Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 138 › Conversation 138-003

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Eagleton controversy

Saturday, July 29, 1972 · 9:54 AM–10:07 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 12 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation138-003 on Tape 138StartSaturday, July 29, 1972 at 9:54 AMEndSaturday, July 29, 1972 at 10:07 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 138-003 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 648452415 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discussed the ongoing political crisis surrounding Senator Eagleton's potential removal from the Democratic ticket, including speculation about who McGovern might select as a replacement and the legal and political ramifications of the situation. They also touched upon the potential impact of the controversy on fundraising and the media's coverage, as well as George Wallace's expected statement and the importance of John Connally's involvement in managing the administration's response.

  • Eagleton controversy
  • McGovern's vice presidential selection
  • Democratic Party strategy
  • Political fundraising
  • Media coverage
  • Wallace statement
  • Connally's role

Audio

Download MP3 · 28.5 MB

This clip of the conversation was cut from the tape by the National Archives (catalog record ↗).

NARA Description

On July 29, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:54 am to 10:07 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 138-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 138-3

Date: July 29, 1972
Time: 9:54 am - 10:07 am
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

[See Conversation No. 198-4]

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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NixonHello?
HaldemanHello.
NixonYes, sir.
HaldemanWell, anything new on the Eagleton front?
NixonWell, I guess they're, you know, they're still talking about dropping him now. They're putting out hints at least.
HaldemanYeah. His aides are.
NixonThey sure have got him in a hell of a spot, haven't they?
HaldemanYeah.
NixonHe rushing around saying he's going to stay on, and so forth.
HaldemanOne thing, did you get the report from Dwayne Andreas?
NixonUh, I don't think so. No.
HaldemanHe he reported that, I can't remember now, Mitchell told me, and I guess
NixonMm-hmm.
HaldemanAndreas called Mitchell, I guess. It doesn't seem right, but, anyway, Andreas reported to one of our people that
HaldemanHubert had called him and said that on Thursday night
HaldemanMcGovern had called Hubert and asked him to take the vice presidency.
NixonHm.
HaldemanAnd Hubert said no, that he wouldn't do it, and that he that he couldn't, and that was the end of that. But
HaldemanHubert called Andreas to tell him that. And Andreas is in the hospital.
NixonMm-hmm.
HaldemanThat uh that would indicate that they definitely are planning to get someone else and can't find someone.
HaldemanAnd uh
NixonWell, they can find Andreas understood
Haldemanthat Hubert's, say, that you know there were a lot of reasons why he wouldn't do it, but, uh,
Haldemanamong them was the fact that he had had just received a handwritten note from you.
NixonCouldn't be right because that's one I wrote that in California two weeks ago.
HaldemanWell, then if you if you wrote Maybe Maybe she didn't get it off, but uh No, if you wrote one at all, that maybe he didn't say, "just." Maybe he said, you know, he had one of the
NixonI see.
Haldemanthings that affected it was a handwritten note from you.
NixonI see. Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.
HaldemanOr something like that.
NixonGood.
HaldemanSo uh That's good.
Haldemanuh that shows you never know what You never know what helps you.
Haldemanwhat effect things like that might have over the short or long haul or something. Right.
HaldemanRight. But it's uh
HaldemanI don't know, it's uh uh, still, seems to me impossible to figure what they're going to do. They've got tough time.
NixonWell, they got a problem, too, uh that I've uh checked in on the legal situation. In getting
Nixonthey have to give uh uh apparently, about two weeks' notice to get that con- convention, or committee, together. Right.
NixonSo then they got to get the committee. Well now, what are they going to do in the two weeks? Are they going to have a name dangling out there, or wait? That's it. That's, you know, does he?
NixonAnd uh that's going to be tough. If he puts a name dangling out, the committee'll fight like hell before they ever get there.
HaldemanMm-hmm.
NixonHe's really got to wait till it gets there, and If he doesn't put a name out, but calls the committee, then they've got that gap.
NixonThey've got a They've got an absolute void, and uncertain, you know, and rushed, and and uh
NixonI think I think these are the problems that may be may may be causing them to wait, that they don't know what the hell to do, or how to do it. They're trying to
HaldemanMm-hmm.
Nixonthink it through.
HaldemanThat's it.
