Conversation: 228-001
Prev: 227-026 Next: 228-002Start Date: 20-Nov-1972 9:09 AM
End Date: 20-Nov-1972 11:16 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Sanchez, Manolo; Ziegler, Ronald L.; Camp David Operator; Ehrlichman, John D.;Recording Device: Camp David Hard Wire
NARA Description:
On November 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, Ronald L. Ziegler, Camp David operator, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:09 am and 11:16 am. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 228-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 228-1
Date: November 20, 1972
Time: Unknown between 9:09 am and 11:16 am
Location: Camp David Hard Wire
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
The recording began while the conversation was in progress.
Second term reorganization
-William L. Safire
-Plans
-Retention
-Book writing
-Slogans, speeches
-Treatment by administration
-Book writing
-Book writing
-Inside account
-Work with White House
-The President’s schedule
-Trust
-Publication
-Public interest
-Self-promotion
-Television [TV] interviews
-Safire’s experience
-Domestice and foreign policy knowledge
-Jewish background
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Comparison with Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Work with White House
-Honesty
-Work with White House
-The President’s schedule
-Access to memoranda, notes
-Safire’s possible conversations with John B. Connally,
-2-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
-Press relations
Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 9:09 am.
Delivery of Life magazine
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 10:40 am.
Second term reorganization
-Safire
-Book writing
-Richard A. Moore
-Work with White House
-Moore
-Kissinger
-Sales
-Work with the President
-Memoranda
-Dictaphone
-The President’s interview with Garnet D. (“Jack”) Horner
-Excerpts for press syndication
-Importance to administration
-Pre-1972 election period
-TV
-Post-1972 election period
Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 9:09 am.
[Life cover] photograph
-Sanchez’s view
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 10:40 am.
Life magazine
-Text
-Editorials
-Tone
-Pre 1972 election period
-Editor
-3-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Louis Banks
-[Ralph Graves]
-Hugh S. Sidey
-Comments on the President’s attitude
-Press relations
-Ivy League
-Kissinger
The President’s schedule
-Social events
-Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and [Patricia Antoinette (Fox) Haig]
-Purpose
-Cover
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Patricia Haig
-Counter-culture, art conversations
-Kissinger
Kissinger’s list
-Meeting with the President
-The President’s opponents
-Size
The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Haig
-Timing
-[Camp David]
-Cabinet schedule
Second term reorganization
-Meetings
-John A. Volpe and George W. Romney
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Timing
-New York
-James D. Hodgson
-Hodgson
-Job offer
-Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]
-Loyalty
-4-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Ambassadorship
-[Maria (Denend) Hodgson]
-1972 election
-Ambassadorship
-Maria Hodgson
-Committee for Industrial Peace post
-Leonard Garment
-Meeting with the President
-Commissions
-Bicentennial
-Italian-American [Volpe]
-Blacks
-Stanley S. Scott
-Retention
-Work with Garment
-Charles W. Colson’s office
-Title
-Socialist
-Garment
-White House staff
-Social functions
-Rank
-Garment
-Colson
-Michael P. Balzano
-William P. Rogers
The President’s schedule
-Possible meeting with Edward R. G. Heath
-Roger’s concern
-Timing
-Inauguration
Kissinger
-Possible trip to People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Timing
-January 1973
-Need for restraint
-Statements
-Publicity
-5-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-“Frankenstein”
-Mail operation
-Price
-Instruction for Haldeman
-The President’s schedule
-Lyndon B. Johnson letter
-Response
-The President’s reading
-The President’s dictation
-Rose Mary Woods
-Price
-Process
-Present conversation
-Haldeman’s notes
-Memorandum for the President’s file
-Dictation
-Reconstruction
Federal-state relations
-Democratic governors
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Illinois
-Ohio
-Pennsylvania
-Daniel Walker
-John J. Gilligan
-Milton J. Shapp
-Small states
-Mayors
-Administration allies
-Richard J. Daley
-Walker
Memoranda for the President’s file
-Kissinger memoranda
-The President’s library file
-Taping system
-Transcriptions
-Locations
-Oval Office
-6-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-The President’s dictations
-Memoranda
-Topics
-Notes
-Value
-Transcriptions
-Woods
-Frequency
-Value
