Conversation: 923-005
Prev: 923-004 Next: 923-006Start Date: 19-May-1973 11:02 AM
End Date: 19-May-1973 12:47 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Bull, Stephen B.; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On May 19, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Stephen B. Bull, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:02 am and 12:47 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 923-005 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 923-5
Date: May 19, 1973
Time: Unknown between 11:02 am and 12:47 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.
Ziegler’s schedule
-Press briefing
President’s forthcoming speech
-Peace [?]
Ziegler’s morale
Watergate
-White House response
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Possible television [TV] speech
-Wiretaps
-Domestic intelligence
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr. and plumbers
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Clemency
-Cover-up by President
-Forthcoming White Paper
-President’s possible meeting with Congressional leaders
-Possible TV speech
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters’s testimony
-Previous speech regarding H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and John D.
Ehrlichman
-Ervin Committee hearings
-Charles W. Colson
-Martha (Beall) Mitchell
-Forthcoming White Paper
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-Briefing
-Haig
-Ziegler
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
-Bryce N. Harlow
-Patrick J. Buchanan and Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-Conversations with Ziegler
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Preparation
-Further revelations
-Walters’s memoranda
-Ervin Committee hearings
-Walters
-Memoranda of conversation [Memcons]
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-John W. Dean, III
-Possible release
-Buzhardt’s view
-President’s schedule
-Newspapers
-Robert U. (“Bob”) Woodward
-New York Times
-White House response
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Executive privilege
-White House staff members’ notes of conversations with President
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Colson
-Dean
-George H. W. Bush
-President’s freedom of discussion
-Clemency
-Conversations with President
-Haldeman
-Ehrlichman
-Colson
-Dorothy Hunt
-President’s authorization
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-Conversations with President
-John J. (“Jack”) Caulfield
-John N. Mitchell
-Dean
-Dean
-Allegations regarding Ehrlichman and President
-White House response
-National security
-Relationship to Watergate break-in
-Mitchell’s role
-Martha (Beall) Mitchell
-Statement concerning President
-White House response
-Executive privilege
-Walters’s memcons
-White House staff members’ notes of conversations with President
-Ziegler’s conversation with Buzhardt, May 18
-Possible order by John J. Sirica
-Notes of Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Colson
-Notes
-President’s meeting with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Clemency
-President’s discussions
-Motive
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-James W. McCord, Jr.’s testimony
-Rose Mary Woods’s opinion
-TV coverage
-Credibility
-G[eorge] Gordon Liddy
-Ervin Committee hearings
-Impact on public
-Purpose of attacks on President
-White House response
-President’s previous TV speeches
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-December 1972 bombing of North Vietnam
-Congress
-Press
-Reaction of public
-Compared to Dita D. Beard
-White House response
-Resignation and impeachment
-Future allegations
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Possible effects
-President’s opponents
-Support for President
-White House response
-Ziegler’s press briefing, May 18
-President’s possible resignation
-R. Sargent Shriver
-Joseph A. Califano, Jr.’s speech
-President’s election mandate
-President’s possible resignation
-Harris poll
-Courtney Sheldon’s question to Ziegler
-New York Times story
-Peace issue
-Harris poll
-Impeachment
-President’s meeting with Haldeman
-Congressional procedure
-Bella S. Abzug
-Buzhardt’s theory
-Effect of possible vote
-Possible outcome of vote
-White House response
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Possible effect
-President’s schedule
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean’s roles in White House
-Dean
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-Allegations regarding August 19, 1972 meeting with President
-Investigation
Lyndon B. Johnson comparison
White House staff operation
Watergate
-Unknown doctor’s letter to Haig
-Justice Department’s investigation
-Wiretaps
-Morton A. Halperin’s conversation with Daniel Ellsberg
-Forthcoming leak by White House
White House staff operation
-Doctor’s letter to Haig
-Notification of President
-Congress
-Press and bureacracy
-Cabinet meeting
-Strategy
-Tone
-Momentum
-John B. Connally
-Cabinet meeting
-Bryce N. Harlow
-Ziegler’s forthcoming conversation with Connally
-Connally’s schedule
-Economic meeting
-Quadriad
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:02 am.
President’s schedule
-Haig
-Richard M. Helms
-Haig’s recommendation
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
Bull left at an unknown time before 11:48 am.
Watergate
-Special Prosecutor
-Archibald Cox
-“Kennedy man”
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Reaction
-White House response
-Morale
Haig entered and Ziegler left at 11:48 am.
