, rocked.
Well, you could afford to have that end up a flop, which I presume it was, but you can't afford to have the bicentennial be a flop.
I don't think so.
No, we can't.
Well, the bicentennial really is the climax of the next era.
It ought to be done right so that it wraps up the next era the right way.
Yeah.
You know, the idea of it must
Or if it is going to be a flop and it's hopeless, let's figure it out pretty fast.
And get out the money.
Throw it all in the states.
Well, no, he's kidnapped, though.
And you may be on a trip.
But let's figure it out if it can be done.
If it can, it would be a tremendous plus.
If it's not, let's get out the money.
That's the reason, though, because of the doubts, to bring it in under a broader...
I don't know what I'm about to know now.
I think what I want you to do, what you might do, is to have a...
First, there should be a title, or there would be a clear line of relation for us.
In other words, it's not even down the line and all of that.
And there are differences.
I'll have to look at the title to be sure whether it's adequate.
The second thing is that the place must be here.
The third thing is that there must be a specific assignment announced at the time, which is, say, with special responsibility for the vice-companion, for example.
And then, finally, there would be an understanding that we would ever participate in, for example, our political columns.
See, one of the problems that we've got at the present time with the Bush incident, you get on board right away and see what the hell is happening.
Because we cannot allow that to happen again.
I want Ford, he has to be told,
And it told squarely that if Wilson is re-elected, I will not participate in any fundraising activities for the House campaign committee.
None.
And there'll be no pictures with candidates.
None.
Now that's the only way you can get it across, I should agree.
How many more?
Yeah.
Well, they've never heard it before, but they've got to understand.
I campaigned for them, and suddenly I shake their hand, you know, you do everything.
But you can't, like the turkey.
Now, you see, if you have that, then you see, she participated in the political problem, which would be great.
We needed actually a woman in that.
We haven't had enough of that because we had to, during the campaign, well, actually, when we had our, we'd have to go over, you know, for some of the, you know, the little meetings.
But we haven't had a woman in any of those meetings that I recall.
Well, we should have had.
Part of the reason was that getting that Gregor outfit.
They didn't have a woman, did they?
We never got her an outfit.
The other Gregor outfit did.
Well, Rita was one of your... Who?
Rita and Hugh.
Rita and Hugh.
And Hugh Houser.
Rita Houser, Pat Huchard, and... Pat Huchard was one of the volunteers for the committee.
Oh, yeah, I met all of them, but they were not at the high level.
What I'm getting at is, Bob, you could have the political thing, and then you could have the, and then a lot of other, there's a lot of assignments that could be undertaken.
I mean, that could be important and interesting, and we could say, and we look around and who's going to do what.
Like, let us suppose, for example, it has something to do with that Dan Kennedy Center.
Why don't we have Hercula?
I mean, because I don't have...
You weren't a moderator?
Well, that was the main problem.
That was the main problem.
We had the center, and all those things, and so forth.
Well, what I meant is, suppose we have something that we want to do about, you know, something in that field.
We've got a very good woman who's in the arts, who's a very, very good woman.
The point is that, and this has to do with the Bison Canyon too, and this requires a lot of changing of minds.
Generally speaking, virtually everything tilts too much, in my view, to modern architecture and modern art and all the rest that I despise.
Now, lots of people like it.
Henry Dissinger likes it.
Leonard Harmon's got a lot of people coming and hanging around, but I don't want it around.
So therefore, when they built, they submitted something up here, something across the way that they were going to have here as a revealing stand.
We had to turn it down.
We turned it down on the ground in the snow and knocked it down, which it was that bad in one of these floating off in space.
So the point is that we don't want to be square and dull.
We are not representative of the so-called movement, and we are not going to appeal to the movement.
Well, that doesn't mean that we're going to insist that everybody have a haircut and no beard and all the rest.
We just want a new man for solicitor general, a bearded professor from Virginia, but he's so conservative.
He's to the right of Barry Goldwater.
Thank God.
That's why we put him in.
But he doesn't fool them, see, because of the beard.
The whole point that I'm making is this.
It has a lot to do with lifestyle, yeah.
It has a lot to do with it.
It's which way we're going to go.
And I don't like to have, I don't like to have this office represented by people who do not share my views, or at least they don't share my views or want to follow my views with regard to the direction I'm going to go, you see.
