Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 917 › Conversation 917-025

Nixon, Clemente & Moorhead on H.R. 3841 and Commemorative Medal

Monday, May 14, 1973 · 12:04 PM–12:19 PM ET · Oval Office · 15 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); [Unknown person(s)]; Clemente, Vera; Moorhead, William S.; Scott, Hugh; Schweiker, Richard S.; Benitez, Jaime; Stargell, Willie; Sanguillen, Manny; Zabala, Orlando; Davis, Kenneth; Nieves, Paul; Members of the pressConversation917-025 on Tape 917StartMonday, May 14, 1973 at 12:04 PMEndMonday, May 14, 1973 at 12:19 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 917-025 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon hosted Vera Clemente, widow of baseball legend Roberto Clemente, alongside several legislators and fellow professional athletes to honor the late humanitarian and star outfielder. The meeting focused on the formal signing of H.R. 3841, a bipartisan bill authorizing a commemorative medal in Clemente’s honor. During the ceremony, the President presented the Citizen’s Medal to Mrs. Clemente, offered commemorative gifts for her children, and coordinated photographs with the attendees.

Audio

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NARA Description

On May 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), Vera Clemente, William S. Moorhead, Hugh Scott, Richard S. Schweiker, Jaime Benitez, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen, Orlando Zabala, Kenneth Davis, Paul Nieves, and members of the press met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:04 pm to 12:19 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 917-025 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 917-025

Date: May 14, 1973
Time: 12:04 pm - 12:19 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man.

       President’s schedule

Vera Clemente [widow of Roberto Clemente], William S. Moorhead, Hugh Scott, Richard S.
Schweiker, Jaime Benitez, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen, Orlando Zabala, Kenneth Davis,
and Paul Nieves entered at 12:04 pm. Members of the press were present at the beginning of the
meeting.

       Greetings and introductions
              -Roberto Clemente commemorative medal
                      -Bipartisan bill [H.R. 3841]

       Agenda
             -Ceremonies
             -Signing of commemorative medal bill [H.R. 3841]
             -Photograph opportunities

       Photograph session

[A transcript of this speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States:
Richard Nixon, Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President,
1973, pages 529-531.]

[Begin recorded remarks]

[End of recorded remarks]

       Pens
               -Signing of bill

       Presentation of gifts by the President
              -Cufflinks
              -Pins
              -Tie bars to sons of Clementes

       Governorship
             -Scott
             -Campaign [?]

The unknown man, Clemente, et al. left at 12:19 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 6% 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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Mrs. Quinney, in terms of this, you're welcome, you're welcome.
I'm delighted to welcome you here.
It's an honor to have you on this occasion.
Let's go down.
Oh, I know, I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
Oh, Ken, how are you?
Now, what we would like to do is so that we have this all set up, we have two ceremonies.
First, I'll present the Citizen's Medal to Mrs. Clementi over here.
Then we'll sign the bill here.
For the bill signing ceremony, the senator and the congressman will be like this on either side.
The rest of you will come over.
I'll pull this group in for a presentation of the bill.
We want the bill signing to be one story.
Fair enough.
Mrs. Clemente will be over for the bill signing too.
And you set her up perhaps between the two of you.
So if we do these things this way, otherwise we can go back to you.
And I'll get the hands of all the veterans.
And we have a player's picture alone.
And then I'd like to have William and Manny over.
Let's have a follow-up.
goes to the vertical line.
I'd like to read something here, because I was fascinated by the famous thing in regards to the vertical line.
Citizens of the Meadow Sanctuary, the vertical line, all who saw the vertical line in action, whether on the diamond or on the front lines of the charitable sector,
selfless dedication to helping those with two strikes against one.
Thus, now, I set an example for you.
As long as athletes and experimentarians are honored, Roberto commanded his members to live.
As long as citizens and members of his members, he will be known as one, because this person was.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
I'm going to use five minutes.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, we will have another ceremony at this time.
The bill was introduced in the House by Senator Marget, who represents some districts in the Senate, by Senator Scott.
It was a bill which received, if you might imagine, overwhelming support in both the House and the Senate.
And Senator Weicker here is also a correspondent of the bill.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Senator Scott, who I recognize in the purpose of the response,
I don't want to set up a fight, so I'm going to call it.
I think the story will work.
I think it's all going to be easy.
I think we all know what we're going to have to do.
We're going to have to do a lot of things.
We're going to raise this down from $150,000 to $250,000 equally.
And in order to be published at the first time, we're going to have to do a lot of things.
We're going to have to do a lot of things
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Come on, Howard.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Let's see if we can get some, let's see if we can get some.
You can see that these go to her son's good.
That's right.
We're going to meet tomorrow.
All right.
Any ideas?
This is the presidential seat of the president.
So it's not for each of them to have one.
That's the pin.
You can go over there and see if you have any pets.
Do you have any sons?
Three boys.
How old are the other boys?
Four, six, and seven.
Give each of them a tie bar.
That's a great idea.
I'm very proud to see you.
I wish you well.
We hope we meet on occasion.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. President.

Also recorded on May 14, 1973

  • 046-026 11:59 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:59 am and 12:03 pm.
  • 917-021 11:59 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:59 am.
  • 917-022 11:59 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:59 am and 12:03 pm.
  • 917-023 11:59 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:59 am and 12:03 pm.
  • 046-027 12:03 PM · 58 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Lawrence M. Higby talked on the telephone from 12:03 pm to 12:04 pm.
  • 917-024 12:03 PM · 52 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Lawrence M. Higby met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:03 pm to 12:04 pm.
  • 917-026 12:19 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:19 pm and 12:24 pm.
  • 917-027 12:19 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:19 pm and 12:24 pm.

All 113 conversations from May 14, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 917-025, May 14, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/917-025 (accessed November 15, 2026).