Conversation: 919-032
Prev: 919-031 Next: 919-033Start Date: 16-May-1973 3:02 PM
End Date: 16-May-1973 4:08 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Buzhardt, J. Fred, Jr.; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; [Unknown person(s)];Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On May 16, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr., Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:02 pm to 4:08 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 919-032 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 919-32
Date: May 16, 1973
Time: 3:02 pm - 4:08 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. and Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Watergate
-John W. Dean, III’s documents
-Huston Plan
-Memoranda [memos]
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Phraseology
-Surreptitious entry
-Huston
-Illegality
-Hoover’s objections
-President’s approval
-Possible use by Ervin Committee
-Possible White House response
-Executive privilege
-Executive privilege
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters’s memoranda of conversation [memcons]
-56-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
-Possible court order
-Dean’s documents
-Possible White House response
-National security
-Timing
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-William D. Ruckelshaus
-Implementation
-President’s meeting with Hoover
-Demonstrations
-Intelligence reports to Buzhardt
-Purpose
-Content
-Electronic surveillance
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 25 s ]
TARGETS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Dean’s documents
-Content
-Agents
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
-Surreptitious entry
-57-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National security]
[Duration: 3 s ]
TARGETS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Dean’s documents
-Content
-President’s approval
-Haldeman’s memorandum
-Absence of President’s signature
-Impeachment and resignation
-Possible Congressional action
-Possible White House response
-Effect on Watergate
-Huston Plan
-President’s memory
-Ervin Committee
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.’s possible statements
-Interest in civil liberties
-Possible White House response
-National mood
-Cambodia
-Kent State University
-Break-in at Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
-58-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
-President’s role
-Duration of implementation
-Buzhardt’s conversation with Henry E. Petersen, May 16
-Robert C. Mardian
-Role
-Executive privilege
-Walters’s memcons
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] papers
-Attorney-client privilege
-Buzhardt’s conversation with Charles W. Colson, May 16
-Assistance to President
-John N. Mitchell’s possible testimony
-President’s knowledge of Democratic National Committee
[DNC] bugging
-Refutation of Mitchell
-Colson’s possible statements
-Effects
-Dean
-Huston Plan
-Possible White House response
-Relation to Watergate burglary
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National security]
[Duration: 24 s ]
SURVEILLANCE
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************
-59-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
Watergate
-Huston Plan
-Meeting in President’s office
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Restrictions
-Defense Intelligence Agency [DIA] [?]
-Implementation
-Tom C. Huston
-Haldeman
-Effect on Watergate burglary scandal
-Richard M. Helms
-Walters’s memcons
-Walters’s memcons
-Dean
-Accuracy of account of meeting with Ehrlichman, Haldeman, and
Richard M. Helms
-Cubans
-Bay of Pigs
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-Huston Plan
-Helms, Hoover, Adm. Noel Gayler, and Donald V. Bennett
-Huston’s memo to Haldeman
-Phraseology
-Huston Plan
-Sol Lindenbaum’s referral to Dean
-Justice Department, Legal Counsel’s office
-Implementation
-Army
-White House response
-Lindenbaum’s referral, March 3, 1972
-Dean’s possible plan
-Dean’s documents
-Possessors
-John J. Sirica, Ervin, and District Attorney
-Possible return to White House
-Ervin
-60-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
-National Security Agency [NSA]
-Possible White House response
-Huston Plan
-Relation to Watergate burglary
-Mitchell
-Hunt
-Product
-Distribution
-Internal Security Division at Justice Department
-Analysis group
-Mardian and FBI
-President’s and Haig’s knowledge
-Interagency group
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[National security]
[Duration: 3 s ]
TARGETS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Huston Plan
-Surreptitious entry into private residence
-Possible White House response
-Hoover’s opposition
-61-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[National security]
[Duration: 18 s ]
TARGETS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Huston Plan
-Approval authority
-Mitchell
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Delineation
-Buzhardt’s possible conversations
-Huston, Mardian, and William C. Sullivan
-Possible White House response
-Ervin
-Dean’s testimony
-Haldeman
-Television [TV] appearance by President
-1969 wiretaps
-New York Times telephone call to Kissinger
-Possible White House response
-White Paper
-Buchanan
-Ervin’s role
-Possible leak to press
-Possible White House response
-Burglary
-62-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
-Lack of implementation
-Break-in of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
-President’s letter to Hoover
-Plumbers
-Possible White House response
-Press handling of story
-Compared to New York Times’s use of Pentagon Papers
-Compared to Congressional reports
-Dean’s documents
-Locations
-US Attorney office, Congress, bureaucracy
-Possible White House response
-Press handling of story
-Huston Plan
-Hoover’s demurrers
-FBI role
-Tapping
-Breaking and entering
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] role
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[National security]
[Duration: 38 s ]
TARGETS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
*****************************************************************
-63-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
Watergate
-Dean’s documents
-Buzhardt’s forthcoming conversations
-Haldeman
-Huston
-Sullivan
-Mardian
President’s schedule
-George P. Shultz
-Message problems [?]
Watergate
-Huston Plan
-Justification
-Ervin
-1968 riots
-Washington, DC
-Use of military to gather intelligence
Buzhardt left at 3:52 pm.
Watergate
-Dean’s documents
-Possible White House response
-Executive privilege
-Application of executive privilege to Walters’s documents
-Possible White House response
-Dean’s documents
-Krogh
-Walters
-Walters
-Conversation with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Possible White House response
-Krogh’s operation
-Ehrlichman’s statement
-Huston Plan
-64-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
-Implementation
-Haig’s conversation with Huston
-Possible White House response
-Ervin’s release of material
-White Paper
-Compared to television [TV] announcement
-President’s role
-Temper of the times
-Huston Plan
-Ervin
-Dean
-Reasons
-Hoover’s study
-Impeachment
-Buzhardt
-President’s possible resignation
-Huston Plan
-Relationship to Watergate burglary
-Walters and Helms conversation with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-CIA involvement
-Haig’s conversation with Haldeman
-Haldeman’s family
-Haldeman’s lawyers’ opinion of Buzhardt
-Haldeman’s meeting with Walters, Ehrlichman, and Helms
-Topics
-Bay of Pigs
-Hunt
-Internal Security Committee operation
-Walters’s testimony
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray
-Haig’s forthcoming call to Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
-President’s support
-Walters’s testimony regarding meeting with Haldeman
-FBI investigation of CIA involvement
An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:52 pm.
-65-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
President’s schedule
-George P. Shultz
The unknown man left at an unknown time before 4:08 pm.
Watergate
-Possible White House response
-President’s role
-Huston Plan
-Civil libertarians
-1972 election
-Implementation
-President’s role
-Instructions to Krogh
-Hoover
-Instructions to Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Conversation with Walters and Helms
-Huston Plan
Hoover’s demurrer
-Possible White House response
-Buzhardt’s view
-Walters
-Krogh
-Huston Plan
-Ervin
-Wiretaps
-Reasons for creation
-Security
-Law and order
-Dean’s documents
-Leaks
President’s schedule
-Shultz
Haig’s schedule
-66-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. September-2012)
Conversation No. 919-32 (cont’d)
-Dinner
-Sequoia
-Forthcoming call to Haldeman
Haig left at 4:08 pm.