NixonThey've certainly had the attention of the country on their show this week, haven't they? [chuckles]
HaldemanYeah. Sure have.
NixonBut it's uh Not the kind of attention they want.
NixonOh, no. Sure.
NixonSure.
HaldemanThey're And all the they're getting it seems to me, more and more, you know, like uh uh Jesse Jackson calling for removal, and Mary McGrory is calling for removal.
NixonWhy? What did she What'd she say?
HaldemanOh, she kind of ripped him up one side and down the other.
HaldemanSort of uh anti-Eagleton, but Sure.
Haldemantrying to save McGovern. Which is the standard line a lot of them are doing now. In other words, they're all they're all shouting, taking McGovern this very nice, honest man was taken in by this fellow who didn't tell him.
HaldemanYeah. Yeah.
HaldemanAnd that it's a tragedy this great man who's bringing all this honesty to us, and all is is uh
NixonYeah. And, yeah, politics of truth and trust, and Mm-hmm.
Nixoncandor, and so forth. Cluttered up, but it's uh
NixonI think it's just as well, uh, Bob, they're calling attention to that, though. Don't you? Oh, yeah, because it all plays negative.
NixonBecause whatever it is, it uh
NixonYou know another thing that's going to happen here, Eagleton, whatever whatever happens to him, he's going to have, and it's never split uh all one way,
Nixonhe's going to have a hell of a lot of friends by the time this thing is over, you know. Oh, sure.
NixonSympathy friends, and people that, you know, figure what the hell. And they're they're getting quite a And uh, those people, if he drops him,
HaldemanMm-hmm.
NixonI mean they're going to have to You know, it's going to make it a little hard in that way, isn't it? Yep.
NixonEven though he might gain another way.
HaldemanWell,
NixonHell of a Quite a deal.
HaldemanI don't know, I It's It's just As you keep saying, it's one terrible time for them.
NixonIt's terrible from another standpoint. They have a this Under their Because of their reform rules, they have a lot of jackasses that just blurt out everything, you know. And then,
NixonI mean, they have no discipline.
NixonAnd uh not having any discipline, they're now Even with a party like ours, with some discipline, we've got jackasses like Riegle. Yep.
NixonBut they have none. Yep. And boy, and now they're reaping the whirlwind for that, aren't they?
HaldemanYeah, that's right. And then if they try to make the change, they're going to reap more of the whirlwind, I would think, although Honestly, makes that
Haldemansome of them seem to think that it whatever whatever What happens
Haldemanwhatever McGovern wants will go right through, but I'm not so sure.
NixonHm.
NixonWell, it might for the reason that they would realize that a fight would be mortal at this point. I mean, if they have have a big fight and turn him down, that would be a blow.
HaldemanYeah, but some of those people again, are going for control and Could be.
Haldemanall that, rather than than winning.
NixonSee,
NixonInteresting that if, if it's true that he offered it to Hubert, might, of course it might be that he just called and, you know, did it in a, sort of if-
HaldemanYeah, if we have to do this, kind of basis.
Nixon-want to know if you want to be considered, something like that, you know.
HaldemanMhm.
NixonThat's probably more likely, but nevertheless, boy, all these guys It's one of the problems McGovern has. Anybody he talks to is going to make it [snicker] make a point of it. He's been offered it. It'll be used merchandise by the time it finally comes around on somebody.
NixonYou know, he just may have to sit on it. I mean sitting, uh, to live with it. What do you think?
HaldemanOh, I hope that's what happens. I don't see how he can.
NixonThe Times No way to get out from under it with The Times and The Post, I mean, those two, and I assume that newsmagazines, okay good. He's got one brutal problem, hasn't he?
NixonOne brutal problem.
HaldemanYep.
NixonWell, it's a good weekend for us to just let them wallow in their own problems.
HaldemanWell, the other thing, someone was pointing out that with all the money problems they've got anyway, this really is hurting on that, because they're-
NixonUncertainty always hurts money, doesn't it?
HaldemanYeah. Their their money people sit and wait, and that wastes all the time they were supposed to be moving into this big registration drive that that, uh-
NixonMhm.
Haldeman-they don't have all that much time for anyway.
NixonMhm.
NixonMy guess is that it affects actually the masses of the country much less than it does basically the political people. You know what I mean? It's summer,
HaldemanYeah.
Nixonand all that sort of thing. And so, I think that's probably- I think really the heart of this thing, that the reason that it hurts him, is it gets it does get to their their hard core.
NixonI mean, those that mean the people that live and breathe and eat politics. So it is. The others, you know, say, "Oh well, it's just a couple of nuts," or something like that, they don't sort of give it that much thought.
HaldemanNo, but it's it's even It has-
