Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 881 › Conversation 881-005

Nixon, Domenici & Johnson on Oval Office visit and Family life

Friday, March 16, 1973 · 12:06 PM–12:19 PM ET · Oval Office · 12 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Johnson, Wallace H.; Bull, Stephen B.; Atkins, Oliver F. ("Ollie"); Domenici, Peter V.; Domenici, Nancy [Burk]; Domenici, Lisa; Domenici, Peter, Jr.; Domenici, Nella; Domenici, Claire; Domenici, David; Domenici, Nanette; Domenici, Paula; Domenici, HelenConversation881-005 on Tape 881StartFriday, March 16, 1973 at 12:06 PMEndFriday, March 16, 1973 at 12:19 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 881-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon hosted Senator Pete V. Domenici and his family in the Oval Office for a cordial social visit. The discussion focused primarily on the Domenici children, their schooling, and the family's transition to living in Rockville, Maryland. During the meeting, Nixon shared anecdotes about his own family's political background and provided the group with a tour of the office's notable decorations, including artifacts from China and pieces crafted by his daughter, Julie. The visit concluded with arrangements for a group photograph and well-wishes for the Senator's upcoming work in Congress.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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You did well that night, at your time.
That night, where'd you make me to school?
She made me a rosary bead out of macaroni.
Is that this macaroni?
It's a little bad wood brush.
How would you, you're number one.
What do you want to do?
Third.
Third in the bottom.
Third in the bottom.
Third in the bottom.
And you thank him.
I appreciate it very much.
Thank you for having me here.
I can only tell seven-year-olds that you're here.
And you'll be that way in about one year.
Right.
Thank you, Paul.
Paul, I really appreciate it.
It's an honor.
All right.
You're Lisa Lisa.
And you're the oldest.
No, I'm the second-year-old.
Oh, second-year-old.
You're the oldest.
All right.
I'm the third.
David.
David.
Hi there.
Hi there.
Hi.
Hi.
You're welcome.
Hi.
Uh-huh, I suppose.
Well, I believe we will do, because each of you will get a picture of the whole thing.
And then I'll have Mr. Atkinson, this is going to really be something.
He'll make a copy for each one of you, for your files.
So you can have it, because you should like to have it.
If you need it, you can copy it back, which is very, very good.
That's it.
Thank you.
All right, let's go over here to this picture.
Now let's see, we'll put the senator and his wife on either side.
Now let's put the littlest ones in front.
Now we've got a picture.
Everybody straight up.
We look out there.
We just smile at that picture.
Oh, how's that?
Okay.
Oh, you're going to make it.
I'm sorry.
That's right.
You're in a, you've got a house, like, you can't live in a apartment like this.
We bought a house in Rockville.
It's one block away.
It's really the embassy.
They used to use it for their staff.
So it's got seven bedrooms.
It's like the closest you can go to a shelter.
We have one, maybe just one more, but we'll talk about that soon.
Yeah.
We have this side of the bed, so it's the same kind of place.
It's got about 30, I mean, about 45, 45, right here.
Works like nice.
There's nice churches out there.
Most of them go to Holy Cross now.
She goes to other all kinds.
Yeah.
It's a good place.
It's pretty good.
Oh, do they?
Yeah.
Well, that's a very rich district, actually.
Yeah.
I decided what we're going to do with him next year, and he said, graduate in the eighth grade.
They've all been broken, so now we're going to experiment with the input that's in there.
Nancy, did you have anything you want to note about that?
Oh, this one I can't figure out.
Yeah?
Yes, my, uh, the, the, uh, the oldest girl, Patricia, was born in 1946.
That was the first, that was the first campaign that I was elected to Congress.
She was barred at the beginning.
The next one was barred in 1948.
That was the year I was re-elected into Congress.
So they have sort of grown up in politics.
And that's what you do.
You're re-elected.
Re-elected.
And we're wondering if that's so good.
We get re-elected.
Oh, absolutely.
We want you to have the same security that Glenn Anderson had.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We are so glad you could come.
This office, of course, is a very famous local office.
I made sure to find out she lived on it.
That's a few years ago.
And these are the flags of the service that you see here.
We're going to make a virtue of everything.
Oh, that's the, uh, that's the man that's, uh, that, uh, um, uh, China, you know, the, uh, you've been out in the zoos, you've seen the pandas.
That's a panda.
That's another day that I made that.
You see it there?
That's over there.
That's me.
What?
Oh, get a name, right.
It's a very good suit.
And, uh, I actually can't talk today.
Anybody know?
You can just drive next time.
See, it's a different picture of Washington, D.C. with a different kind of a wig.
That was taken earlier this morning.
That's fantastic.
And, uh, these are kind of sweet birds over here.
Peter, what is that one on the top?
Doesn't that look like the player we're going after?
I'll show you something else that's very, very famous.
Well, this thing is very, very precious.
This is the one that came out of the Chinese flag.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
It's big.
This piece of jade is 3,000 years old.
Five years before the birth of Max.
Max was actually a Chinese man.
He decided to carry it on his knees.
He said, who is this?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't think it was.
I think they, uh... Oh, there's Lisa.
Do you see that over there?
I don't see it.
Julie made that.
That's true.
That's true.
She made that.
That's true.
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
No.
That's the name.
We wish you the best.
We're doing that.
We're going to get you working on six years.
We're going to get something done.
Oh, I know.
I know.
It's hard work.
It's hard work.
It's hard work.
They work pretty hard to get you here, so if you affect your life, it's not hard at all.
They take the lead in Washington in the spring.
Well, the fall's going to be here in the spring.
It's quite low.
It's going to be very early.
Get in your car and drive around about two o'clock.
You have a station where you drive?
Yeah, right.
Oh, I thought so.
Yeah.
Both places drive elsewhere.
also bill 98 is that what they have they've only got as many now as that one serves now i'm thinking 98 but you can carry uh all your kids yes they just um we have a dog they have one though now we're running the dog yeah i know they saw some squirrels no cats no cats that's handy or something no
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.

