Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 850 › Conversation 850-004
Nixon & Woods on White House social events and State dinners
Tuesday, February 6, 1973 · 9:08 AM–9:16 AM ET · Oval Office · 12 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met to coordinate administrative details for upcoming White House events, including seating arrangements and guest lists for state dinners honoring the King of Jordan and Golda Meir. They discussed the potential inclusion of various political figures and guests, as well as scheduling a tea for Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Additionally, the President expressed frustration regarding the delayed Navy discharge of David Eisenhower, accusing Secretary of the Navy John Warner of politicizing the process.
- White House social events
- State dinners
- Guest lists
- David Eisenhower
- John Warner
- Navy discharge
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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We, uh, we probably, uh, I, I, I, I,
and I'm going to get back in Saturday.
That's why I may have to wait until Friday.
If I go to California, I would like to go Thursday.
It would be better than that.
But we shall have to see what the score is on that.
You guys tell them.
We'll see.
And then if he feels it, they shouldn't have to show him out in school, but this is a real problem.
That we could do it, and I'm going now, and I'm going in July.
This may be the best we can do for them, because we do want the kids.
I'm sorry, this ain't for him.
You don't see him fly out there for dinner.
This is not working.
No.
They ought to bring the kids out.
I'm just wondering, on the paper that's not on the sheet, is this brother of the Isaac Kahn, the uncle of the President's colleague, brother of Isaac Kahn, you know, is in town?
Now, we have Earl, and apparently somebody called a good friend of King's, and everybody on Earth seems to be... We have Earl at the dinner, but it's awfully late, but should we see if the state can find him in town and invite him?
The state can.
Yeah.
Well, they did.
They're glamorous.
Well, the perfect excuse would be to say that President Hillary didn't hate her, and not realize they were here, but they would like to have a cup of tea.
I hate not to use those seats because there are people here.
I'm not.
You can't invite.
There are some people you can invite.
You can invite again if people wait.
Well, I invited Sam just today, because she settled off for one of the tables.
Yeah, I hope that was all right.
Sure.
You can invite us again if people wait if you want to.
Okay, well, I'll see how many seats there are.
If there are any, it's a matter of fact.
I'm very free about it, I would say.
and whoever didn't come to the Heath Center started getting down on the list, you see.
I'm saving Brennan for the Golda Meir Center.
I think Atlanta agreed with me that that was a good touch.
There are a lot of others.
There are some others that have not been on the campus.
Another one is to have the Deputy Secretary of Defense over there.
He's a very good man to have.
He's one deputy we should have.
He's basically the political supporter as well.
He isn't like Bud Crowe, you know, who's working in the White House.
Another one that would be very good is that Dave Packer is here for the business council.
But I think they have a dinner tonight.
I don't know.
That's why you're doing all this long work.
I know you did.
I was going to suggest that we might, Pat suggested going by her team.
And if you could set it up for, say, color it, we might have a key tomorrow at 5 o'clock.
5 o'clock.
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Oh, yeah, and she said it just broke her heart to miss the inauguration, but she was... And I said, she came to the documentary and had a shot, and she had some young people in her tea, I think.
There's another one, you know, always there, it was Dorothy Bush.
Well, there are quite a few, but there aren't all that many.
One other thing, I like crying.
I want him invited and I want him invited to spend the night in the White House.
We had to be, if you could still attend, so we, you call me.
It'll be personal.
So I'm
He's so nice.
He's been there 20 years.
He's a big, tall, you know, kind of... Oh, yeah.
He's so good.
Only good for your sake.
You know, the blacks are...
He's just...
He's been a great man.
That's very nice.
To me, he's very thoughtful, too.
He's not a child.
And, uh, that, uh...
Well, actually, he told me that 771 people are getting out of the Navy.
And Governor Warner got in on it to get it to be personal or something.
Is that what happened?
What happened?
Warner got in on it?
Well, the Secretary of the Navy got in on it.
because I have had 731 men who went in at the same time as David are getting out.
So he stays in the pillow line, horses around, and wastes his time.
The thing is that I'm a little disturbed.
I thought I gave this to the scope, probably do.
Well, the camp has all the other camps, which you'll find out until the water stepped in.
That's what you do.
You screw it up.
He decided that it was political and all of a sudden, yeah.
Did he want to?
Obviously.
I don't like him any more.
Did he?
Is he?
Did Sam put him in essence?
We've got a dead man, but I think he had a little stone.
It's a very nice thing.
Bill, I'll give this to you.
So forth.
And I will, uh, Jane, why not?
Would I call her?
Oh, yeah, that's true.
