Conversation: 039-016
Prev: 039-015 Next: 039-017Start Date: 25-May-1973 12:58 AM
End Date: 25-May-1973 1:25 AM
Participants:
White House operator; Cox, Tricia Nixon; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; Eisenhower, Julie Nixon;Recording Device: White House Telephone
NARA Description:
On May 25, 1973, White House operator, Tricia Nixon Cox, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 12:58 am to 1:25 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 039-016 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 39-16
Date: May 25, 1973
Time: 12:58 am - 1:25 am
Location: White House Telephone
The White House operator talked with Tricia Nixon Cox. The President and unknown persons
can be heard in the background.
Incoming telephone call from Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Tricia Nixon Cox conferred with the President at an unknown time.
[Begin conferral]
Paul W. Keyes
Incoming call
[End conferral]
The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. Tricia Nixon Cox and unknown persons can
be heard in the background.
Former prisoners of war [POWs] dinner
-Haig’s assessment
-Press reaction
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-President’s activities
-POWs’ reaction
-December 1972 bombing
-Haig’s conversations with POWs
-Press reaction
-Demonstrations
-Henry A. Kissinger’s reaction
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. February-2011)
Conversation No. 39-16 (cont’d)
Watergate
-White House reaction
-Kissinger
-President’s possible response
-Effect on foreign policy
POW dinner
-Statements by James (“Jimmy”) Stewart and John Wayne
-Haig’s reaction
Watergate
-Goal of President’s opponents
-President’s conversation with Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon
Eisenhower
-Democrats
-Impact on Republican Party, President
-White House response
-President’s speech, May 24
-Compared with Kissinger
-Content
-New York Times and Washington Post
-Contrasted with popular opinion
POW dinner
-POWs’ reaction
-President’s activities
-Meetings with wives
-Black women’s response
-Female reporters’ reaction
-Helen A. Thomas
-Press reaction
Watergate
-White House response
-President’s possible resignation
-Political landscape
-Effect on President
-Public support for President
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. February-2011)
Conversation No. 39-16 (cont’d)
-POWs
-White Paper [Statements about Watergate, May 22, 1973]
-Effect on stock market
-Wall Street Journal
-Television [TV] coverage
-Effect on President
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.’s stories
-John W. Dean, III’s possible statements
-Elliot L. Richardson characterized
-Richardson
-Meeting with Haig
-Cabinet
-Rogers C. B. Morton
-Suicide of William O. Mills
-Congressional response
-Hugh Scott
-Haig’s conversation with Leslie C. Arends
-Meeting of Republicans, May 23
-Kissinger
-President’s assessment
-Forthcoming press briefing, May 29
-White House response
-President’s speech, May 24
-Press response
-Daniel Ellsberg
POW dinner
-TV coverage
-Keyes’s efforts
-Compared with Ellsberg trial
-Gen. John P. Flynn, James (“Jimmy”) Stewart, and Vic Damone
-Afternoon reception
-Women
-December bombing
-President’s speech
-Reaction of POWs and families
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Afternoon reception
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. February-2011)
Conversation No. 39-16 (cont’d)
-Women
-President’s speech
-Patriotism
Watergate
-Archibald Cox
-Possible actions
-White House response
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Press
-Kissinger’s comments to Jerrold L. Schecter
-President’s opponents’ goals
POW dinner
-Patricia Haig’s reaction
-President’s activities
-Reaction of POWs and families
Watergate
-Public reaction
-Contrasted with Washington, DC climate
-Haig’s family’s view
-Contrasted with New York Times
-Effect on administration
-Soviet summit
-Confidence in President
-Wall Street
-Cabinet
-George P. Shultz
-Claude S. Brinegar
-Earl L. Butz and Morton
-Dr. James R. Schlesinger
-Richardson
-Motives
-Possible actions
-Cox
-Haig’s assessment
-Possible trials
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. February-2011)
Conversation No. 39-16 (cont’d)
-President’s accomplishments
Haig’s schedule
-Florida
President’s schedule
-President’s family
Watergate
-Effect on President
-Possible resignation
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Effect on nation
-President’s opponents’ goals
-Democratic control of Congress
-White House response
-President’s foreign policy activities
-Meeting with Georges J. R. Pompidou in Iceland
-Soviet summit
-Vietnam
-Dean
-Possible statement
-White House response
POW dinner
-Press reaction
-Betty Beale
The President conferred with Julie Nixon Eisenhower at an unknown time.
[Begin conferral]
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s schedule
-Telephone call to [Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. February-2011)
Conversation No. 39-16 (cont’d)
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
[End conferral]
Watergate
-White House response
POWs
-Support
-Blacks, Puerto Ricans
-Enlisted men
-Flynn
Watergate
-White House response
-Cabinet
President’s schedule
-Cabinet
POW dinner
-President’s activities
-Response
-President’s speech, May 24
-Press coverage
-Washington Post
-TV coverage
-Compared with President’s Norfolk speech
-Delivery
-Compared with afternoon reception
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. February-2011)