Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 878 › Conversation 878-009
Nixon, Vincent & Cavanaugh on Disability advocacy and Presidential library
Tuesday, March 13, 1973 · 12:17 PM–12:29 PM ET · Oval Office · 11 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with representatives of the National Association of Retarded Children (NARC), including the 1972 poster child Renee Vincent, to highlight the importance of supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities. The meeting served as a photo opportunity and an occasion for the guests to present the President with a commemorative poster for his future presidential library. Nixon expressed personal support for the organization’s mission, emphasizing the progress made in societal attitudes toward mental retardation and the importance of continued advocacy.
- National Association of Retarded Children
- Disability advocacy
- Presidential library
- Nixon family
- Public relations
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 7% 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.
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President Donacalla, producer.
President.
President.
President Chavez here from the National Association of Deprived Children.
Well, I wasn't good at drawing.
I got very bad at drawing.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
You're the father.
God is very, very holy.
Yes.
And that's a great angel.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yes.
Yes, all of it.
And her husband.
And her husband.
And her husband.
Yeah.
I'm so worried about this.
Thanks for watching the podcast.
You know, Dad, when you say what you want to say.
I know.
Let me tell you something.
My daughter, Julie, this is cruel.
She made that when I saw her for the first time.
And that's what told me.
Right.
Yes, I remember that.
It says R-M-N, that's my initials, and J-N, that's Julie.
Julie's a little older than me.
I'm not sure.
We're going to get this.
Let me set that up properly the way we want.
I would say that perhaps whenever we hear wives and children,
And then after they take the picture, I think, for that, after we take the picture, we'll stand and we'll show this one and all the other cameras that are coming.
There'll be a lot of them.
It's not impossible.
They're not going to say it.
This is the seal of the president.
That's always the mark of the president's office.
The seals and the wall and the floor.
You have, of course, the ego here.
All right, well, what if the press is here?
I don't know.
I don't understand.
I don't understand.
I don't understand.
Thank you.
Yeah, if you're working on it, or if you're working on an idea, or if you're working on something, or if you've got it, if you're working on it, and you say, it's my pleasure, it's my pleasure, it's my pleasure, and I want to say, it's my pleasure, and you're going to give it to me, and I'm going to give it to you, and I'm going to give it to you, and you're going to give it to me, and I'm going to give it to you, and I'm going to give it to you, and I'm going to give it to you, and I'm going to give it to you,
Hello.
Hello.
I was telling you before, that was my worst time.
That and Frank.
They're all over the place.
Well, you know, my daughters and my sisters-in-law, I was talking to Christians and they said the ones they thought were the most hard-working were on recent events where they were retired.
Because you know, what you're doing, you talk about reorientation.
What is it?
The main point is, you're helping people come up.
People come up.
Remember, a century ago, the kids, each problem they're out there, forget it.
Put them aside.
Put them, but not today.
We love them.
We live them up.
And that's what you all are doing.
And so it's a wonderful work.
We just spoke about it in previous work.
But this time, it's a lot of good.
It should be a great act.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
I would give you a picture of this for your client.
Excuse me.
Did you get a picture of this for your client?
You got us all?
Yes, this is my client.
Mr. Farrell.
This is actually Mr. Farrell.
Mr. President.
Is that Mr. Farrell's here tomorrow's session?
Oh, there may be a choice.
Right.
Right.
I think we should give her one of our pins.
Here, you see it?
That's the seal of the crescent.
There it is.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Oh, yes, yes, sir.
You know where that was going?
Well, I put it over in my office.
And then whenever a president is finished with being president, there's a library.
You know, like Mrs. Johnson.
Mrs. Johnson, I've already heard of that.
It's a children's library.
So there we go.
And we're going to put that in the library, and we're going to say it was 19, and under it it will say, presented by the 1972 poster child to President Nixon on August, I mean March, July of 1972.
And so it'll be there forever for people to see.
So they better remember when they remember.
Isn't that nice?
It'll be in California, the library, over in Minnesota.
You ever been to California?
You have.
Disneyland and all those places, yeah.
Right here in Disneyland, I live up in the oceans where I have a library.
That's where your upholstery is located.
Right there.
So everybody will know you brought it here.
Okay?
I have a question.
Oh, I got that.
NARA Description
On March 13, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, James H. Cavanaugh, Renee Vincent, Dr. Clarence Vincent, Mrs. Dr. Clarence Vincent, Philip Roos, and Mrs. Curtis Knighton met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:17 pm to 12:29 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 878-009 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 878-9
Date: March 13, 1973
Time: 12:17 pm - 12:29 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Renee Vincent, Dr. and Mrs. Clarence Vincent, Dr. Philip Roos, Mrs.
Curtis Knighton and James H. Cavanaugh. The White House photographer and members of the
press were present at the beginning of the meeting.
Introductions
National Association of Retarded Children [NARC]
-Vincent’s residence
-Maryland
Artwork
-Drawing
-Talent
Location of NARC
-Washington, DC
-Arlington, Texas
-Baseball team
Renee Vincent
-Age
-Poem
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 878-9 (cont’d)
-Crewel work
-1968 election
-Television [TV]
-Age
Photographs
-Arrangements
-Cameras
-President's chair
Presidential seal in carpet
-Crest
-Eagle
[Photograph session]
Renee Vincent’s gratitude
Mental retardation problems
-President’s brothers
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Tricia Nixon Cox
-Teaching
-Progress
-Contributions
-Therapy
President's flag
Michael J. Farrell
-White House tour
Gifts
-Eagle
-Pins
-President's seal
Presentation of poster
-President's library
-19-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 878-9 (cont’d)
-Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Harry S. Truman Library
-Remembrance
-Location
-California
-Yosemite
-Disneyland
White House tour
Salutations
Vincent, et al., left at 12:29 pm.Also recorded on March 13, 1973
- 118-003 12:03 PM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:03 pm and 3:13 pm.
- 878-008 12:03 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Gen. B. A. Schriever, Harold R. Baker, Reginald E. Cole, Fred R. Boyett, Glenn R. Dickerson, Capt. William D. Harkins, Col. A. L. Schalbrack, John V. Vinciguerra, Mary Olmsted, Henry A. Carrington, B. N. McVay, Bernard E. Kelly, Reginald Johnson, Joseph Perry, Charles McMillan, Carl Kamp, Brian Usilaner, Norman Peterson, Earl L. Butz, William P. Rogers, William E. Simon, Elliot L. Richardson, Dixy Lee Ray, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, Arthur F. Sampson, Roy L. Ash, and Robert E. Hampton met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:03 pm and 12:16 pm.
- 118-005 12:29 PM — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 3:13 pm.
- 878-010 12:29 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:42 pm.
- 878-011 12:29 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:42 pm.
- 878-012 12:29 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:29 pm and 12:42 pm.
- 878-013 12:29 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 12:29 pm and 12:42 pm.
- 878-014 12:42 PM · 1 hr 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and John W. Dean, III met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:42 pm to 2:00 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 878-009, March 13, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/878-009 (accessed October 23, 2026).