Conversation: 884-017
Prev: 884-016 Next: 884-018Start Date: 20-Mar-1973 1:00 PM
End Date: 20-Mar-1973 2:31 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Dean, John W., III; Moore, Richard A.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On March 20, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John W. Dean, III, and Richard A. Moore met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:00 pm to 2:31 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 884-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 884-17
Date: March 22, 1973
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:31 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
President’s schedule
-White House Counselors meeting
-Discussion of programs
-Value
-Vetoes
-Vocational rehabilitation bill
-Justification
-Clean Air Act
-Second term goals
-Cabinet meeting
-Congressional leaders meetings
-Value
-Gerald R. Ford
-Hugh Scott
-Purpose
-Changes over last 20 years
-Leader class in US
-Decline
-Helplessness
-Attitudes
-Effects
-Cabinets
-Staff
-Congress
-Business community
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-John B. Connally
-Loss of character
-1960s
-Meetings with Congress members
-Value
-Welfare
-Dependence
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Cabinet
-Minimum of effort
-Harry S. Truman's approach
-Issues for discussion
-Freshmen Congress members
Leader class in US
-Business community
-Cabinet officers, White House staff
-Academics
-Administration's efforts
-Creation of weakness
-Destruction of character
-John Conlan
-Example of leadership
-President's career
-George P. Shultz's meetings with President
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Union of Soviet Socialist [USSR] Trade
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Frederick B. Dent
-Dealings with USSR
-Dent
-Control
Shultz’s responsibilities
-International monetary situation
-USSR trade agreement
-Energy policy
-William E. Simon
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Treasury Department
-Charles J. DiBona
-Ehrlichman
-Labor-Management Advisory Board
-Report
President's schedule
-Trip to California
-Departure
-Congressional relations
-Cabinet meeting
Watergate
-Amount of time
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Handling of press
Press relations
-Garnet D. (Jack) Horner
-Story for administration
-Value
-Washington Post
President's schedule
-Meeting with business community
-Meetings with Congress members
-Counselors
-Ehrlichman
-Cabinet meetings
-Value
-Subjects for discussion
-Alternatives
-Present Cabinet
-Make-up
-John A. Volpe, George W. Romney
Spiro T. Agnew
-President's opinion
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Role in administration
-Agnew's perception of role
-Agnew's opinions
-Public relations
-Involvement in decisions
-Haldeman's relations with Agnew
-Comparison with Sherman Adams's treatment of President
-President's tenure as Vice President
-Haldeman's first meeting
-Relations
Congressional relations
-Ehrlichman's responsibility
-William E. Timmons's role
-President's meeting with Hugh Scott and Leslie C. Arends
-Timmons
-Ehrlichman
-Watergate
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Ehrlichman’s role
-Public relations sense
-Herbert Stein, Roy L. Ash, Shultz
-Work on substance
-Ehrlichman
-Programming of administration line
-Public relations work
-Ash, Shultz
-Cole
-Substance
-Public relations
-Role of Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-William J. Baroody
-Ziegler
-Ehrlichman
-Richard A. Moore
-Abilities
-John W. Dean, III
-Dwight W. Chapin
-34-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Work with White House staff
-Moore, Tex McCrary, David N. Parker
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Abilities
-David R. Gorgen
-New summaries
-Preparation
-Analysis
-Difficulty
-Republicans
-Problem areas
-Watergate
-Food prices
-Aid to Vietnam
-Areas of concentration
-Ziegler
President's press conferences
-President's additions to briefing books
-Staff work
-William L. Safire [?]
-Preparation
-Ziegler's performance
-Ehrlichman’s performance
-Questions from press
Ehrlichman
-Role in administration
-Meetings
-High school students
-Intellectuals
-Public relations responsibility
-Substance
-Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
-Ash
President’s schedule
-Counselors
-35-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Cabinet
-Ehrlichman
-Cabinet meetings
White House staff
-Shultz
-Role in administration
-Public relations issue
-Administration's budget
-Congress’ reaction
-Vigorous defense
Phase II
-Business community
-Wage controls
-Complaints
-Profit controls
-Stockpile release
-Environment and safety restrictions
-William D. Ruckelshaus
-Oil companies
-Bankruptcy
-Los Angeles
-Herman Kahn
-Press-generated paranoia
-Sense of decline
Dean entered at 1:42 pm.
President's meeting with Dean and Moore
Ehrlichman
Moore entered at 1:42 pm.
