had met the president and mrs. nixon briefly. >> i don't remember his name. mary lou is the one who remembering everything. some chief. he wrote to president nixon when elected. and the president sent a pro forma, thank you very much. and this guy waved this all over saying he's my buddy. when we got to the captain of ghana, they said, of course, you must go up to the hills and meet the chief, president nixon's buddy. who is this guy? but we did. we thought it was a courtesy. he had planned for a huge ceremony honoring mrs. nixon. he was blind by then. the first negotiation, bill is working things out with the guys. we're going to have a mammoth ceremony, the chieftain will be in garb and we'll roast a goat.

and we'll give the president the eyes of the goat to eat. guys can do this, instead of her eating the eyes of the goat, can't she like dance or something, you know, to show her appreciation. so she wound up dancing also with the native customs in ghana. the ceremony was incredible, like you see in the old movies. everyone is carrying in of the subchieftains, nfc, one subchieftain they're carrying in, about a 300-pound white redhead. her irs get big. evidently, he had inherited the land. he wouldn't give it up. his father was a farmer. >> on that visit to ghana in '57, i think it was chief dan, i think was his name, that was the first time that my father met martin luther king jr. because he was at the inauguration. >> right. he was there. >> the independence day, independence from britain.

that's when my father's relationship with king began so that was a very historic trip. >> and then from there we went on to the ivy coast, the president boneit and his wife greeted the president and mrs. nixon, thousands of people, a great motorcade all the way. it was unbelievable. that was the same time, 1972, not much, but it was just a stopover, so to speak. and then just a month later, the nixons went to china, on that historic visit. several weeks ago, the nixon foundation and the u.s. institute for peace had a day-long symposium marking the 40th anniversary of that trip. and secretary hillary clinton was the final speaker, the keynote speaker at the end of the day. and she made a point of saying, right at the beginning of her remarks that while this event was celebrating and marking the

40th anniversary of president nixon's trip to china, it was also the 40th anniversary of mrs. nixon's trip to china. most of the academics all thing the most important thing to come out of that visit was the shanghai communique. i think if you remember most americans what they remember about that trip to china, two words -- giant pandas. those giant pandas that came to the zoo in 1972 came there because of pat nixon. julie, how did your mother score two giant pandas from the chinese? >> well, it was one of the banquets, and my mother was seated next to joanneli, the chinese they were heavy smokers. there was a silhouette of panda cigarettes. they were making conversation.

she thought he was very intellectual. she enjoyed meeting and talking with him. at one point, she put her hand out and talked to the cigarettes and said they're so adorable i love them. he said, i'll give you some. my mother said, cigarettes? he said, no, pandas. that was the beginning of the whole thing of giving the american people two pandas. in return, the united states gave the chinese two musk oxen who are very dull animals. from loma linda, my favorite thing from the exhibit out there is the cage that one of the pandas was sent to the united states in. and there were two cages. and it's about -- maybe about the size of this table, maybe a little longer. very primitive. i mean, it look its like a dog

or cat cage. apparently now, panda cages are $1 million each. it's an incredible artifact. and because the gift was to the national zoo which is part of the smithsonian. the smithsonian kept the crates and that's why we were able to exhibit it at the library. >> and i was amazed that the pandas arrived in the united states less than two months after jo enly promised to give them to us. she went to the zoo to officially open the panda house. she said at the end of her brief remarks, she said, i predict that pandemonium is going to break out at the zoo. more than a million people every year go to see the pandas at the national zoo. >> nobody visits the muskoxen. >> it's true.

>> go figure. >> jack, you were in china with president and mrs. nixon. >> yeah. >> and mrs. nixon carried out her own schedule during that time. and you took her around. what all were you doing while the president was in those talks with the chinese leaders? >> he was in meters. and mrs. nixon would see various things, mostly once again, trying to mingle with people. this was difficult. those of you who have dealt in the communist world know that they're very afraid of authority figures. and mrs. nixon's approach was one. they were always very tentative. and she found a way to break the ice, sometimes using me as a prop. i recall, for shopping, they had a friendship store, that's where you could spend nonchinese occur raerns. currency. usually, eastern europeans would go there.

