Conversation: 430-023
Prev: 430-022 Next: 430-024Start Date: 25-Apr-1973 5:37 PM
End Date: 25-Apr-1973 6:45 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Petersen, Henry E.;Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building
NARA Description:
On April 25, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry E. Petersen met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:37 pm to 6:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 430-023 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 430-23
Date: April 25, 1973
Time: 5:37 pm - 6:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Henry E. Petersen.
Watergate
-President’s meeting with Richard G. Kleindienst, April 25, 1973
-Daniel Ellsberg break-in
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-Jack Anderson
-Conversation with US Attorney concerning leaks
-Source of information
-Prominent Republican
-Court reporters
-Seymour Glanzer
-Grand jury
-President’s cooperation
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. November-2011)
Conversation No. 430-23 (cont’d)
-Peter H. Wolf
-Hunt
-Boxes of Hunt material
-[First name unknown] Sheperd [?]
-Frederick C. LaRue
-William Hundley
-John N. Mitchell
-Frederic M. Vinson, Jr.
-Former Chief Justice Frederic M. Vinson
-Possible plea
-Subornation of perjury
-Jeb Stuart Magruder
-Watergate activities
-Mitchell, Paul O’Brien, John W. Dean, III and Robert C. Mardian
-Effects of civil suit
-Ervin Committee
-Samuel Dash’s request to immunize Hunt
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr. and Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-Magruder
-Need for corroborative information
-Dean
-Negotiations with US Attorneys
-Immunity
-Telephone calls from Petersen
-Conversation with the President, March 21, 1973
-William O. Bittman and O’Brien
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Possible testimony concerning Robert L. Vesco
-Mike Seymour
-Dean’s attempt to quash subpoena
-Mitchell
-Vesco
-Edward C. Nixon
-Meeting with Harry L. Sears
-Maurice H. Stans
-Petersen’s forthcoming conversation with Seymour Glanzer
-George Smathers
-25-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. November-2011)
Conversation No. 430-23 (cont’d)
-Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo’s conversation with the President
-Murray M. Chotiner
-Federal Communications Commission
-Freud
-John J. (“Jack”) Caulfield
-Dean’s request concerning James W. McCord, Jr.
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National security]
[Duration: 43s ]
EMBASSIES
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Dean’s request
-McCord’s defense
-Dean
-Lawyer’s negotiations with Dash
-Time to assemble Ervin Committee
-Effect of hearings on investigation
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Documents destroyed
-Fraudulent State Department cables
-John F. Kennedy and Ngo Dinh Diem
-Dean’s story
-Gray’s reasons
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Dean
-Conversation with Petersen
-26-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. November-2011)
Conversation No. 430-23 (cont’d)
-Florida letters concerning Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson and Hubert H.Humphrey
-Witness, [First name unknown] Daniels
-Donald H. Segretti’s guilt
-Segretti
-“Canuck Letter”
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Petersen’s contacts
-Segretti, Hunt, and McCord
-Liddy
-Tom Kennelly
-Peter L. Maroulis
-Suggested letter concerning Corrupt Practices Act
-Richard G. Kleindienst’s signature
-President’s possible action
-Mitchell
-Responsibility
-Martha (Beall) Mitchell
-Indictment
-Vesco case
-Petersen’s conversation with Martha Mitchell
-Presidency
-President’s conversation with John J. Wilson and Frank H. Strickler
-Content
-Presidential responsibility
-Dwight D. Eisenhower and Sherman Adams
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean, and Mitchell
-President and Watergate
-President’s knowledge
-Cover-up
-Herbert W. Kalmbach and $320,000
-President’s other 1972 concerns (such as the Vietnam
War)
-Statement by Charles W. Colson’s aide
-Kleindienst and Petersen
-President’s activity in post-Watergate break-in period
-Orders for full disclosure in Summer 1972
-Ehrlichman’s recollections
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. November-2011)
Conversation No. 430-23 (cont’d)
-Kakeui Tanaka meeting
-Clark MacGregor
-Dean’s concerns
-Mitchell and William H. Sullivan [?]
-Questions for Dean
-Conversation with Dean, March 21, 1973
-Dean report
-Ronald L. Ziegler’s public statements
-Cover-up
-Knowledge of funds for defendants
-Kalmbach and Cuban defendants
-Investigation
-Conversation with Dean, March 21, 1973
-Content
-Hunt’s national security activities
-Blackmail
-Bittman, O’Brien
-Ellsberg
-Dean’s conversation with Ehrlichman, March 21, 1973
-Haldeman’s role
-Bittman
-Dean
-Immunity issue
-Ehrlichman, Haldeman, and President
-Conversation with the President, March 21, 1973
-Further conversations with President
-Blackmail
-President, Kleindienst, and Petersen
-Possible conversation with Petersen
-Dash
-Immunity
-Prosecutors’ view
-Subornation of perjury
-Ervin Committee
-Possible testimony
-Ehrlichman
-Immunity
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. November-2011)
Conversation No. 430-23 (cont’d)
-Hunt
-Possible blackmail of President, Petersen
-Petersen’s possible recording
-Gray
-Use of Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Presidency
-President’s schedule for forthcoming months
-Soviet summit, meetings with Willy Brandt, and Georges J. R.
Pompidou
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Memorandum from Petersen concerning possible charges against
-Possible testimony
-Wilson
-Prosecutors’ suspicions of Petersen
-Need for speedy indictments
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, and Frederick C. La Rue
-Nature of case
-Witnesses’ testimony
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Possible testimony
-Separation from Dean
-Possible departures from staff
-Memoranda from Wilson and Petersen
-Possible departures from staff
-Dean
-Effect
-Possible action by President
-Dean
-Guilt
-Lawyers and information concerning Ellsberg case
-Judge W. Matthew Byrne
-Possible testimony concerning Ellsberg break-in
-Ehrlichman
-Format
-Byrne
-Ellsberg case
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. November-2011)
Conversation No. 430-23 (cont’d)
-Petersen’s instructions for prosecutor
-Disclosure of Dean as source
-Effect on Dean
-Conversation with Earl J. Silbert, April 14, 1973
-National security information
-Hunt and Plumbers
-Investigation
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Legal justifications
-President’s, Peterson’s resolutions
-Wilson
-Grand jury testimony
-Summary of evidence
-Colson
-Richard A. Moore
-Conversations with Dean
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Peterson’s conversation with Harold H. Titus, Jr.
-Presidency and Watergate
-Comparison with Warren G. Harding
-Motives of cover-up participants
-Dean
-Conversation with the President, March 21, 1973
-Report
-President’s involvement in Watergate
Petersen left at 6:45 pm.