Watergate
-A report for President
-President's approach
-36-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Ziegler's comments
-Problems
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.'s questions
-Possible questions
-Donald H. Segretti case
-White House cooperation with Ervin Committee
-Jeb Stuart Magruder interview
-G. Gordon Liddy
-Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP] intelligence operation
-Ervin Committee questions
-Dean's answers
-General answers
-In response to Magruder
-Hearsay testimony
-Possible questions
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] investigations of Segretti
-Dean's meetings with Segretti
-Dean's answers
-Gordon C. Strachan
-Segretti's reasons for contacting Dean
-Chapin and Herbert W. Kalmbach involvement
-Grand jury testimony
-Generalities
-Number of questions
-Ervin
-Possible questions
-Ziegler's response
-Segretti
-L. Patrick Gray, III hearings
-Ervin, Samuel Dash
-Written interrogatories
-Administration position
-Replies
-Cross examination
-Written interrogatories
-Strategy of administration
-Agreement with committee
-Administration defense against Ervin Committee
-37-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Story for Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak or Kevin P. Phillips
-Barry M. Goldwater
-Double standard
-Investigation by FBI of committee members' last campaign
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Goldwater
-William J. Baroody
-Committee members’ vulnerability
-Campaign contributions
-Burglars
-Appeal to court for exemption from hearings
-Judge John J. Sirica
-Use of American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU]
-Committee rules
-Charges of campaign violations
-Goldwater speech
-Draft
-Baroody
-Leaks to columnists
-Charges of double standard
-Investigation of George S. McGovern's campaign
-Republican investigation
-FBI investigation
-Democratic National Committee [DNC]
-Discovery of bug in the phone
-FBI investigation
-Administration counterattack
-William H. Sullivan
-Appearance before Ervin Committee
-Democratic uses of FBI
-Disclosure
-Gray’s confirmation
-Gray hearings
-Gray's work with Ehrlichman
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-FBI
-Sullivan testimony
-Cartha D. DeLoach
-38-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Closed sessions
-Political use of FBI
-Leaks by White House
-New investigation of past abuses
-Joseph A. Califano
-White House staff testimony
-Claims of privilege
-President's concern
-Precedents
-FBI
-Use by administration
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-False accusations
-Use by past administrations
-1968 campaign
-Telephone surveillance
-Spiro T. Agnew
-John N. Mitchell
-Talk with Dean
-Testimony in Robert L. Vesco case by grand jury
-Questions
-Range
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr. and Segretti
-Ehrlichman
-Dean
-Donald A. Nixon and Edward C. Nixon
-Prosecutors
-Appointment
-Vesco
-Dealings with administration
-Value to Vesco
-Murray M. Chotiner
-George A. Smathers
-Reaction to grand jury
-Questions
-ITT case
-Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] documents
-Harley O. Staggers
-39-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
- Justice Department
-Senate Judiciary Committee
-Possibility of perjury by Kleindienst
-Jack N. Anderson leak
-Release of documents
-Antitrust problems
-Senators' problems
-Contacts with Agnew by Harold S. Geneen and Edward J. Gerrity, Jr.
-Peter G. Peterson, John B. Connally
-ITT officials
-Divestiture of company
-Vesco case
-Comparison with ITT case
-Contribution to 1972 campaign
-Returned to Vesco
-Democratic exploitation
-Political uses of case
-Ervin hearings
-Media coverage
-Questions for administration
-Written interrogatories for Dean
-Executive privilege
-Edward J. Gurney
-Today Show
-Debate of John V. Tunney
-Dean's assessment
-Defense of administration
-Risks
-Strategy
-Next step for administration
-Questions for administration
-Ziegler's response
-Potential headlines
-Dean involvement with Segretti
-Kalmbach
-Administration handling
-Options
-Counterattack
-40-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Tone
-Sullivan
-Testimony on past abuses of FBI
-Goldwater
-Investigation of Democrats
-President's view
-Sullivan
-Senate hearings
-A report for President
-Ehrlichman
-Review
-Ziegler
-Review
-Moore's opinion
-Gray
-Hearings
-Segretti
-Dean's report on Segretti
-Segretti's meetings with Strachan
-Number of contacts
-Dean's meeting with Segretti
-Generalities
-Dean's knowledge of activities
-Part of investigation
-Knowledge of illegalities
-Questioning
-Statements for press
-Conclusions
-White House involvement
-Generalities
-Dean's involvement
-Purpose
-A report for President
-Ehrlichman's review
-Revisions
-Ziegler's review
-Possible release
-Review by senators
-41-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. June-2010)
Conversation No. 884-17 (cont’d)
-Charles McC. Mathias
-Committee chairman
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-Ervin hearings
-Gurney
-Support for administration
-ITT
-Presidential involvement
-Vesco case
-Gurney
-Grand jury hearing
-Prosecutors
-Left-wingers
-Jews
-Need for counterattack
-Sullivan
-Testimony on Democratic illegalities
-Impact of FBI, Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover
-Embarrassment
-Need to be careful
-A report for President
-Ehrlichman's review
-James O. Eastland's review
-Strategy for counterattack
-Vesco
-FBI revelations
-Sullivan
-Use by Democrats
-FBI investigation of Congressmen
Dean and Moore left at 2:31 pm.