she figured it out, okay, brennan, you're about the same size as ricardo. i want to buy him pajamas. absolutely no respect for the dignity of the united states marine corps, i had to take off my bottoms and put these pajama bottoms on. she laughed and roared. all the chinese thought this was really cool. >> we looked for that picture, jack, we couldn't find it. >> yeah, yeah. it's hidden. you can't find it. anyway, i have it. and everywhere -- we went, you just saw the picture. we went to the zoo, with the pandas. and one little side story. always barbara walters -- we had all of the top press people, walter cronkite. the president was in meetings, they didn't want to sit outside. they would go around with mrs. nixon. that's what was projected back to the united states. these heroes in the media wanted

to be with mrs. nixon. barbara walters was especially egregious. always wanted to stand next to mrs. nixon. mrs. nixon would smile and i'd grab her arm. and mrs. nixon would chastise me later. >> i don't think we'd let you loose in the press office. >> in the end, i just took barbara walters by the arm and said this is not the barbara walters show. >> that's why you weren't on ten most interesting people with barbara walters that year. [ laughter ] >> but what else did you see when you were over there? >> well, of course, we -- of course, with the president, with the president, we took him along on a couple of the trips. we went to the great wall and the ming tombs. and the dinners. listen to this -- well, she was nice enough. we were so tired -- i was so tired, mrs. nixon wasn't usually. one night we had on a schedule, thursday night, free night.

couldn't wait -- all of us, couldn't wait to sleep that night. instead of, you know, doing something, going here and there. we left the great hall of the people. i get in the limo with the president, the interpreter, myself and secret service, president nixon just for something to say, oh, mrs. premiere, mrs. nixon and i really love chinese food. whenever we can, we go out to peking duck dinner. i wouldn't wait to crash. invited to the great hall for peking duck dinner. i wanted to kill him. >> did you go? >> everyone went. >> and we had the four treasure soup which is the gizzards, the heart, the intestines, hot water. >> and you went to a communicate as well when you were in china. what was that like? complain what a commune -- it's

not like a '60s commune here, you know. over in china, it's really a city? >> that's right. it's a city, and they just all share everything in the true communist mode. and i think they had one television in the commune that they all shared. you know, living conditions, just living in dirt. it was nothing you'd ever want to do. the incredible change, i went in '72, '76, and '79, and the changes were remarkable. and in 1972, very, very few automobiles kept the soviet-made one that only carried executive, top people in the government. everyone else was on a bicycle and the same gray mile suit. every once in a while, you'd see a blue mile suit. barbara walters should interview him. in 1976, you'd see more interesting things. some color. people wearing things. again in '79, this intrigued me, it intrigued mrs. nixon a lot

more because people were even more open and available for conversation and to chat. 1972, just party line, chairman mao said, repeat what chairman mao wanted to hear. mrs. nixon always knew, a story happened. this was the '76 trip -- '79 trip, excuse me. chairman mao's wife was madam qing qing. and the minister of culture. and she had arranged things for us to see. one night, we had to see concerts, musicals. we're all ready to go, the foreign minister knocked on my door which is the adjacent room to the president and mrs. nixon. he said, i need to talk to you. the fifth song is anti-taiwanese song.

when it ends, madam qing is going to stand up and give a denoununciatio denunciation. i thought, oh. i didn't say omg because that wasn't around then. i sat behind them, i counted the fifth song, i looked at the foreign minister, i said, don't get up. stay down there. whispering to them. sure enough, the song ended, madam qing jumped up and the president -- at the end, mrs. nixon just grabbed my hand and squeezed it like we did it, kid. similarly, when we visited chairman mao in 1976, the foreign minister came to my room and said, chairman mao would like to meet with president nixon. i thought, great, give me a minute. it was late in the evening. and he wants to meet with mrs. nixon and with you. i said with me? he said, well, when president

nixon came previously, there were 80 some people and now there's just one. we respect loyalty. i told the president this, he was not thrilled. he's the man. he's, all right, you and mrs. nixon just come in and meet him and leave. >> that sounds like him. >> we did. we knew our orders. we left. once again, she and i rode back. she grabbed my hand again and squeezed it like we did it this time. and i came back -- and bill sapphire, whose assistant was here in the audience used to always admonish me to write everything down. i said, what for? i'm not going to write a book. that night, i did. i still have it, verbatim, everything we saw in the forbidden city. what mao's room looked like. what he looked like. the guttural language he used. and i have that picture. anyway, that's -- that's incredible. incredible the things she did. and it's amazing how she could