NixonIt has been running, [unintelligible] it has been running quite a bit, though, hasn't it, still, on television night after night?
HaldemanOh, it was on for five minutes last night.
NixonMhm.
HaldemanYeah.
NixonDoesn't hurt. Good on it anyway.
NixonThe, um Is Wallace going to make some statement today? Yeah.
HaldemanThat's the Apparently he may not make it. It may just be, um, issued by Snider.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanI can't find We don't have a time on on when they're going to do it.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanI would guess they'd do it at noon, but I don't know.
NixonI was uh talking to Colson last night, he said that uh he had talked to Marsh, and he was a little, the statement wasn't quite as strong as the first one, and so forth, and so on. And I emphasized to Colson the vital importance of being sure that this was in Connally's shop, you know, not
HaldemanRight.
Nixonanywhere else. You know, we uh He said, "Well, he was you talked to Connally, Connally didn't feel anything should be done."
HaldemanRight.
NixonBut um, we must be very careful not to not to move into into that thing. That's a high area of sensitivity.
NixonYou haven't had any conversations with uh Connally in the last couple of days, have you?
HaldemanUh, yeah.
NixonOn this?
HaldemanYeah, because I told him filled him in on the uh uh on the Haig contacts and the reports out of that-
NixonOh, good, yeah.
Haldeman-so that he would know, uh, you know, what had been covered there.
NixonGood. Well then, just so you keep sort of on top of that.
HaldemanOh, yeah, I've I've called him every time there's been any-
NixonI don't want him to feel, Bob, that uh that we're kind of having Colson run it, and he's not there, you know.
HaldemanRight.
NixonAnd uh doesn't mean that Colson hasn't done what he should do, but it just means that Connally's got to realize where we expect the responsibility to be.
HaldemanYep.
NixonWell, I'll tell you one thing: we These people that think that Meany is going to endorse McGovern, unless there's some enormous revolution there, he's [laughter] My God, he just tears the hell out of him.
HaldemanReally?
NixonOh, Jesus, it's just unbelievable. There's a real real hatred there.
HaldemanWell, I would think everything that's happened since the non-endorsement would've solidified it, too.
NixonOh, it's unbelievable, uh, he just goes on, and on, and on. He just gets wound up, you can't even get a word in edgewise.
Haldeman[chuckle]
NixonWhich is fine.
NixonAnd uh,
NixonOf course, he he kind of thinks they've got to take Eagleton off. He doesn't think that uh what's-his-name Certainly, he said, the only one that could He said nobody could help him. He says Muskie says he he can't help him. He says Hubert can't help him.
NixonHe says nobody can help him except Teddy. Now, he says, he doesn't know, doesn't think Teddy would do it, and that's the other interesting point.
HaldemanRight.
NixonI suppose that that's going to be their ploy, to try to run to Teddy and get him to rescue them. That Sargent Shriver story is so damned interesting, that uh
Nixonit could be, you know, that uh the thing that they have there is a lot of young squirts, you know, each of them thinking he's king, and uh and and some of them may be often, sometimes, try to pick like that, you know? It's just like It sounds like our own staff,
HaldemanYeah, because
Nixonyou know, when they come up with a lot of jackass ideas if we let them go.
HaldemanYeah.
NixonIt'd be awful, uh, because, you know, everybody's blurting out this and that. Well, it would be like letting Garment loose, and, you know, and Finch and the rest. And and we they have lost screwy ideas, everybody has.
HaldemanThat's right.
NixonAnd I think that's what's happening here to an extent, don't you?
HaldemanI think it is, because you get that in the press stuff, because it's obvious that various of them are taking it upon themselves to-
NixonRight.
Haldeman-say what is and what isn't happening.
NixonGood. Good.
NixonWell, okay, we'll see if the everybody ought to play tennis today, it's nice and [laughter] cool. Okay, bye.
HaldemanOkay.

Also recorded on July 29, 1972

  • 198-001 8:30 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:30 am and 9:54 am.
  • 138-006 9:00 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:00 am and 10:25 am.
  • 138-004 10:07 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:07 am and 10:09 am.
  • 138-005 10:09 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David from 10:09 am to 10:18 am.
  • 198-008 10:18 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 10:18 am on July 29, 1972 and 10:25 am on July 30, 1972.
  • 138-007 10:25 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 10:25 am.
  • 138-008 10:28 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 10:28 am.

Cite this conversation

Conversation 138-003, July 29, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 648452415). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/138-003 (accessed November 1, 2026).