Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 871 › Conversation 871-009

Nixon, Armstrong & Franklin on Women in government and Federal employment

Wednesday, March 7, 1973 · 12:10 PM–12:20 PM ET · Oval Office · 15 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Armstrong, Anne L.; Franklin, Barbara H.; Hitt, Patricia R.; Spain, Jayne B.; Lee, Julia; Bernstein, Bernice L.; Chang, Marguerite S.; Hart, Janet; Jacox, Marilyn E.; Karle, Isabella L.; Townsend, Marjorie R.; Lee, JillConversation871-009 on Tape 871StartWednesday, March 7, 1973 at 12:10 PMEndWednesday, March 7, 1973 at 12:20 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 871-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with a delegation of distinguished women serving in the federal government, including scientists and legal professionals, to recognize their contributions and discuss the advancement of women in public service. The discussion addressed the recruitment of qualified women into top-level government positions and the President's commitment to addressing potential workplace discrimination. Participants also engaged in casual conversation regarding international experiences, particularly in China, and shared personal anecdotes about their academic backgrounds at Duke Law School.

Women in government
Federal employment
Recruitment
Gender discrimination
Duke Law School
US-China relations

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 4% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, here she is again.

Morning, Mr. President.

Nice to see you.

Good morning.

My wife's around here.

Well, I wanted to meet you, sir.

Your girlfriend?

Yeah.

Good.

Are you her name?

Lady W. Step over to one.

Is this going to be a good place on here?

Yes, that would be great.

A.C.F.

What?

A.C.F.

Right.

I mean, that's a special issue.

I don't know.

National Bureau of Standards.

Thank you.

And for the first time this year, there are two award winners in the first group.

Thank you.

The problem we have here is not so much finding the jobs.

of finding women who are willing to do what they want to take.

Because the need for top personnel is always up to the top people.

So we would hope that your awards will lead others to go out and do likewise, knowing that they can go to the top.

Because all of you, if you have any trouble going to the top, you feel that you're being discriminated against, you let me know.

I'm sure you will.

I'm glad you're in.

I love you.

You call that our status.

I do.

But we congratulate you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Well, they're great people.

They're great people, you know.

First, I would not say that any of them were not great, but when you see what the Chinese people have done all over the world, many have not seen as we have.

We don't see the perfect person, but we know they're great people.

Thank you.

And they were delighted.

Also very happy, too.

Thank you so much, President.

I have to say, you know, she was very happy.

And I, you were very happy.

Oh, she was there.

You were very happy.

Thank you.

Well, they're great people.

They're great people, you know.

First, I would not say that any of them were not great, but when you see what the Chinese people have done, all over the world, many have not seen as we have.

We are two perfect parts of the piece, but we know the greats of it, you know.

Thank you.

We probably didn't have any assistant teachers at the time.

Max was the most brilliant teacher you've ever had.

Max was there then?

Yes.

He died.

He was a very inspiring teacher.

He was there and he was there.

He really didn't scare me into that.

He didn't scare me into that.

They did a constitutional law on him.

I had a constitutional law on him.

And Taurus.

He taught Taurus constitutional law.

He spoke very highly of that.

Well, he was very kind.

I guess the way he lived, you know, a lot of folks on the left, in fact, I heard, and he used to do, he was a cynic, too.

I remember the 30-day question we were all having, and we had proven that class.

That was back in the 40s, and we had written all this sort of comic stuff and so forth.

And Maggie said, let's talk about the pre-historical.

He found that radiation, which is, they're all very different.

And the girl reported that class.

That was an accident.

Okay.

Thank you.

NARA Description

On March 7, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Anne L. Armstrong, Barbara H. Franklin, Patricia R. Hitt, Jayne B. Spain, Julia Lee, Bernice L. Bernstein, Marguerite S. Chang, Janet Hart, Marilyn E. Jacox, Isabella L. Karle, Marjorie R. TOwnsend, and Jill Lee met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:10 pm to 12:20 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 871-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 871-9

Date: March 7, 1973
Time: 12:10 pm - 12:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Bernice L. Bernstein, Marguerite S. Chang, Janet Hart, Marilyn E. Jacox,
Isabella L. Karle, Marjorie R. Townsend, Anne L. Armstrong, Barbara H. Franklin, Patricia R.
Hitt, Jayne B. Spain and Julia Lee; members of the press and the White House photographer
were present at the beginning of the meeting.

       Photographs
            -Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins

       Introduction of women
             -Place of work

       Positions in federal government
             -Scientists
                   -Specializations
             -Lawyers
             -Regional director

       John W. Warner

       [Photograph session]

       Women
          -Public life
                -Increase
                       -Last four years
                       -President’s second term
          -Recruitment
                -Problems
          -Advancement in federal service
          -Pay

       Wage-price controls
           -Impact on federal salaries
                                               -42-

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                           Conversation No. 871-9 (cont’d)

        Unknown person's son
        Gifts

        Dinners
             -Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW] dinner

        Dr. Chang's birthplace
             -Nanking

        China
                -People
                     -Accomplishments
                -People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                     -President’s, Chang’s experience
                     -Cities
                           -Compared to Bankok [?]

        President’s, unknown woman’s experiences at Duke Law School
              -Teachers
                    -[First name unknown] Maggs [?]
                           -Qualities
                           -Classes

Bernstein, et al., left at 12:20 pm.

Also recorded on March 7, 1973

871-008 12:09 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:09 pm and 12:10 pm.
871-011 12:20 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:20 pm and 12:24 pm.
871-012 12:20 PM · 1 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 12:20 pm on March 7, 1973 and 9:51 am on March 8, 1973.
417-017 12:24 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:24 pm and 2:31 pm.
417-018 12:24 PM · 25 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 12:24 pm and 2:31 pm.
417-019 12:24 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:24 pm and 2:31 pm.
417-020 12:24 PM · 15 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 12:24 pm and 2:31 pm.
417-021 12:24 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:24 pm and 2:31 pm.

All 23 conversations from March 7, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 871-009, March 7, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/871-009 (accessed October 6, 2026).