Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 921 › Conversation 921-018

Nixon, Clancy & Cornett on White House ceremonial events

Thursday, May 17, 1973 · 12:21 PM–12:25 PM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Clancy, Donald D.; Cornett, Chester; Donovan, Thomas; Donovan, Thomas (Mrs.); Donovan, Danny; Donovan, Betsy; Donovan, Shawn; Friedersdorf, Max L.; White House photographerConversation921-018 on Tape 921StartThursday, May 17, 1973 at 12:21 PMEndThursday, May 17, 1973 at 12:25 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 921-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Congressman Donald D. Clancy, artisan Chester Cornett, and the Donovan family to accept a hand-carved chair presented to him as a gesture of admiration. The President engaged with the family and the photographer to arrange for commemorative photos to be shared with the guests. During the brief interaction, Nixon discussed his ongoing diplomatic efforts, including upcoming meetings with representatives from the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, expressing a desire to secure a peaceful world for the younger generation.

White House ceremonial events
Hand-carved furniture
Public relations
Foreign policy
Nixon family visits

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Mr. President.

Mr. President, Congressman Clancy.

Tom Clancy, services.

Oh, Don.

How are you?

Hi.

How are you, Mr. President?

Glad to see you.

Mr. President here.

Mr. Cornyn.

How are you doing, Mr. Cornyn?

Glad to meet you.

Yes, sir.

Well, now, you come on over here.

We're going to get a picture of this chair, which is such a doable art of work across the ship.

And, uh, here we are.

You did this all yourself, Tom?

Yeah, yeah.

Let's get a little closer, Tom.

I don't want you in the picture, too, here.

I'll stand right here.

Mr. President, this is the Donovan family of Cincinnati.

This is Mr. and Mrs. Tom Donovan and Sean Donovan.

They're our children.

All right.

They drove all night to help us.

They're right here.

They're with me.

Okay.

All right.

Mr. Anthony.

How are you?

This boy here is Frank.

Thank you.

I didn't try to meet you.

That's right.

You stand over in front of me.

There you go.

Well, we're glad to meet you.

Would that you call me some pictures, would that be?

Thank you, thank you.

So that each family can have one.

Why don't you take them to school?

I should, but that's what they'll do.

You're going to copy them pictures you've taken to school.

I don't know, I think you're going to take one.

That's right.

He's a bright boy.

You will see that we're going to get the pictures to the Congressman's office, and you see that they're distributing it to folks.

You can make up a batch, can't you?

I'll tell you about it.

We can do something about it.

Is that what you want to say?

I don't know what will happen.

Mr. President, he just wants to take a second to express his feelings.

Yeah.

Uh-huh.

Why good, but you sure have done a good job.

Thank you.

Say thank you.

Thank you very much.

We've got more to do.

We've got to meet with the Russians next month and the Chinese and a few other people.

But maybe we can make it the same in the world for these kids.

I sure appreciate it.

He's done this completely out of admiration for you.

There's been nothing other, anything else involved in this.

He's had this locked in a room for months, and it's taken me over a year to get his trust up to where we could get it up here.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Good luck to you, boy.

All right.

Thanks for your help.

Goodbye.

Have a nice, pleasant morning.

NARA Description

On May 17, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Donald D. Clancy, Chester Cornett, Thomas Donovan, Mrs. Thomas Donovan, Danny Donovan, Betsy Donovan, Shawn Donovan, Max L. Friedersdorf, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:21 pm to 12:25 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 921-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 921-18

Date: May 17, 1973
Time: 12:21 pm - 12:25 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Donald D. Clancy, Chester Cornett, Thomas Donovan, Mrs. Thomas
Donovan, Danny Donovan, Betsy Donovan, Shawn Donovan and Max L. Friedersdorf. The
White House photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.

      Introductions

      Arrangements for photo

      Chair
              -Description

      Donavan family
            -Indiana
            -Chair
                                              -33-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                      -Log
                      -Hand carved
               -University of Indiana
               -University of Cincinatti

       Arrangements for photograph

       President
              -Description of role as Vice President
              -Future meetings
              -Soviet Union
              -People’s Republic of China

Clancy et al. left at 12:25 pm.

Also recorded on May 17, 1973

921-013 11:57 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:57 am to 12:02 pm.
921-014 12:03 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Mrs. Mrs. Cleo Noel, Mrs. Mrs. G. Curtis Moore, Gen. Brent G. Scowcroft, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:03 pm to 12:13 pm.
921-015 12:13 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 12:13 pm and 12:21 pm.
921-016 12:13 PM · 59 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:21 pm.
921-017 12:13 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:21 pm.
921-019 12:25 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:25 pm to 12:26 pm.
921-020 12:26 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ralph J. Perk, George H. W. Bush, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., James H. Falk, members of the press, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:26 pm to 12:45 pm.
921-021 12:45 PM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), Stephen B. Bull, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Ronald L. Ziegler, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:45 pm to 1:25 pm.

All 70 conversations from May 17, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 921-018, May 17, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/921-018 (accessed October 12, 2026).