Your views happen to coincide with the views of most of the 61% that voted for you, too.
It isn't as if your views were out of touch with mine.
I've got some of them.
Ted Cummings, my friends in Hollywood and the rest are all like the modern stuff we argue about.
I don't mind that.
But at least they don't go clear off the deep end in another way.
Why don't we talk, why don't we, why don't we do a little, I frankly think that the White House is better than protocol.
I think protocol would pose problems.
I mean, you're right.
I mean, she wouldn't know what to do.
Doesn't her husband think enough of the president?
Yeah, and also it looks a little strange.
It's just a hard deal.
It's one of those things.
You travel without that.
They ask for a shoot, and then you're traveling along with them.
Which is much, much rarer and more noticeable and harder to explain for a woman's family.
But I think the idea of that, then you see your time would be your time, when you're all naturally watching as much as you can be, but we can control that.
You can come in, you can come out, and you can help them.
You get along well with Bush.
You've got Bush and Frosk and all these people.
You see what I mean?
If we start thinking, as you know, one of the reasons we have not provided women in for political meetings is that the women are always fighting.
You've got the Republican woman and you've got the head of that
And if you don't have the two, they get mad, and there's another one that also wants to come in.
Now you see what you're here to.
She's ours.
You get the point?
Yeah.
You have a woman here.
Everybody would understand.
I think that might be.
It's going to be an idea, and then nobody can say that the woman's voice is not heard, that it's not the highest levels.
You'd have to be at the important things, and that could make a real contribution.
and i think mr president to dissociate whatever you ask me to do or whatever happens uh we are getting tremendous black now from the women's groups i know you're aware of it and read about it and you've had great momentum because of your the number and quality of your appointments you really make headway and we you have lost a little in the last couple of weeks and so i think
Selfishly, to point out things very appealing to me, I think it would help with women to have this first.
But in addition to this, now speak on behalf of other women.
I think we're going to need more than that, too.
I hope you already know that.
Okay, I will try.
We're trying to find them as we're trying to... What happened to David on that thing?
Is he going to take it or not?
I think so.
Let's do that.
Why don't we talk to him?
I'll talk to him.
See George.
Well, you have great momentum with the women, and with one or two appointments that are even changed.
If you even expand some jobs, you switch them.
Since they didn't get the cabinet, if you fool them with a little inflation of some job here or there, I would fool them.
But really, it's different.
It can catch the attention.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
well i think it would be very helpful in addition to that and if you would do this and that will give us we will make women appointments i'm uh i'm looking down the road in the court thank you well mr president would you like me to talk further with bob then about uh further details and titles
I don't, I haven't thought of it or nothing for this way.
Well, you have.
I'll work the title out.
You're original, and I don't want it to be a Cousin Sullivan, right?
It's got to be different from mine.
It's got to be a, so there's no question about what position it is.
It's got to be high, you see?
So I'll look at the title myself.
And I think, at the end, the office must be in the White House, basically.
You know, I mean, either in this building or in the old building.
Well, let me take a look at where it has to be.
We'll just have to see.
It has to be in the empty space.
But there's, yeah.
When we change the things around a little bit, we've got a room in there that moves people around.
But the... And then I think, because I think that's the ideal situation.
And it feels to me very very different to that when you take on the bison, that'll be the meat and potatoes of it.
In addition, you'll be working on politics, and you'll be working on, frankly, special projects, etc.
And in fact, she could be the supervisor of a lot of the recruiting thing.
Well, also southern politics, which is something we've been considering.
Yeah, yeah.
But remembering that we welcome Democrats.
I do.
We'll assign John Power to help you work on it.
How is it that you know he's better than you think about that?
As long as he's in Texas.
No, but he's going to be in the same legislation now as the governor.
So I think it's a little different.
I understand how our southern Republicans feel.
They're afraid.
They're just over the deal.
Why don't we pay attention to these Democrats?
Why do we need their votes?
They don't even want Harry Bird in it now.
They don't care about Harry Bird.
Colton claims that all the time, every time.
When he's that old, you just want to make sure that he recovers.
I think it's the best thing.
And I think you'll do a great job.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, of course, of course.
We'll work it out.