Conversation: 916-008
Prev: 916-007 Next: 916-009Start Date: 11-May-1973 8:27 AM
End Date: 11-May-1973 9:16 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Woods, Rose Mary; White House operator; Kissinger, Henry A.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On May 11, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Rose Mary Woods, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:27 am to 9:16 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 916-008 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 916-8
Date: May 11, 1973
Time: 8:27 am - 9:16 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.
Lead news stories
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
-Watergate indictment
Rose Mary Woods entered at an unknown time after 8:27 am.
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[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 5 s ]
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President’s schedule
-Camp David
-Church
-Woods’s forthcoming telephone calls to Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon
Cox
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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Telephone calls
-John N. Mitchell
-Maurice H. Stans
-Kathleen (Carmody) Stans
-Devotion
-Ties to Herbert W. Kalmbach
Woods left at an unknown time before 8:30 am.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
Television [TV] appearances after Robert L. Vesco case indictments
-Stans
-Statement
-Mitchell’s statement
Forthcoming press briefing
-Gerald L. Warren
-Pending cases
-Mitchell, Stans
Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s TV appearance
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[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 3 s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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Watergate
-White House response
-John W. Chancellor’s
-Vesco
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Wiretaps
-Morton H. Halperin
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
-W. Matthew Byrne’s forthcoming ruling
-Pentagon Papers
Leaks, 1969-1971
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Ralph Nader and Ellsberg
The White House operator talked with the President at 8:30 am.
[Conversation No. 916-8A]
[Begin telephone conversation]
[See Conversation No. 45-220]
[End telephone conversation]
Watergate
-Press coverage
-President’s conversation with Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
-Press
-John W. Dean, III
-Ziegler’s conversation with Nicholas P. Thimmesch, May 10
-Thimmesch’s experience with Time
-Hugh S. Sidey
-1960 campaign
-Pierre Salinger
-John F. Kennedy’s statement regarding blacks
-Press standards
-News media’s opinion of the President
-Use of news media
-1968
-1970-1971
-Ervin Committee hearings
-Robert C. Odle, Jr.
-Lawrence M. Higby
-James W. McCord, Jr.
-Dean and Mitchell
-7-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
-Dean
-Comments, May 10
-President’s handling
-Ziegler’s conversation with Thimmesch
-President’s opponents in media
-Goal
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Stans
-President
-President’s principles
-Katherine L. Graham and Thomas W. Braden
-Goals
-Chancellor
-Washington Post and New York Times
-Goal
-White House response
-Buchanan
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Franklin R. Gannon
-Tex McCrary
-Goal
-President’s principles
The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger between 8:43 am and 8:44 am.
[Conversation No. 916-8B]
[Begin telephone conversation]
[See Conversation No. 45-221]
[End telephone conversation]
Watergate
-President’s opponents in news media
-Goal
-President’s principles
-Domestic policy
-8-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
-Foreign policy
-President compared to others
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-John B. Connally
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Ziegler’s press briefing, May 10
-President’s foreign policy
-President’s opponents in news media
-Goal
-President
-White House reaction
-Ziegler’s forthcoming meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Buchanan
-Price
-Haldeman
-President’s reception for prisoners of war [POWs]
-Mitchell, Stans, L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Charles W.
Colson
-Effect of allegations
-Actions
-Compared with Robert F. (“Bobby”) Kennedy and the President in 1960
and 1962
-Compared with Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry M. Goldwater
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
-Effect of allegations
-President
-Compared with John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Johnson, and Federal Bureau
of Investigation [FBI]
-The President’s conversation with J. Edgar Hoover
-Focus
-Wiretapping
-Colson, E. Howard Hunt, Jr. and G[eorge] Gordon Liddy
-Wiretapping
-Compared with previous administrations
-Campaign dirty tricks
-“Canuck Letter”
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson letter
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
-Cover-up
-White House response
-President’s orders for full disclosure
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Ziegler’s conversation with Haldeman
-Richard A. Moore
-Donald H. Segretti
-Ehrlichman’s report
-Ellsberg case
-Possible wiretaps
-Hunt
-Hoover
-Halperin
-Wiretaps
-Ziegler’s forthcoming press briefing
-National security leaks
-FBI procedures
-Mitchell
-Files
Declassification
-Ngo Dinh Diem’s death
Watergate
-Gray
-Statement concerning conversation with the President
-Telephone conversation with the President
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Telephone conversation with Ziegler
-Gray’s conversation with the President
-Gray’s meeting with the President
-President’s conversation with Dean, September 15, 1972
-Investigation
-Haldeman
-White House involvement
-Dean
-Documents
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
-Credibility
President’s forthcoming speech on election reform
-Blue ribbon commission
-Timing
-Hugh Scott
-President’s schedule
-Possible meeting with Congressional leaders
-Ziegler’s forthcoming conversation with Leonard Garment
-President’s schedule
-Bipartisan Congressional leaders
-William E. Timmons
-Preparation by Ziegler and Garment
-Scope of Election Reform Commission
-Financing
-Abusive practices
-Reform
-Violence
-Legal reform
-Leak by White House
-Draft by Garment
-Scope of Election Reform Commission
-Size of contributions
-George S. McGovern and teachers’ union
-President and milk producers
-Restrictions on unions, other groups
1972 presidential campaign
-Effect on election
Watergate
-White House response
-President’s efforts for full disclosure
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Moore and Ziegler
-Forthcoming news story
-Democrats’ campaign violations
-Haig
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)
Conversation No. 916-8 (cont’d)
-Buchanan
-Violence
-Finances
-Robert J. Dole’s office
-White House staff replacements for Haldeman and Colson
-Ehrlichman’s report to the President, April 14
-President’s meeting with Richard G. Kleindienst, April 15
-Dean
-Mitchell
White House staff
-William J. Baroody, Jr.
-Office staff
-Function
-George H. W. Bush and Republican National Committee [RNC]
-Communications office
-Herbert G. Klein
-Manipulation of press
-Kenneth W. Clawson
-Thimmesch
-Timmons’s office
-Congressional relations
-Memoranda
-Veracity
-Communication strategy
-Timmons
-Departmental officials
-Goldwater
Press coverage
-Lead news stories
-Ziegler’s mood
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Soviet Summit announcement
-Traction
Ziegler left at 9:16 am.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2012)