Nixon White House TapesTape 304 › Conversation 304-010

Nixon & Haig on Congressional relations and Political strategy

Monday, October 25, 1971 · 3:12 PM–3:15 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation304-010 on Tape 304 (tape position 00:37:23–00:40:30)StartMonday, October 25, 1971 at 3:12 PMEndMonday, October 25, 1971 at 3:15 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 304-010 ↗

President Nixon and Alexander Haig coordinate the delivery of a message to an unnamed recipient regarding the maintenance of critical congressional support. Nixon expresses a desire to present personal recommendations to the individual in question to ensure legislative backing for the administration. The conversation focuses on balancing the formality of a written letter with the tactical benefits of an oral message to secure necessary political cooperation.

Download MP3 · 6.2 MB

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 42% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.

Yeah.
All right.
Hello?
Yeah, hello.
Would you do that then?
It'll at least give me an option in case I want to take some of these off.
All right.
Right, right.
That, uh, you ought to be with us.
It's a personal letter, though.
Why don't you have an oral message for that person, or is that not satisfying?
Why don't you have an oral message for that person, or is that not satisfying?
Why don't you have an oral message for that person, or is that not satisfying?
Just right like that.
The congressional support that I'm fighting for, I deeply believe in.
But I would therefore, in order that I can continue to maintain congressional support for the House, I would personally come here and make some recommendations.
Okay?
Good deal.

On October 25, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:12 pm to 3:15 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 304-010 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 304-10

Date: October 25, 1971
Time: 3:12 pm 3:15 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 12-117]
  • 012-116 3:01 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 3:01 pm to 3:11 pm.
  • 304-009 3:01 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:01 pm to 3:11 pm.
  • 012-117 3:12 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 3:12 pm to 3:15 pm.
  • 012-118 3:15 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:29 pm.
  • 304-011 3:15 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:29 pm.
  • 304-012 3:15 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:29 pm.
  • 304-013 3:15 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:29 pm.
  • 304-014 3:15 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:15 pm and 3:29 pm.

Conversation 304-010, October 25, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/304-010 (accessed September 19, 2026).