Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 853 › Conversation 853-017
Nixon & Morton on Health and medical treatment and Prostate cancer
Thursday, February 8, 1973 · 3:07 PM–11:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 7 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton to discuss Morton’s upcoming medical leave for radiation treatment following a prostate health diagnosis. The two men coordinated plans for Morton to work remotely from Palo Alto while undergoing his five-week treatment regimen. Additionally, they briefly touched upon political strategy, specifically emphasizing the need for the administration to communicate its policy goals effectively to the American public and maintain support in Congress.
- Rogers C. B. Morton
- Health and medical treatment
- Prostate cancer
- Political strategy
- Congressional relations
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Number one, this morning, I'll have to wait until the American people understand common sense that they're going to always be with us.
And rest assured, we're going to make them understand what you're doing, correct?
Second, how many of you are going to do this?
I've got, I've been taking my physical exams regularly for the last 10 years and I did exactly one for the last one but they've had a little lump in my prostate and I've been in, I went to John Topping, that's why I was not in coverage.
No, but they want to send me out to tell out to Stanford to see Dr. Dyson.
They decided that radiation is what has to be done.
And I'll be out for about five weeks before the rumors are out.
And it started, I hope, not working again.
Let me say, though, that being an amateur doctor is no problem.
I hope you're not worried.
No, I'm not.
Because I've talked to people about the thing, the prostate thing.
And people, you're lucky to have a leader your age.
Yeah.
That's right.
You realize that operations are 70% or 90% successful.
I know they're off, but they think you can do it.
They bring in Dr. Banks, who apparently is the leading authority.
work, I guess, on this out there and work with Hopkins.
And they think that my particular cells or whatever it is will respond better to radiation than they're going to try.
And it's just .
Well, are you going to announce it?
Well, I'm going to have to.
You have to go for about four or five weeks.
You have to go every day, five days.
What do you think you should say?
There's no way that I can say that .
I don't think there's any way to get out of here.
Oh, sure.
That's a lovely place to be.
Well, I've got a lot of work down here.
See, we've got an office up back.
I've got a great man called Bob Hitt.
Bob Hitt is a fellow, and he is a fellow.
Yes, he's your... You can leave that in the air.
And then I'll be on... How many things are you going to be up?
that you will, uh, have already perhaps already included in that.
That's, uh, we're working on that.
Yeah, we've got all that going on right now.
All right.
We're way up on top of that.
All right.
And, uh, think of a thing, mostly, in your department, for example.
Well, the thing about it is, I think we're going to have to just say something to each other.
All I can tell you is, well, I'm not going to specifically know where I'm going to go.
The point of that is, I'm anticipating it will be sometime in March.
Well, we don't know.
Well, some guys in the college center, as they say, well, I like driving, but they have to work in.
And I will be there to make the arrangements today.
And he said it will probably be about two weeks.
Well, I don't know.
I don't know what you're saying.
I don't know what you're saying.
put it on a base that I heard should be built
You could have postponed it for a while, but so this is the time to do it.
You work with them and they do their part in this.
You also need to be available there if you're working on it.
How's that sound?
Great.
And we do that.
And how long do you want to take the kids?
Do you take them every day five days a week or four or possibly five weeks?
Now, that frustrates me, this one thing.
This is a new deal, very high quality.
Now, I was going to say, that test and the process is wonderful.
The cost goes every man could take every year.
You have every year.
All you have to say is, every profit's amount.
Well, you know, they just come down across the coast, you know, and they, you know, you bend over, and I'll stick it up a bit.
All you have, you know, they have it.
And then, finally, Dr. Kerrigan on the Hill said, if you want another opinion, this might be the time to get one.
So I said, well, I want to just sell one and buy the other.
I'll never forget speaking at the .
And I didn't want to discourage something that's other than that.
And it was a must study from Jerry Lynch, who studied it.
There were a couple of us that went back there.
Five years with a physical attack.
But they got to almost two later.
Did you get it with them?
No, that's what they say.
You're lucky.
That's right.
So if you've been through something, Jerry, you've got no problem.
No problem.
That's what they say.
They say it's, you know...
should the president do what the Congress wants, or should he fight higher taxes?
We're going to tell the people who are going to put us in the Congress, and we'll get them.
That's all I started to say.
Bye.
Goodbye.
We'll see you.
I'll say nothing about this.
I'll let you know all the time.
NARA Description
On February 8, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Rogers C. B. Morton met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:07 pm and 11:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 853-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 853-17
Date: February 8, 1973
Time: Unknown after 3:07 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Rogers C. B. Morton.
President’s policies
-47-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 853-17 (cont’d)
-American people’s support
-Understanding
Morton’s health
-Physical exam
-Prostate gland
-Johns Hopkins Hospital
-Palo Alto
-Stanford Medical Center
-Radiation treatment
-Worry
-Operation
-Radiation treatment
-Doctor
-Authority
-Stanford Medical Center
Morton’s Palo Alto office
-Suzanne Whitaker
-Robert J. Hitt
Morton’s health
-Prostate gland
-Radiation treatment
-Scheduling
-Postponement
-Physical examination
-Yearly test
-Gen. Walter R. Tkach
-Doctor
-Second opinion
-Johns Hopkins
-Hoyt S. Vandenberg
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Physical examination
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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
-48-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 853-17 (cont’d)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 4s]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
******************************************************************************
-Prognosis
Congressional relations
-Russell B. Long
-Support for President
-President’s reelection
-Fighting
-Public attitudes
-Fighting
-Taxes
President’s forthcoming trip
-Morton’s best wishes
-President’s discretion
Morton left at an unknown time after 3:07 pm.Also recorded on February 8, 1973
- 043-053 1:49 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:49 pm.
- 409-019 1:49 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 1:49 pm.
- 043-054 1:50 PM · 13 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 2:15 pm.
- 043-055 1:50 PM · 1 min — Charles W. Colson and W. Richard Howard talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 2:15 pm.
- 409-020 1:50 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, unknown person(s), and W. Richard Howard met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:50 pm to 2:15 pm.
- 853-015 2:33 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:33 pm and 2:34 pm.
- 853-016 2:34 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Daniel P. Moynihan, White House photographer, Stephen B. Bull, and Rogers C. B. Morton met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:34 pm to 3:07 pm.
- 853-018 3:07 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:07 pm and 11:59 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 853-017, February 8, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/853-017 (accessed October 5, 2026).