-Biographers
-Safire
-Quantity
-Kissinger’s memoranda
-First term
-Originals
-The President’s custody
-Copies
-Memoranda to the President
-Custody
-The President’s acquisition
-Kissinger’s assurance to Haldeman
-White House staff
-First term papers
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Republican Party
-Republican National Committee [RNC] chairmanship
-Robert J. Dole
-Removal
-John N. Mitchell
-Initiative
-Source
-House of Representatives, Senate
-Leadership
-1972 election defeats
-Blame
-Peter H. Dominick
-7-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Colson
1972 election
-New Hampshire votes
-The President’s victory
-Analysis
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-The President’s memorandum
-Compared to 1964 election
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-Minority report
-Press relations
-Landslide
-Status of Republican Party
-Registered voters
-Significance of landslide
-Press
-Surprise
-Mood
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Alice Roosevelt Longworth
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
Press relations
-The President’s image
-News summary
-The President’s actions, courage
-John B. Connally
-Life photograph session with the President, November 7, 1972
-The President’s conversation with Ziegler
-[Harry Benson]
-Previous photograph session
-Mrs. Nixon
-Cover photograph
-Bobby Fischer
-Support for the President
-Cover photograph
-8-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Time
-Newsweek
-Motivation
-Response
-Colson’s office
-Letters
-Colson
-1972 campaign
-Endorsement of the President
-Editorial staff
-Opposition to the President
-Photograph editor
-Life and Time
-Ziegler
-Sidey
-Effect on public
-Hostility to administration
-Exclusion from White House
-Cover photograph
-National Broadcasting Company [NBC]
-John Chancellor
-Compared to Walter L. Cronkite, Jr.
-The President’s instruction
-Sidey
-Conversations with Ehrlichman and Kissinger
-NBC
-White House selectivity
-Newsweek
-Arnaud de Borchgrave
-Possible interview with the President
-Support for the President
-Newsweek
-Jerrold L. Schecter
-Work with Kissinger
-Compared with Aldo B. (“Elbow”) Beckman
-Intelligence
-Jewish background
-Ziegler’s view
-Kissinger
-Buchanan
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Safire
-Life cover photograph
-Response
-Colson’s office
-Letters
-Advertisers
-Donald McI. Kendall
-Possible telephone call
-General Electric [GE]
-American Motors Corporation [AMC]
-Unknown person
-Program
-Justin W. Dart [?]
-United Fund drives
-Sidey
-Edward C. Nixon
-Status
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Comments on White House staff
-Garment
-“Technicians”
Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 9:09 am.
Memorandum
-Unknown woman
-Delivery to the President
-Typing instructions
-Location of typist
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 10:40 am.
Second term reorganization
-Unknown woman
-Nellie L. Yates
-Work pace
-Marital status
-Patricia B. McKee
-Personality
-Intelligence
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Beverly J. Kaye
-Loyalty
-State Department
-Tests
-The President’s forthcoming memoranda
-The President’s forthcoming memoranda
-Woods
-Marjorie P. Acker
-Woods
-Secretarial help
-Intelligence
-Loyalty
-Age
-Marital status
-Age
-Experience
-Marital status
-Work pace
-Loyalty
-Yates
-Age
-Work pace
-Intelligence
-Age
-Stamina
-Abstention from drinking
-Performance under pressure
-Loyalty
-Dwight L. Chapin
-Secretary to Stephen B. Bull [Kaye]
-Competence
-Bull
-Replacement
-Personality
-Advance man assignment
-Ronald H. Walker
-The President’s trips
-Protocol
-James J. Reynolds
-South American ambassadorship
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Personality
-U. Alexis Johnson
-Commerce Department
-Anne L. Armstrong
-[Howard (“Bo”) Callaway]
-George P. Shultz
-Business Council
-Southerner
-Secretarial help
-[Kaye]
-Compared to Woods
-Mistakes
-Woods
-Competence
-Compared to past
-Other assignments
-McKee
-Dealings with people
-Compared to Haldeman
-Personal appearance
-Competence
-Loyalty
-Yates
-Travel
-Yates
-Husband
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Privacy]
[Duration: 13s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************
-Travel
-California
-World trips
-Haldeman’s staff
-Woods
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
Press relations
-Life and Time
-Exclusion from White House
-Sidey
-Sidey
-John F. Osborne
-Hostility to administration
-Balance
-Credibility
-Compared to Osborne
-Support for John F. Kennedy
-Nicholas P. Thimmesch
-Intelligence
-Work with White House
-Sidey
-Syndicate
-Leak
-Inside stories
-Ziegler
-Relationship with White House
-Ziegler
-Intelligence
-“Heart”
-Sidey
-Robert B. Semple, Jr.
