Easy NixonAbout

Conversation: 918-014

Prev:  918-013 Next: 918-015

Start Date: 15-May-1973 9:59 AM

End Date: 15-May-1973 10:45 AM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Petersen, Henry E.[Unknown person(s)]

Recording Device: Oval Office

918-014.mp3

NARA Description:

On May 15, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry E. Petersen, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:59 am to 10:45 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 918-014 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 918-14

Date: May 15, 1973
Time: 9:59 am - 10:45 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man and Henry E. Petersen.

     Greetings

The unknown man left at an unknown time after 9:59 am.

     Congressional relations
          -President’s previous meeting with congressional leaders
                -Delay
                      -Traffic

     Watergate
                                  -12-

       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                           Tape Subject Log
                            (rev. June-2012)

                                                   Conversation No. 918-14 (cont’d)

-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
       -Compared with John W. Dean, III
       -Petersen’s knowledge
       -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Special Prosecutor
       -President’s conversation with Elliot L. Richardson
       -President’s conversation with Petersen and Richard G. Kleindienst, April 15,
        1973
-Justice Department investigation
       -White House cooperation           

             -Dean       

             -William D. Ruckelshaus         

-Special Prosecutor
       -Harold R. Tyler, Jr.
             -Relationship with Myles J. Ambrose        

       -Richardson’s plan       

       -Function       

             -Decisions to prosecute
-Grand Jury investigation
-Effect on the President and Petersen
-President’s appointments
       -John N. Mitchell, Maurice H. Stans, H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and John D.
        Ehrlichman 

       -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.        

       -President’s decisions       

-President’s conversation with Richardson
       -Petersen
-Petersen’s actions
       -Possible alternatives
       -Kleindienst
       -Dean
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
       -Telephone call from the President 

             -Hijacking incident        

             -Investigation       

-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
       -Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters and Richard M. Helms
                                           -13-


                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                    Tape Subject Log 

                                     (rev. June-2012)

                                                            Conversation No. 918-14 (cont’d)

         -Kleindienst
               -Number of interviews
         -Gray
               -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] investigation
         -Jeb Stuart Magruder


***************************************************************** 


BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1 

[Statute]

[Duration: 1 m 30 s ] 


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************


    Watergate
         -President’s meeting with Petersen and Kleindienst, April 15, 1973
               -Resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman
         -Material for W. Matthew Byrne
         -President’s telephone call to Petersen from Camp David
               -G[eorge] Gordon Liddy
         -Break-in at Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
               -Evidence
               -President’s knowledge
               -Justice Department investigation
                      -CIA
                             -Lawrence (“Larry”) Houston
                             -Cooperation
         -President’s conversation with Walters 

               -Haig       

         -Dean        

               -Efforts regarding CIA and defendants 

         -Break-in at Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office 

               -Justice Department’s investigation        

                                         -14-


                 NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                   Tape Subject Log 

                                    (rev. June-2012)

                                                         Conversation No. 918-14 (cont’d)

                     -CIA
                           -Camera
                           -Photographs
                                 -Liddy
                                 -Earl J. Silbert
                     -Dean’s statement to Petersen, April 15, 1973
              -President’s conversation with Dean
                     -Timing
              -Justice Department’s investigation
                     -Dean’s knowledge
                     -Byrne
                     -President’s conversation with Petersen, April 18, 1973
                           -E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
                           -Petersen’s subsequent conversation with Richardson
                           -Hunt’s White House activities
                                 -National security
                           -Use of evidence
              -Effect on Ellsberg case
                     -Byrne’s action
         -FBI wiretaps
              -Ellsberg
              -Morton H. Halperin, staff member of National Security Council [NSC]


***************************************************************** 


BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1 

[Privacy] 

[Duration: 12 s ] 


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************


    Watergate      

         -National security    

                                 -15-

       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                          Tape Subject Log
                           (rev. June-2012)

                                                  Conversation No. 918-14 (cont’d)

      -Ruckelshaus’s press release, May 14, 1973
      -Ehrlichman
-President’s telephone call to Petersen
      -Liddy’s lawyer, Peter L. Maroulis
-Break-in of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
      -Investigation      

            -Hunt      

            -Los Angeles        

            -Joseph P. Busch        

            -Justice Department         

            -Ervin Committee          

-Hunt
-Liddy
      -Testimony
-Ervin Committee
      -Hunt
      -Immunity for witnesses
-Immunity
      -Byron White’s decision
            -Murphy v. Waterfront          

      -Effect on possible prosecutions        

      -Dean       

-Petersen’s possible book
-Petersen’s possible conversation with Richardson
      -Petersen’s conversation with the President
            -Hunt
-Petersen’s previous conversation with Ronald L. Ziegler
-President’s possible obstruction of justice
-President’s conversation at Camp David
-Leaks
      -Hunt and Liddy
      -Effect on NSC staff members
            -Halperin
                   -Henry A. Kissinger
-FBI records
      -William C. Sullivan
            -Mitchell
                                         -16-

              NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                   (rev. June-2012)

                                                       Conversation No. 918-14 (cont’d)

            -J. Edgar Hoover’s possible use 

            -President’s knowledge               

            -Lyndon B. Johnson                 

            -Robert F. (“Bobby”) Kennedy             

      -Indictments         

            -Timing          

      -Testimony         

            -Perjury           

            -Personal gain               

            -Corroboration                 

            -Documentation                   

            -Motives           

      -Cover-up        

      -Threat of jail         

      -President’s conversation with Dean, March 21, 1973 

            -Money            

                   -William O. Bittman             

                   -Hunt             

      -Cubans
            -Sentences              

                   -Compared with Ervin Committee investigator     

                   -John J. Sirica             

      -White House cooperation with Justice Department 

            -Buzhardt             

            -Ellsberg case               

      -Ellsberg case          

            -Judge’s opinion of government’s case 

            -FBI records               

            -Halperin            


Presentation of gifts by the President
     -Cuff links

Message to Mrs. Petersen

Watergate
     -President’s cooperation
                                              -17-


                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                       (rev. June-2012)

                                                              Conversation No. 918-14 (cont’d)

            -Ervin Committee        

                  -Effect on defendants’ trials      

                        -Mitchell       

                              -Ability to stop hearings
                                    -Petersen, Richardson, Special Prosecutor
                                    -Samuel L. Dash
                        -Change of venue         

            -Ellsberg      


Petersen left at 10:45 am.