Would you?
Would you?
Would I call her Jane?
Yeah, but you did, in other words, we called Jane on the road, uh, to start thanking her.
Right, yeah, I did say that earlier on.
They expected it.
They expected it, yeah.
Oh.
And, and we have just the same line.
I'm just going to do something that I thought would mean so much more to the color than I saw on the roll.
Where did you get the information?
and asking about it.
Well, you might call Campbell and ask him.
Because I asked Campbell.
Why?
What happened?
Why didn't Julie talk to you about it?
The other day.
Because I don't like it.
Campbell's in trouble.
The hell with Campbell.
I don't think Campbell's in trouble.
He's doing what he's supposed to do.
He's supposed to.
If I knew I was in danger, I'd get just the same treatment as everybody else.
But if 700 are getting off, why the hell can't he get off?
Okay, I'll run it out to you.
NARA Description
On February 6, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:08 am to 9:16 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 850-004 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 850-004
Date: February 6, 1973
Time: 9:08 am - 9:19 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Rose Mary Woods.
Greeting
******************************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during
chronological review 2007-2013]
Trip to California
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower and [Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
-Robert H. Abplanalp
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[850-004-w001]
[Duration: 1m 3s]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
******************************************************************************
Trip to California
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Departure
-Return table
-Robert H. Abplanalp
-Children
-School
-Disneyland
******************************************************************************
State dinner for [Hussein, King of Jordan] Hussein ibn Talal
-Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
-Aly Kahn
-Brother
-State Department
-Newspaper article
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-Seating arrangements
-Cabinet invitations
-Maurice H. and Kathleen (Carmoody) Stans
Cabinet invitations
-Edward R. G. Heath’s state dinner
-Peter J. Brennan
-Golda Meir’s state dinner
-Leonard Garment
-Claude S. Brinegar
-Frederick B. Dent
-William P. Clements, Jr.
-Deputy Secretary of Defense
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
-David Packard
-Business Council
-Alice Roosevelt Longworth
-Teas with the President and Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Arrangements
-Time
-Heath luncheon
-1973 Inauguration
-Health
-George H. W. Bush
-Remaining seats
State dinner for Golda Meir
-John W. McCormack
-Previous support for Israel
-Possible overnight stay at White House
-Lincoln bedroom
-Telephone call from Woods
-William E. Timmons
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr. [?]
******************************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during
chronological review 2007-2013]
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal Returnable]
[850-004-w001]
[Duration: 3s]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
******************************************************************************
Fate Suber
-Butler
-Health
-Rex W. Scouten
-Compared to Lyndon B. Johnson and Dwight David Eisenhower
-Dying
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Visit to Camp David
-Wife
-Age
-Blacks
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
[Dwight] David Eisenhower, III
-Discharge from the Navy
-Other discharges
-John W. Warner
-Timing
-Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft
-Cmdr. Craig S. Campbell
-Warner
-Politics
Warner
-Maurice H. Stan’s list
-1968 and 1972 campaigns
-Contributions
-Stans’s list
-Katherine Conover (Mellon) Warner
Mrs. Longworth
Jane Wyman
-Letter from President
-Use of name
-Previous letter
-Loretta Young
-Birthday greetings to the President
-Comment on viewing Wyman movie [So Big]
David Eisenhower’s discharge
-Warner
-Campbell
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Conversation with Woods
-Campbell
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-Scowcroft
Woods left at 9:19 am.Also recorded on February 6, 1973
- 850-001 8:32 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:32 am and 9:08 am.
- 850-002 8:32 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:32 am and 9:08 am.
- 850-003 8:32 AM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:32 am and 9:08 am.
- 850-005 9:19 AM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:19 am to 9:35 am.
- 112-003 9:35 AM · 1 hr 44 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Republican Congressional leaders, including Hugh Scott, Robert P. Griffin, Wallace F. Bennett, William E. Brock, III, John G. Tower, Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends, John B. Anderson, Samuel L. Devine, Barber B. Conable, Jr., Robert C. ("Bob") Wilson, George H. W. Bush, Roy L. Ash, John D. Ehrlichman, William E. Timmons, Richard K. Cook, Thomas C. Korologos, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:35 am and 11:16 am.
- 850-012 9:35 AM · 29 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:35 am and 11:16 am.
- 112-005 11:16 AM · 1 hr 5 min — L. Dean Brown, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 11:16 am on February 6, 1973 and 7:57 am on February 8, 1973.
- 850-006 11:16 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:16 am to 11:17 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 850-004, February 6, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/850-004 (accessed October 12, 2026).