NARA Description

On March 16, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Wallace H. Johnson, Stephen B. Bull, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, Peter V. Domenici, Nancy [Burk] (Burk) Domenici, Lisa Domenici, Peter Domenici, Jr., Nella Domenici, Claire Domenici, David Domenici, Nanette Domenici, Paula Domenici, and Helen Domenici met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:06 pm to 12:19 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 881-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 881-5

Date: March 16, 1973
Time: 12:06 pm - 12:19 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Pete V. Domenici, Nancy (Burk) Domenici, Lisa Domenici, Peter
Domenici, Nella Domenici, Clare Domenici, David Domenici, Nanette Domenici, Paula
Domenici, Helen Domenici and Wallace H. Johnson. Stephen B. Bull and Oliver F. (“Ollie”)
Atkins were present at the beginning of the meeting.

       Peter V. Domenici's family
             -School
             -Age of one child
             -Other children
                  -Order in family

       Photographs
            -Copies
                 -Atkins

       Children
             -Kindergarden
                  -Maryland
                  -Teachers

       Photographs
            -Arrangements

       House
            -Rockville, Maryland
            -Size
                  -Israeli embassy
            -Location
                  -Distance
                  -Churches
                  -Holy Cross School
                  -Public schools
                  -Montgomery County, Maryland
                        -Wealth
                                              -20-

                        NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                              Conversation No. 881-5 (cont’d)

       Public schools
             -Montgomery County

       Tricia Nixon Cox
             -Date of birth

       Julie Nixon Eisenhower
             -Age
             -Growing up in politics

       Domenici’s seniority
           -Clinton Anderson

       Oval Office
            -Picture
            -Flags
                   -Armed services
            -Pictures of pandas
                   -Ling-Ling
            -George Washington portrait, Boehm bird sculpture
            -Vase from People's Republic of China [PRC]
                   -Jade
                   -Quality
                   -Age

       Julie Nixon Eisenhower's crewel work

       Gifts
               -Girls
               -Boys

       Domenici's work in Senate
           -Family
                  -Washington, DC in spring
                  -Cars
                        -President's Oldsmobile 98 during Senate years

Domenici, et al., left at 12:19 pm.
                                             -21-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Also recorded on March 16, 1973

  • 881-003 10:34 AM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John W. Dean, III, unknown person(s), and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:34 am to 11:10 am.
  • 881-004 11:10 AM · 54 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:10 am to 12:06 pm.
  • 881-006 12:20 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Michael J. Farrell, Arlene Dahl, Rounseville ("Skip") Schaum, Lorenzo Shaum, and Carole Schaum met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:20 pm to 12:31 pm.
  • 881-007 12:31 PM · 1 hr 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:31 pm to 1:36 pm.
  • 037-127 1:38 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:38 pm and 2:45 pm.
  • 420-001 1:38 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:38 pm and 2:45 pm.
  • 420-002 1:38 PM · 11 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 1:38 pm and 2:45 pm.
  • 420-003 1:38 PM · 56 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 1:38 pm and 2:45 pm.

All 33 conversations from March 16, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 881-005, March 16, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/881-005 (accessed October 12, 2026).