-[New York Times]
-“Heart” and intelligence
-Thimmesch
-Column
-Newsweek
-Sidey
-Relationship with Washington Post
-Editorial policy
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Stewart J. O. Alsop
-Sidey
-Exclusion from White House
-Kissinger
-Cut off of relations
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-White House operator
Second term reorganization
-Kissinger
-Departure
-Timing
-European Security Conference
-Arrangements
-Replacement
-Connally
-[Secretary of State]
-Effect on foreign policy
-Tone
-Connally
-Possible role
-Assistant President
-Political party exchange
-Timing
-December 9, 1972 meeting
The President’s schedule
The President’s notes
-Secretarial help
-Copies
-Distribution
-Unknown woman
The President let and entered at an unknown time before 10:40 am.
Public relations [PR]
-Rogers
-Possible assistance
-Memorandum
-Forthcoming conversation with Haldeman
-Comments on the President’s management of the office
-Efficiency
-The President’s image
-Courage
-Kissinger’s role
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Big events
-Personal warmth
-Compared to 1970
-White House staff perceptions
-Public opinion
-Surrogates
-Emphasis on the President’s personality (“Nixon the man”)
-Women surrogates
-Memorandum
-Ehrlichman reaction
-Possible supermarket appearance by the President
-Safire’s reaction
-Photograph opportunity
-White House staff work
-Memorandum
-Previous memorandum to Haldeman
-Result
-The President’s TV appearance
-Barbara Walters
-Long-term progress
-Public discourse
-The President’s trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-TV coverage
-Impact
-Press relations
-TV appearances
-Dan Rather
-TV coverage of the President’s activities
-Improvements
-Network TV appearances
-Press conferences, interviews
-Press conferences
-East Room
-Interviews
-Oval Office press conferences
-East Room
-White House staff
-Kissinger
-Ehrlichman
-Kissinger
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
Ziegler entered at 10:40 am.
Ziegler’s forthcoming press conference
-Review with the President
-Press pool
Press relations
-Press trailer
-Helen A. Thomas story
-Cost
-Mrs. Nixon’s recent conversation with the President
-Criticism
-Francis Lewine story
-Removal
-Lewine story
-Ziegler’s reaction
-Schedule delay
-Life cover photograph
-Ziegler’s view
-Sanchez’s view
-Display
-Photograph editor responsibility
-The President’s schedule
-Benson
-The President’s amd Mrs. Nixon’s previous photograph session with Life
-Ziegler’s response
-Recent conversation with [Jack Newcomb]
-The President’s schedule
-Benson
-White House contact with Life
-James C. Hagerty
-Benson
-Recent conversation with Newcomb
-Unknown woman
-Time, Newsweek
-White House contact with Life
-Sidey
-Returning telephone calls
-Osborne
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Returning telephone calls
-Schecter
-Time
-Newsweek
-Henry Hubbard
-Schecter
-Kissinger
-Schecter
-Sidey
-Life
-Newsweek
-[Oriana Fallacci] interview
-Future interviews
-Clearances with Haldeman
Ziegler’s forthcoming press conference
-Second term reorganization
-Ehrlichman
-Story in Washington Star
-Veracity
-Stories on Kissinger
-The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Cabinet
-Washington Star story
-The President’s schedule
-Meetings with Cabinet
-Announcements
-Release
-Timing
-Cabinet
-Previous meeting with the President
-New ideas, approaches
-Impact of landslide
-Maintenance of momentum
-Cabinet
-Departments
-Size of government
-Reduction of personnel
-Timing
-Rethinking in bureaucracy
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Meetings with the President
-Bureaucracies
-Analyses of departments
-Timing of announcements
-Anticipation
-The President’s schedule
-Meetings with Cabinet
-Kleindienst
-Defense issues
-Melvin L. Laird
-Departure
-Changes in assignments
-Value of officers
-New job offers
-Completion
-The President’s decisions
-Consideration of recommendations
-White House staff
-The President’s schedule
-Thanksgiving plans
-Camp David
-The President’s family
Second term reorganization
-George H. W. Bush
-Opposition to Treasury Department appointment
-Interest in Cabinet position
-Opposition to Walter E. Washington appointment
-Haldeman’s message to Bush
-Ehrlichman
-RNC job offer
-Laird
-Political significance
The President’s schedule
-Announcements
-Ehrlichman
-Dinner
-Ziegler
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
Press relations
-Life cover photograph
-Ziegler’s forthcoming telephone call to Life
-New York
-The President’s schedule
-Sensitivity
-Public reaction
-Telephone calls, letters
-Responsibility
-Editorial staff
-Opposition to the President
-Photograph department
-Tone
Ziegler left at 10:53 am.
