Listen to Richard Nixon discuss panda sex


Imagine you're a newspaper editor, and you get a phone call. From the president. And he wants to talk about pandas having sex.
That's what happened to Crosby Noyes, the foreign editor of the Washington Star in 1972, when President Richard Nixon called him to leak the news that pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing — given as gifts after First Lady Pat Nixon spoke about admiring the adorable animals — were going to go to the National Zoo once they arrived from China.
Nixon made some more small talk about the pandas, but things got really interesting when he started discussing their mating habits. "The problem, however, with pandas is that they don't know how to mate," Nixon said. "The only way they learn how is to watch other pandas mate. You see?" Noyes did see, and Nixon continued, "And so, they're keeping them there for a little while — these are younger ones — to sort of learn, you know, how it's done."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Then came the big offer. "Now, if they don't learn it they'll get over here and nothing will happen, so I just thought you should just have your best reporter out there to see whether these pandas have learned," Nixon said. Noyes laughed, but didn't make any promises to send a crack reporter out to watch pandas possibly (and likely awkwardly) attempt to mate. Listen to the conversation, which is recounted by Douglas Brinkley and Luke A. Nichter in their new book The Nixon Tapes: 1971-1972, below. --Catherine Garcia
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Shaky starts: A jobs drought for new grads
Feature The job market is growing, but Gen Z grads are struggling to find work
-
'Forever': Judy Blume's controversial novel gets a modern adaptation
The Explainer The Netflix series gives the 1975 novel all the trappings of modern teen life
-
Why does the GOP want to ban state-level AI regulation for a decade?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION House Republicans are pushing to block states from making their own AI laws for the next ten years, even as expert warn the results could be disastrous.
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creature
Speed Read