President Nixon met with Patrick J. Buchanan to discuss the framework and themes for a prospective book about the Nixon administration. The conversation focused on framing Nixon’s political career as a narrative of overcoming adversity, specifically highlighting his 1968 comeback and the ideological battles against the "liberal establishment" and the national media. They also analyzed campaign strategies, the importance of maintaining emotional detachment from press criticism, and the effective, strategic use of television to communicate directly with the American public.
On December 27, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Peter J. Brennan, Manolo Sanchez, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:01 am to 12:01 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 828-013 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 828-13
Date: December 27, 1972
Time: 11:01 am - 12:01 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Patrick J. Buchanan.
Buchanan’s schedule
-Christmas
The President’s schedule
-Trip to Florida
-Weather
-Sun
-Pool
-Family
-Trip to Florida
-Thanksgiving
-Florida
Buchanan’s possible book
-Arrangements
-Deadline
-Outline
-Deadline
-Theme
-Richard M. Nixon administration
-Outline
-Chapter one
-1968 election
-Points to make
-Administration
-Philosophy
-Buchanan’s memorandum to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-26-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Telephone call
-Buchanan’s New York Times article
-Theodore H. White
-Press relations
-Jeffrey Hart’s book
-1972 election
-1972 campaign
-1964 campaign and election;
-1966 campaign
-Effect on Republican Party
-Press coverage
-Attacks on Barry M. Goldwater
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Liberal and conservative Republicans
-Republican Party reconstruction
-The President’s role
-1962 election
-1960 election
-Press conference
-Vice Presidency
-Handicaps
-Lack of staff, funds, retirement benefits
-Post-1962 election
-New York
-Travel
-International
-Coach flights
-Lack of entourage, stenographers
-Southeast Asia, Europe Africa
-1967
-1963, 1964
-Republican National Convention
-Goldwater
-The President’s travels
-Commercial flights
-Goldwater, Congressmen, Senators
-The President’s relationship with Goldwater
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Republican Party reconstruction
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-The President’s role
-1966 campaign
-New York
-Travel
-Predictions
-Congressmen, Senators, governors
-Press relations
-[Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Martin Z. Agronsky
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
-Predictions about the President’s career
-Cambodia
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Chapters
-Organization
-Buchanan’s New York Times article
-Adversity
-1966 campaign and election
-The President’s travels
-Sevareid
-Television [TV]
-The President
-Predictions
-Rockefeller, Ronald W. Reagan, George W. Romney
-News magazines
-Unknown commentator
-The President
-Romney
-Polls
-The President’s travels
-1967
-1968 campaign and election
-1964 election
-Congressmen, Senators
-Johnson
-Congressmen, Senators, governors, state legislators, voters
-Republicans
-George H. Gallup
-1972 election
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-1972 election
-Republican Party
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Political balance
-Congress, Senate, governors
-Political balance
-Goldwater
-1964 and 1966 elections
-1970 election
-Republican Party
-Congressmen, Senators, governors, voters
-Press relations
-Editorial endorsements
-Washington, DC
-National TV
-Liberal establishment
-Johnson
-Eisenhower
-1968 campaign
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-George S. McGovern
-Edith Efron
-1968 campaign
-Tone
-The President’s career
-Guts, determination, stamina
-Luck
-1962
-1961 – November 5, 1968
-Vice Presidency
-Funds
-Public
-Republican Party
-1966 campaign
-Travel
-Airplane
-Earnings
-Winston S. Churchill
-Books
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-1932
-US lectures
-Networth
-1969
-Spending
-1968 campaign
-Republican Party
-Minority status
-Congress
-Press relations
-Opposition
-Exceptions
-Press relations
-Opposition
-Exceptions
-The President’s trips to the People’s Republic of China
[PRC] and the Soviet Union
-First term
-Edmund S. Muskie, Humphrey, McGovern
-Administration reaction
-Actions
-TV
-The President’s November 3, 1969 speech
-Cambodia, the President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Chapter
-Trips
-Chapter Two
-The President’s November 3, 1969 speech
-Camp David
-Tone
-David S. Broder’s article “The Breaking
of the President”
-News magazines
-Demonstrations
-Confrontation
-Gallup polls
-New Majority
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Cambodia
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Predictions
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-World War III
-US-Soviet Union summit
-Criticism
-Respect
-Single standard
-First term
-The President’s lack of critical meetings or telephone calls
to editors, publishers, TV commentators
-The President’s supporters
-Johnson
-TVs
-News tickers
-1967
-Eugene J. McCarthy
-Compared to the administration
-The President’s experience
-1962 election
-Vice Presidency
-Alger Hiss case
-Post-public life [1962-1968]
-The President’s view
-Reading
-News summary
-“Puff pieces”
-Self-adulation and self-pity
-Press releases
-Time
-Covers
-The President’s trip to the PRC
-Effect
-Personalizing issues
-Detachment
-Friends and foes
-Substance
-News summary
-TV, news ticker
-1968 election
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-1964
-1962
-Lack of funds, support
-First term
-Criticism by supporters
-Cambodia
-1970 campaign
-1972 election
-Victory margin
-Press relations
-McGovern
-Man and ideas
-Issues
-Busing
-Permissiveness
-Drugs, crime
-Vietnam War
-US withdrawal
-Social issue
-National scope
-South
-Massachusetts
-Southern strategy
-The President’s trips to the PRC and the Soviet Union
-Economy
-The President’s announcement
-Outline
-Chapter one
-1968
-Triumph
-Election
-Tragedy
-Triumph
-1962
-Tragedy
-Tet Offensive
-McCarthy
-Robert F. Kennedy
-Johnson
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
-Washington, DC riots
-Kennedy
-Triumph
-Election
-Victory margin
-Administration opposition
-Media, universities, foundations, Congress
-Supreme Court
-Earl Warren
-Resignation
-Timing
-Liberal establishment
-Compared to Eastern establishment
-The President’s interview with Garnett D. (“Jack”) Horner
-“Washington establishment”
-Chapter two
-Confrontation
-The President’s speech
-Summer 1969
-Moon landing
-Guam Doctrine
-The President’s trips to Vietnam and Romania
-The President’s speech on welfare reform
-The President’s trip to California
-Left
-Demonstrators, media, Congressional relations
-Press relations
-News magazines
-Broder
-Tone
-The President’s public approval rating
-Chapter length
-Left
-Silent Majority
-Chapter three
-Media relations
-Speechwriting
-The President’s role
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-1973 Inaugural speech
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Samuel I. Rosenman
-Chapter three
-Media relations
-Establishment
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew’s Des Moines speech
-Washington Post
-Networks
-Sales
-Syndication
-Chapter length
-Outlook section
-Op-ed articles
-Outline
-Chapter four
Manolo Sanchez entered and left at an unknown time after 11:01 am.
