diff --git a/lisp/find-dired.el b/lisp/find-dired.el
index 9fa139a8025..33376ee4ed9 100644
--- a/lisp/find-dired.el
+++ b/lisp/find-dired.el
@@ -177,7 +177,9 @@ using GNU findutils (on macOS and *BSD systems), see instead the
 man page for \"find\"."
   (interactive (list (read-directory-name "Run find in directory: " nil "" t)
 		     (read-string "Run find (with args): " find-args
-				  '(find-args-history . 1))))
+				  (if find-args
+                                      '(find-args-history . 1)
+                                    'find-args-history))))
   (setq find-args args                ; save for next interactive call
 	args (concat find-program " . "
 		     (if (string= args "")