Easy NixonAbout

Conversation: 381-018

Prev:  381-017 Next: 381-019

Start Date: 18-Dec-1972 2:06 PM

End Date: 18-Dec-1972 2:35 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Kleindienst, Richard G.Ehrlichman, John D.Sanchez, Manolo

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

381-018.mp3

NARA Description:

On December 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Richard G. Kleindienst, John D. Ehrlichman, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:06 pm to 2:35 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 381-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 381-18

Date: December 18, 1972
Time: 2:06 pm – 2:35 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Richard G. Kleindienst and John D. Ehrlichman.

       Insurance
             -Golf

       Golf
              -Hole-in-one
                   -Kleindienst’s photograph in newspaper

       Second term reorganization
            -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
                  -L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
                        -Schedule
                              -Connecticut
                              -Meeting with Kleindienst
                        -Health
                              -Florida
                              -Delay of meeting with the President
                              -Gen. Walter R. Tkach
                              -Habits
                              -J[ean] Paul Getty
                                    -Telephone call from the President
                                    -Age
                                    -Wealth
                                    -Habits
                        -Retention
                              -Negatives and positives
                                    -Kleindienst’s conversation with John N. Mitchell
                        -Confirmation hearings
                              -Watergate
                                    -Possible testimony

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 2:06 pm.
                                             -35-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. May-08)

                                                              Conversation No. 381-18 (cont’d)



       Temperature in office

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 2:35 pm.

       Second term reorganization
            -FBI
                  -Gray
                        -Confirmation hearings
                               -Watergate
                        -Politics
                               -Cronyism charge
                                     -Watergate
                               -Edward M. Kennedy
                                     -Possible Presidency
                                            -Post-Presidency
                                                  -Republican
                                                  -Liberal Democrat
                        -Reform
                               -Field offices
                                     -Discipline
                               -Timing
                  -Peter J. Pitchess
                        -Relationship with Kleindienst
                        -Qualities
                        -Age
                        -Political ability
                        -Age
                        -1976 election
                               -Republican
                               -Kennedy
                  -Richard G. Ogilvie
                        -Attorney General
                        -Political ability
                               -Background as governor
                               -Law firm
                               -Compared to Pitchess, Gray
                  -Pitchess
                        -Background
                         -36-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                  Tape Subject Log
                    (rev. May-08)

                                         Conversation No. 381-18 (cont’d)

             -Barry M. Goldwater’s California campaign chairman, 1964
             -Los Angeles
      -Compared to Gray
-Trust
-Gray
      -Confirmation hearings
             -Kennedy
             -Birch E. Bayh, Jr.
             -John V. Tunney
             -G. Harrold Carswell
             -1972 election
                   -1976 election
             -Kennedy’s speech
      -Conversation with the President
      -The President’s conversation with Mitchell
      -Confirmation hearings
             -Senate Judiciary Committee
                   -James O. Eastland
      -Confirmation hearings
             -Kennedy, Bayh
                   -Commitments
      -Conversation with the President
             -The President’s schedule
                   -Florida
-Matthew Byrne
      -Political orientation
             -Democrat
      -Los Angeles
      -US attorney
      -Objectivity
-Time article, November 6, 1972
      -Source
             -Unknown woman reporter
                   -Field offices
                          -Gray’s effort
             -W. Mark Felt
                   -Gray’s view
                   -1972 election
                   -Mitchell’s view
                   -Gray
                                     -37-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. May-08)

                                                     Conversation No. 381-18 (cont’d)

                                  -Conversation with Kleindienst
                                       -Kleindienst’s view

Mitchell
     -Martha (Beall) Mitchell
          -Health
          -Watergate
                -Responsibility
          -Health

Second term reorganization
     -Narcotics
           -Allocation and use of resources
           -Addicts
                 -US
                       -Compared to France
                       -Seale
                             -Epidemic
                       -Compared to France, Japan, Britain, Spain
           -Customs
           -Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs [BNDD]
     -Roy L. Ash
           -Recommendation
           -Outsider status
           -Kleindienst’s schedule
     -Study
           -Narcotics
           -Ash
     -John F. Gallagher [?]
           -Budget
     -Ash
           -The President’s conversation with Kleindienst
     -Customs
           -Border Patrol
           -Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS]
           -Investigations
           -Treasury Department
           -Investigations
                 -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
     -Investigations
                                      -38-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                               Tape Subject Log
                                 (rev. May-08)

                                                       Conversation No. 381-18 (cont’d)

           -BNDD
                -Justice Department
                -FBI
                       -J. Edgar Hoover
           -FBI
                -Hoover’s view
                       -Automobile thefts, kidnapping, organized crime, drugs, campus
                        riots
                       -Controversy

Hoover
    -Late career
    -Image
    -Kleindienst’s view
    -Departure
          -Death
          -The President’s breakfast meeting with Hoover, September 20, 1971
          -Gray’s view
                 -Speeches
          -The President’s meeting with Hoover
                 -John Mitchell’s schedule
                 -John Mitchell’s view
    -Public relations [PR]

Professional football
      -Washington Redskins playoff game
           -Washington Post reporter
                  -Reference to “Negroes”
                        -Black, “Afro-Americans”
      -Media relations
           -Television [TV] blackout of playoff games
                  -Kleindienst’s viewing
                  -Kleindienst’s possible suit
                        -Edward Bennett Williams
                  -National policy
                        -Kleindienst’s conversation with Alvin R. (“Pete”) Rozelle
                              -Rozelle
                                    -FBI
                        -Sellouts
                              -Super Bowl I
                                     -39-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                              Tape Subject Log
                                (rev. May-08)

                                                      Conversation No. 381-18 (cont’d)

                            -Redskins-Buffalo Bills game
                            -Denver
                            -St. Louis
                                  -Busch Stadium
                            -Redskins-Bills game
     -Redskins-Bills game
           -Ehrlichman’s attendance
                 -O[renthal] J[ames] Simpson
                 -Billy Kilmer
     -Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants game
     -Redskins-Bills game
           -Ehrlichman’s attendance
                 -George Allen
     -Media relations
           -TV blackout of playoff games
                 -The President’s instructions
                       -Kleindienst’s forthcoming conversation with Rozelle
                             -Kleindienst’s meeting with the President
                       -Possible suit
                             -Kleindienst’s possible conversation with Williams
                                   -Rozelle
                             -US District Court
                                   -Injunction
                 -Compared to networks and re-runs
                       -The President’s efforts
                             -Hollywood
                 -National policy
                 -Kleindienst’s conversation with Williams
                       -The President’s schedule
                             -Florida
                       -Washington, DC voters

Second term reorganization
     -The President’s conversation with Gray
     -Deputy Secretary of Treasury
           -Peter M. Flanigan
     -Gray
           -Qualifications
           -Withholding of nomination
                 -Reasons
                                              -40-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. May-08)

                                                              Conversation No. 381-18 (cont’d)

                             -International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT]
                             -Oil [Policy Committee order]
                   -Nomination
                       -John Mitchell’s concern

       Watergate break-in
            -John Mitchell’s concern
                  -Republican National Committee [RNC]
            -White House involvement
                  -RNC

       Second term reorganization
            -Gray
                  -Nomination
                        -Kennedy, Tunney, Bayh

       Professional football
             -TV blackout of playoff games
                  -Kleindienst’s call to Rozelle
                  -Kleindienst’s conversation with Williams
                         -Possible suit

Kleindienst and Ehrlichman left at 2:35 pm.