break free, even with people who were so attuned to personal relationships and for touching and talking and hugging, you see the chinese could do that. >> and there was a similar sort of meeting with another very powerful man, brezhnev who came to the union in 1973 and they went out to san clemente and stayed with the nixons. >> you don't want to hear everything about that. >> tell us how the jen secretary wanted to meet with mrs. nixon and give her a gift. >> the kg b ran everything. for some reason, they felt my military rank was phony. the kgb had military ranks. and gropev who became head of the soviet union and said,

brennan, we know you are not the major. i said what do you mean? you are the strongman. they thought i was cia. >> bill, in russia, we went to russia, went on the advance. and the one place -- several places, were for the ballet and also the school of those children who did the ballet. and the thing is with regard to gum department store, we advanced it. there were a lot of people who were outside in the shop. and at the time mrs. nixon arrived, the place was deserted outside. like, what's happening here? maybe it's the wrong day. we walked in. just the people who worked there, all in white coats, and she said to me, don't worry, they always do that. it was -- it was very embarrassing. but, you know, she went in there and purchased a few things but it was embarrassing to me because we wanted a big crowd.

>> well, don, you were with them on the kitchen debate in '59. were you not, in the soviet union? >> oh, yeah. >> that's why she said to you, bill, they always do these things because she'd been there in '59, and she knew exactly how programmed every visit would be in the soviet union. >> yeah. >> that was when she didn't really have a set program. >> right. >> but she managed to break the ice with the soviet wives. remember they never had their wives at anything. and then she -- she broke the ice and had them come. and she did very well on that. and she also challenged khrushchev when they were talking about the solid fuel for missiles. and the boss asked a question which kruschev wasn't going to

answer. your mother said, well you ought to be able to answer it, you're the top man in this place. you know everything. >> yeah. >> it was great. >> in russia, we also went to ballet school, also, we -- a circus. we took her to a circus which was a little interesting except i was quite concerned when they took us down below where the bear was right there. it was right scary, but they had it around the neck. and then from there, we went to -- i have -- we went to -- after seoul -- russia, we went -- '74, we went to austria. we 20 cairo. from there, we went to saudi

arabia. to damascus and syria, to tel aviv, amman, jordan, moscow all in 1974. >> when you said saudi arabia, you mentioned saudi arabia twice tonight. it's one of my favorite stories about my mother. the saudis -- the palace that my mother and father stayed in was so cold and there was no way to adjust the temperature, my mother told me later she slept in the bathtub. it was sort of a little concave space. she moved into the bathtub. she had everything, pillows on top of her. it was 50 degrees. air conditioning at 50 degrees. >> why didn't you open up the window? she said, i was concerned if you opened the window there would be an alarm. she took the bath mats and what have you and wrapped herself. and slept in the bathroom. >> he wanted to show his great

respect for mrs. nixon, while in san clemente, thinking i'm king kong, said he wants to see mrs. nixon alone. he said, i don't know how to do it. he said, obviously, you tell brennan. he's the kgb. i brought him over to the residence, mrs. nixon and i was there. first, he said, i want you to know my wife did not buy these gifts for you. i personally went and bought these because i have such great admiration for you. he's hankies, shehe had these embroidered hankies that he appreciated, gave a long speech, he wanted to personally by these and personally hand these to her. not his wife. my wife didn't do it. >> i want to take -- we're running short on time which this is going really fast for me and i hope for you all as well. and give everybody just to ask

to sum up a little bit. i'd like to start with don. you were with her, during the vice presidential years when a lot of challenges got handled. the travel methods. the different food, the no air conditioning and everything else. how would you summarize mrs. nixon's ability to handle any challenge that was put in front of her while she was overseas. >> amed plagiarism. >> no. >> i figured you were going to ask something like that. it's kind of hard to really express it. so i'm going to plagiarize this. i'm going to read something. in later years, she'd not lose her touch. she was at home visiting helper colonies or riding in an open-door helicopter to visit combat troops in vietnam.

