Empire of Liberty

National Security Agency phone intercept, January 7, 1972.

Participants:

President Richard Carter

California Governor Jennifer Jax

Status: Declassified following leaked publication, LA TImes.

 

Pres. Richard Carter: This is President Richard Carter.

Gov. Jenny Jax: Dick!

Carter: Miss Jax.

Jax: What time is it there?

Carter: I admit it’s quite late.

Jax: Are you drunk? Is this one of those heavy-breathing-type calls?

Carter: Your famously informal style.

Jax: You know, I already have a boyfriend.

Carter: The well-known folk singer. Would he disapprove of us speaking?

Jax: Bobby Dillinger? He’d find it hilarious.

Carter: Miss Jax, I believe this is the first time you and I have communicated directly.

Jax: [garbled]

Carter: Fair enough. You sense that I am feeling a bit lonely at this late hour. Indeed, I am only accompanied by a bottle of barrel-aged whisky from the British consul at—

Jax: You’re rambling, Dick. Though I guess there comes a point when a man starts to prefer eighteen-year-old scotch to eighteen-year-old [garbled]. Have you reached that point, Dick?

Carter: Now, as to the reason for my call—

Jax: [garbled]

Carter: I want to extend you the courtesy of notifying you that we are sending two agents to California to apprehend a notorious criminal terrorist. You surely know to whom I am referring, the man responsible for the recent townhouse explosion in Georgetown and the subsequent hijacking of TWA Flight 207.

Jax: I know that guy! I mean, I personally know him. He’s a nut.

Carter: Wonderful. Then perhaps you can even assist—

Jax: Dick, out here, we have no laws regarding extradition. Or laws of any kind, really.

Carter: Then I—

Jax: Dick? I have a question. The money situation.

Carter: Is there a question?

Jax: The question is what the [expletive]? Dollar inflation is up to forty percent annually. We’re still using USA currency, and it’s [expletive] our economy.

Carter: I assure you, Miss Jax, that we have a plan to whip inflation now. Good night—

Jax: Wait, don’t hang up! Will you come visit me, Dick? I get lonely too.

Carter: I’ll confer with my Secretary of State, but it would seem unlikely.