Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 311 › Conversation 311-048

Nixon & Haldeman on Media Relations and Public Relations Strategy

Sunday, January 2, 1972 · 3:58 PM–4:07 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation311-048 on Tape 311 (tape position 02:33:21–02:39:35)StartSunday, January 2, 1972 at 3:58 PMEndSunday, January 2, 1972 at 4:07 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 311-048 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss administrative communication protocols and the President's strategy for managing media narratives. Nixon establishes boundaries for his availability, requesting that he be shielded from routine calls after hours. They further deliberate on the need for a more disciplined approach to responding to press reports, with the President calling for a curated, weekly assessment of news to ensure balanced public relations.

Audio

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Position in tape: 02:33:21 – 02:39:35

part B, 30:31

311a.mp3
311b.mp3

NARA Description

On January 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:58 pm to 4:07 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 311-048 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 311-48

Date: January 2, 1972
Time: 3:58 pm - 4:07 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

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

[See Conversation No. 17-148]

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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But what I mean is they both are very, very bad in terms of that.
Like, you have fun.
So I would do the Los Angeles Pirates this time, and I'm hoping that every time I get there, I should just do it.
Because they've been about to, like, come on in, and, you know, they've been doing it.
And, you know, it's definitely the best that we've had, you know, in the whole year.
So I'm just writing my book for all.
And, you know, when I have the chance,
We've got to know how to slip off of them without being cautioned.
You've got to rather see the other crowd or the lone fishers.
They're always very important things to see.
there, not building.
But he will have to in order to get up to his common college.
He's got to take a run line on that.
But the way he operates, I've watched him and I've heard of him.
He picks little things up.
And so basically that's what he does.
I'm studying these little things that he might be seeing.
Okay.
Bye Henry.
Bye.
We'll see you later.
I tell you what, tonight after 10.30, I will be unavailable by fall.
And, uh, if you, uh, have any calls, come up to me.
Unless there's one from, uh, any other calls, we'll do an important call.
Okay.
10.34.
Yeah.
Yeah, okay.
Hello.
Who is this?
Hello.
I can't fire.
Do you think I should be trying to spend the night at our place?
I can, you know.
I've got the...
I've got the... Well, Roger's in the house.
I've got the company.
Well, he likes it there.
It's a good amount of people.
We'll probably have those helicopters around.
Good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had the same feeling, you know.
I mean, I talked to Colin at Christmas.
At Christmas, he was in good shape.
And I, uh...
But I, uh... And he should.
God damn it, he looks good.
But, uh...
I didn't call him.
And I'm going to end up having that dinner as soon as I get through because that gives me a chance to sleep.
If you want to put the rest, why don't you stay in there and do the rest.
I'll hold back.
Okay.
Maybe just a piece of it.
You guys were saying the reaction to the bomb.
You know, any of the subjects do that.
I mean, George Mayon, Eddie, they're on top of it.
Dale, I don't know if you should.
And frankly, I think you have to do that.
It's the old story.
It's written about something else, because it got to be negative, and then after a few good around, it got mad up.
So anyway, Patrick Bennington's been negative in this series, so it's been a writer for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This year, we're going to be all year long.
That's why I want people to be with us when we come around.
We always do that.
I've always said that, don't ever believe it.
For a while, we don't run.
Because they can't run totally against the tide of the ocean.
I'm going to hammer him away.
I mean, quite the thing.
And I mean, it's necessary to do it.
But I mean, quite the thing.
Wow.
I didn't know he did it.
I think he does.
And I'd like to go.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
You've got to watch Postman on that, Bob, because he said some reed wires, you know, and then says, well, we've got to get an answer to that.
God damn it, nobody should read the wires.
We've got to wait.
Yeah.
Yeah, because they have to get it out in such a hurry.
And then to do a little bit of a balanced report.
I am utterly convinced that the...
Best reports you get in the new summer.
And I'm almost doing this right now, day by day.
I'd like to have maybe every day be one story that we really ought to respond to.
And then I'd like to have about once a week, well, here's the news of the week for us.
You see what I mean?
I think you really need balance in the minute.
You can just say, here's the main color of the story.
That's the way to think about it.

Also recorded on January 2, 1972

  • 017-147 3:50 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:50 pm and 3:58 pm.
  • 311-047 3:50 PM · 36 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 3:50 pm and 3:58 pm.
  • 017-148 3:58 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 3:58 pm to 4:07 pm.
  • 017-149 4:07 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-049 4:07 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-050 4:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-051 4:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-052 4:07 PM · 29 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 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.

All 60 conversations from January 2, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 311-048, January 2, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/311-048 (accessed November 4, 2026).