her courage was her trademark, and she stood by her husband in good times and in bad. and that sums up the way i feel about her. >> yeah. >> i used that at her eulogy, at her funeral, that's what i thought. >> i just want to assure you, when you're quoting yourself, that's not plagiarism. [ laughter ] and that was such a beautiful -- it was such a gift. i'm also very pleased that you read my memo all the way through to the end that you had that prepared. that's good. >> and don, that was a beautiful eulogy. there were four eulogyists for my mother, and my father asked you to give one. >> great. >> don, i want to ask you, as the state department, fellow in the striped pants, i guess that's what they used to call you, right?

how would you interpret mrs. nixon's u.s. diplomacy as ambassador of goodwill? >> she was wonderful, because every place that we've gone to there were thousands and house to of people coming out, saying they want to see the first lady. and i've been involved with state department when these other -- when these prime ministers and presidents and shaws came into the united states with their first lady. and no one can compare to mrs. nixon. she was absolutely magnificent and easy to work with. the only thing she said to me, why do you have to have such a large entourage. i had ten people to advance it, of course, others came in later. but we never -- she never demanded anything from us. except when we went to orphanages, she said no press. i always remember that. she was really wonderful. >> thank you, bill. >> jack, how would you

summarize, particularly, the trips that you were on, my gosh, one stop after another? and difficult long schedules going long into the night. how would you summarize your work ethic on the trips? >> well, i only go in a different direction because i'm really impressed with all of you -- most of you know mrs. nixon was laid to rest at the grounds of the nixon library in san clemente. and the inscription on her grave site is -- i'll paraphrase it -- even if people don't understand your language, they know when you have love in your heart -- they can tell when you have love in your heart. that epitomizes mrs. nixon to me. as far as her work ethic, it was just incredible. she kept me going and i was in my 30s. just never stopped. always did the right thing. never was late. never was -- as bill said, the only complaint she ever had was oh, we don't need that.

we don't need that. don't do that. so just an amazing lady in my life, like the daughter. >> yeah. >> and julie, how would you summarize basically the importance of your mother's work as ambassador of goodwill? >> i would just sum it up by saying that, you know, people say well did your mother really like political life, and was she unhappy in politics and all? and the answer always is she just so believed in my father and what he was doing. and she also believed in herself and what she was doing. and she knew during the '50s when eisenhower sent them on these incredible journeys that she was making a difference and it really was helping u.s. policy. and when my father was elected in '69, we had half a million young -- no, 550,000 young men fighting in vietnam. and this was a disaster for our country. and the war dominated all of the nixon years.

so she was totally reenergized to do more for diplomacy because she knew it would make a difference. and i father used to talk about, i'm trying to build a generation of peace for the american people. and that's what they did. i think she's trips were incredibly important and we did have a generation of peace. and it was the foundations laid in the '50s and late '60s and '70s, thanks to an incredible team who believed in them, supported them, advised. i thank all of you -- there's so many here today from the vice presidential years all the way to the end. you're all part of the story. it's a great american story and i'm just so proud of what was about accomplishinged in those years. >> thank you. i want to thank everyone for coming tonight. thank our extraordinary panel who could not only -- they've lived history. and they're very generous to come tonight and share with us some of their stories and their memories of some very momentous

times in the life of our country and very consequential times in the life of our country. and to help everybody learn a little bit more about just what an extraordinary woman pat nixon was. when i was working on the centennial exhibit in loma linda which i hope everybody will book a flight out and see it, we worked as designers. part of the design process as they read julie's book and other books about mrs. nixon. and each one of came to me in the process, and especially one of the guys, he said, i shouldn't say this, but i've got a crush on pat nixon. i think the more everybody learns about pat nixon, the more we all have a crush on her. she was an amazing woman as a first lady did so much and was just such a great role model i

think for all of us. many. i'm sorry about the videos. i hope that -- we will have them online at the nixon foundation.org. the opening one has congressman leonard lance giving a beautiful tribute to mrs. nixon on the house of the floor. and statements from first ladies, rosalynn carter, barbara bush and laura bush. i hope you'll go on to the website nixonfoundation.org to see that video. >>