Buchanan’s book
-Outline
-Chapter Four
-Blacks on Supreme Court
-Supreme Court
-Philosophy
-Blacks
-Hostility
-1972 election
-The President’s personal commitment, working relationships
-Busing, welfare
-Liberal establishment
-Supreme Court
-Rockefeller
-Republican Party
-Eisenhower
-1960 campaign and election
-Catholics
-John F. Kennedy’s telephone call to [Coretta Scott King]
-Robert Kennedy
-34-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-[Martin Luther King’s release from jail]
-Foreign policy chapter
-The President’s trip to the PRC
-Photographs
-Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins
-Philosophy
-The President’s trip to the PRC
-Vietnam War
-Chronology
-Success
-US force level
-Deadline
-Foreign policy chapter
-Vietnam War
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-Outline
-New Majority chapter
-McGovern
-The President’s May 8, 1972 decision
-Labor relations
-George Meany
-The President’s Miami trip
-Patriotism
-Business leaders, press relations
-Work ethic
-Politics
-Respect
-Meany
-1972 campaign
-Neutrality, support
-Final chapter
-Future
-Second term reorganization
-Bureaucracy
-Spending, taxes
-Responsibility
-Congressional relations
-1972 election
-Victory margin
-35-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Length
-Organization
-Writing
-Press relations
Press relations
-Ronald L. Ziegler’s press conferences
-Accommodations
-Compared to Johnson
-Press conferences
-Opposition
-Networks
-Power
-Public opinion
-1968 campaign
-1972 campaign
-McGovern
-Welfare
-$1000 per person proposal
-Vietnam War
-Redistribution of wealth
-News
-Strategy
-Networks
-Power
-Public support
-Louis P. Harris poll
-Polls
-Reliability
-Vietnam War
-End
-Effect
-Opposition
-John D. Ehrlichman’s and Henry A. Kissinger’s briefings
-Administration reaction
-Tone
-Influence
-Subscriptions
-US bombing north of 20th Parallel
-36-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Morale
-Compared to Johnson
-Telephone calls
-Effect
-Change
-Walter L. Cronkite, Jr., Dan Rather, John Chancellor
-Women
-Blacks
-Administration
-Possible actions
-Buchanan’s lunch with William Small
-Cable TV
-License renewal
-Bias
-Clay T. (“Tom”) Whitehead’s speech
-Local stations’ responsibility
-New York
-El Paso
Buchanan’s book
-Buchanan’s schedule
-Controversy
-Liberals
Press relations
-Bias
-Efron
-Effect
-Networks
-Public opinion
-Networks
-Agnew’s Des Moines speech
-Networks
-Public awareness
-Buchanan’s book
-Public relations [PR]
-Washington establishment
-“Intellectual incest”
-The President’s conversation with unknown European ambassador
-37-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Presentation of credentials
-Ambassador’s US trip
-US
-Goodness
-Mental and emotional sickness
-Dissipation
-Commentators
-1972 campaign
-Robert D. Novak’s article
-McGovern
-Reported gains
-Polls
-News summary
-Accuracy
-Vietnam War
-TV coverage
-South Vietnamese
-Battles
-Compared to North Vietnamese
-Provincial capitals
-Battles
-Countryside
-Provincial capitals
-Network requests for Hanoi photographs
-Bomb damage
-The President’s meeting with Col. Richard T. Kennedy
-North Vietnamese atrocities against South Vietnamese civilians
-Rocketing of cities
-Assassination, murder
-US military action
-Military targets
-Double standard
-Spanish Civil War
-American Revolution
-Army
-Continentals
-Loyalists
-Tories
-Spanish Civil War
-38-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Communists
-Loyalists
-Gen. Francisco Franco
-Rebels
-Loyalists
-Civil War
-South
-The War of the Rebellion
-The War between the States
-The President’s use of TV
-1972 campaign
-Press conferences
-Vietnam negotiations
-Breakdown
-Kissinger
-Resumption
-Press conferences
-Purpose and location
-Bureaucracy
-Oval Office
-National audience
-East Room
-Single point
-Desk
-Questions
-Guidelines
-Timing
-Scheduling
-Programs
-Congressional relations
-PR
-Commentators
-Frequency
-Eisenhower
-Republican Party
-John Kennedy
-Johnson
-Johnson
-Kennedy
-Kennedy
-39-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-08)
Conversation No. 828-13 (cont’d)
-Wit
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:01 am.
The President’s schedule
-Walk from Oval Office
Bull left at an unknown time before 12:01 pm.
Buchanan’s book
-Preparation
Buchanan left at 12:01 pm.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.