Ziegler
-Press relations
-Tone
PR
-The President’s image
-Rogers’s conversation with Haldeman
-Advice on the President’s image
-Second term
-Management of office
-Qualities
-Skill, courage, boldness
-Personal warmth
-The President’s speech to [Los Angeles] Jewish [leaders at
the Beverly Hills Hotel, October 29, 1952]
-Reaction
-Personal warmth
-White House staff
-Moore
-Buchanan
-Rogers
-State Department
-Recommendations
-Receptions for the President at United Nations [September 18, 1969
-19-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
and October 23, 1970]
-Charles W.Yost
-White House staff
-Safire’s possible book
-John A. Andrews, Jr.
-Possible book
-Quality of writing
-William F. Gavin
-Lee W. Huebner
-Compared to Moynihan
-Moynihan
-Ideas, programs
-Possible meeting with Haldeman
-Technical issues
-Announcements
-Work load
-Appointments
-Pace
-Colson
-Value
Second term reorganization
-Colson’s role
-Forthcoming meeting
-Input
-Peter J. Brennan
-Labor Department
-Frederic V. Malek
-Transportation Department and Commerce Department recommendations
-Commerce Department
-Frederick B. Dent
-Transportation Department
-[Anne L. Armstrong]
-Howard (“Bo”) Callaway
-Ethnic
-John A. Scali
-UN job
-Italian-American background
Press relations
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Kissinger’s interview with Fallaci
-The President’s handling
-Effect of article
-Compared to Maxine Cheshire’s articles
-Kissinger’s concern
-The President’s and Kissinger’s image
-Memorandum
-Rogers’s possible reading
-Haldeman’s possible rewrite
*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
-Roger E. Johnson
Edward C. Nixon
-Aide to the President
-Personality
-Compared to Rebozo, Roger Johnson
-Roger Johnson
-Intelligence
-Personality
-Mrs. Nixon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4A
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 9s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4A
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-F. Donald Nixon
-Meeting with the President
-Florida
-Responsibilities
-Donald Nixon
-Relatives
-Donald McI. Kendall’s associates
-21-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Telephone calls
-Nepotism
-Robert F. (“Bobby”) Kennedy
-Attorney General
-Abilities
-Campaign activities
-Surrogate
Nixon Foundation
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4B
[Unitelligible]
[Duration: 3s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4B
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White House staff
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-First Lady’s office
-Constance M. (Cornell) (“Connie) Stuart
-Retention
-Haldeman’s handling
-Mrs. Nixon’s chief of staff
-Abilities
-Intelligence
-Personality
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************
Nixon Foundation
Jo Anne (Horton) Haldeman
-Handling of Presidential papers
-Announcement
-Work with Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Loie Gant
-Signal to archives
-22-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
-Use by White House
-The President’s request for a report
-Colson
-Hosts
-Number of seats
The President’s schedule
-[Meeting with Bush, Ehrlichman]
The President talked with the Camp David operator at an unknown time between 10:53 am and
11:10 am.
[See Conversation No. 155-12]
[Conversation No. 228-1A]
[End of telephone conversation]
The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Bush
-Ehrlichman
The President talked with the Camp David operator at an unknown time between 10:53 am and
11:10 am.
[See Conversation No. 155-13]
[Conversation No. 228-1B]
[End of telephone conversation]
Second term reorganization
-Military aide office
-Changes
The President talked with Ehrlichman between 11:10 am and 11:11 am.
[See Conversation No. 155-14]
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
[Conversation No. 228-1C]
[End of telephone conversation]
The President’s schedule
Nixon Foundation
-Jo Anne Haldeman
-Job
Ehrlichman entered at an unknown time after 11:11 am.
The President’s schedule
-Meeting with Bush
-Location
Ehrlichman left at an unknown time before 11:16 am.
Nixon Foundation
-Jo Anne Haldeman
-Volunteer job
-Pay
-Purpose
-[Yorba Linda] property sale
-Plans
-Ehrlichman
-F. Edward Hebert
-Timing
-Congress
-Standards of Official Conduct Committee
-Hebert
-The President’s schedule
-California
-Christmas
-Tour
-House
-Possible donation
-[Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon Cox]
-Mrs. Nixon
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Feb.-08)
Conversation No. 228-1 (cont’d)
-Market price
-Appraisers
-Value
Second term reorganization
-Problems
-Dole
Haldeman left at an unknown time before 11:16 am.