Watergate
-President’s schedule
-Helms
-Haig’s recommendation
-Helms
-Conversation with Haig
-Helms’s testimony before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
-Equipment
-National Security Council [NSC] meeting
-Conversation with President concerning CIA involvement
-Helms’s possible resignation
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
Moynihan
-Letter to Haig
Watergate
-Haig’s activities
-Conversation with Helms
-Huston Plan
-Huston Plan
-Possible release
-Compared with Pentagon Papers
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 5 s ]
INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Huston Plan
-Possible release
-Tom C. Huston’s memorandums
-Executive privilege
-President’s previous conversation with Ziegler
-Buzhardt
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Need for presidential confidentiality
-Buzhardt’s possible conversation with Leonard Garment
-White House staff members’ notes of conversations with President
-Haldeman
-Walters’s memcons
-President’s conversations with Henry A. Kissinger
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National security]
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
[Duration: 51 s ]
TACTICS
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
*****************************************************************
Watergate
-Executive privilege
-White House staff members’ notes of conversations with President
-Criminal activities
-CIA cover-up
-Colson
-Possible statement
-Location of files
-Leaks during India-Pakistan conflict
-Instructions for Buzhardt
-Colson
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
Haldeman
Mitchell
-Telephone call to Helen A. Thomas
-Martha (Beall) Mitchell
-White House activities
Watergate
-Dean
-Possible immunity
-Documents
-Huston Plan
-Forthcoming roles
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Colson
-Dean
-White House response
-Congress, press and public
-President’s forthcoming speech at Norfolk, Virginia
-Forthcoming speeches
-Connally, Spiro T. Agnew, and Cabinet members
-Content
-President’s schedule
-Possible TV speech
-San Clemente
-Time spent away from Washington, DC
-Key Biscayne
-George P. Shultz
-Richardson
-Special Prosecutor
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Preparation
-Huston Plan
-Background
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Haldeman’s memorandum to Huston
-Termination
-Documentation
-Louis W. Tordella
-William C. Sullivan
-Hoover
-Meetings with Mitchell and Clyde A. Tolson
-Mitchell’s possible meeting with President
-Huston’s telephone calls to rescind report implementation
-Copies of memorandum
-Sullivan
-Huston’s possible conversation with Haldeman
-Implementation
-Robert C. Mardian
-Domestic intelligence
-Krogh and plumbers
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-Ellsberg
-Pentagon Papers
-Hoover
-President’s order
-Activities
-Brookings Institution
-Alleged possession of Pentagon Papers
-Huston
-1968 bombing halt study
-Efforts to locate
-Pentagon
-Leslie Gelb, Morton K. Halpern
-Activities
-Burglary in Georgetown
-Studies for President
-Pentagon Papers
-Break-in of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
-Contrasted with break-in of President’s doctor’s office
-Allegations concerning President
-White House staff operation
-White House response
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Distribution
-President’s possible TV speech
-Escalation of charges
-Timing
-Ervin Committee witness schedule
-Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Colson
-Indictments
-Walters’s memcons
-Release
-Timing
-[William] Stuart Symington and Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Timing
-John C. Stennis
-President’s forthcoming meeting with Congressional leaders
-Haig’s conversation with Helms
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-Buzhardt’s conversation with Stennis
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Ehrlichman
-Mitchell
-White House staff involvement
-Cubans
-Plumbers
-Mexican money
-Recollections of Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Walters
-Affidavit
-Content
-Compared with memcons
-Memcons
-Problem areas for President
-White House response
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Walters’s memcons
-President’s order to Ehrlichman and Haldeman to meet with Helms and
Walters
-President’s motive
-President’s call to L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Inclusion of Walters in meeting with Helms, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman
-President’s motive
-President’s telephone call to Gray
-Explanation of problem areas for President
-President’s conversation with Gray
-President’s meeting with Gray
-FBI investigation
-Gray
-Walters
-Memcons
-Possible testimony
-Dean
-Memcons
-Possible allegations regarding President and cover-up
-Dean’s conversation with President, May 21
-19-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)
Conversation No. 923-5 (cont’d)
-White House response
-Walters
-Testimony before Armed Services Committee
-Dean
-Dean
-Activities
-Walters
-Memcons
-Gray’s conversation with President
-President’s possible order to Walters
-President’s conversations with Henry E. Petersen
-National security
-Ehrlichman’s concern
-Plumbers
-President’s conversation with Petersen, 4/17
-Delivery of Ellsberg break-in material to court
-Hunt
-Ehrlichman’s conversation with President
-Request for President to call Petersen
-Hunt
-Ellsberg break-in
-President’s subsequent call to Petersen
-Ehrlichman
-Telephone call to Haig, May 17
-Ehrlichman’s meeting with Walters, Haldeman, and Helms
-National security
-Petersen and plumbers
-President’s conversation with Petersen, 4/17
-Ellsberg break-in
President’s schedule
Haig left at an unknown time before 12:47 pm.
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. August-2011)