Telephone conversation between President Richard Nixon and William Rogers April 30, 1973, 10:20 p.m.
President Nixon: Hello?
William Rogers: Hi, Mr. President?
RMN: Hi, Bill.
WR: Gee, that was terrific, really superb.
RMN: Don't, don't give me that shit, you know, you know.
WR: No, no, I really mean it.
RMN: You and I have been through-it's kind of rough. You know, afterwards I shouldn't have done it, but, you know, I thanked, you know, the operators and the rest.
WR: Yeah, I know.
RMN: And all of a sudden, I sort of, sort of broke down a bit. And, I--I don't do that. You know, I'm not that kind of a man.
WR: Oh, hell, don't worry about that. I tried to get you right away, but your damn system there, it's tough to get through. I-I finally got through to Barker.
RMN: We've been trying to get through to you all day. I mean, I told Rose, goddamnit, any Cabinet officer is to get through from the minute after this speech, and the only one I've heard from is Weinberger. So I wonder what the who-what the hell's happened to everybody else.
WR: I don't know who, what the Goddamn system is. Anyway, I called, I tried to get Barker, I tried to get Bull, I finally got Barker and, and he took a message. Anyway, I thought it was superb. I don't know how you-I don't see how you could have done it any better. I think it's the best delivery I've ever seen you give. I thought the delivery-
RMN: What parts of it did you like, Bill?
WR: Oh, I liked all of it. I just thought it was great. I, ah-
RMN: You didn't mind the God bless America? That was my intuition at the last. I just sort of felt that way.
WR: No. I thought it was-I thought it was great. I suppose some of the, you know, Christ, the editorial writers may not like it, but the public is going to love it. That's what counts. And I thought the whole tone couldn't have been better. I didn't think it was-I didn't think it had any rough spots in it. I didn't think that you had any sackcloth and ashes or anything of that kind. No, I thought it was superb. I-I couldn't improve on it. I just thought it was great. Adele was watching.
RMN: What did Adele think?
WR: She thought the same thing. She thought it was critical.
RMN: She's a smart woman. You married a smarter wife than you are, you know, like I did.
WR: That's right. How'd you think it went?
RMN: I don't know anything about it, you know. I've got-you know, I've been through a hell of an experience. You know, I was just reading Adams's memoirs.
WR: Yeah.
RMN: And Adams, you know, to his credit, did come in and say, look, I'll resign.
WR: Yeah.
RMN: But Haldeman and Ehrlichman didn't, and I had to tell them they had to resign. And that was a goddamn tough son of a bitch, you know.
WR: I'll tell you this, Mr. President, you made a lot of improvements on the speech. I thought it was pretty good last night, but it was a hell of a lot better tonight. You must have done a lot of work on it today.
RMN: Worked all day. Yeah-
WR: Well I, I just think you ought to be very happy with the speech, I dunno-
RMN: Incidentally, the Cabinet thing, they were putting out Thursday, but I told Steve to move it to Wednesday. I think we ought to get it over quickly.
WR: I think it's probably better.
RMN: Is that all right with you?
WR: Right, right.
RMN: Because you're the cabinet now, boy. No, no. Oh, I'm not giving you any bullshit. You know that.
WR: incidentally, I think things look pretty good for Packard, if you still want him. I think you ought to give him a call. I talked to-
RMN: I think I'll wait til tomorrow though. I mean it's-
WR: I don't want you, I don't want you to do it tonight. I talked to Stennis I talked to Mansfield I talked to George Mahon.
RMN: What'd they say?
WR: Oh, they thought he'd be great. They thought he'd be great--
RMN: Bill, waive the-
WR: We'll figure out something about that.
RMN: Good of you to call, Bill. You've been a-
WR: Well, Mr. President, that was a great speech. Get some sleep now.
