Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 1 › Conversation 001-052

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on W. Clement Stone and Charles Percy

Thursday, April 8, 1971 · 9:59 PM–10:03 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation001-052 on Tape 1 (tape position 01:51:27–01:55:10)StartThursday, April 8, 1971 at 9:59 PMEndThursday, April 8, 1971 at 10:03 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 001-052 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman debrief on a dinner for donor W. Clement Stone, where the President addressed attendees, including Senator Charles Percy. Nixon describes challenging Percy's political stance on the Supersonic Transport (SST) and national defense while gauging the enthusiastic reaction of his supporters. The two men also discuss the positive public reception of Nixon's April 7th speech, noting favorable reactions from business leaders and media coverage featuring Mamie Eisenhower.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yeah.
Mr. Haldeman.
Yes, sir.
Well, we got through with them soon, all right.
9.30, that wasn't bad.
Did you get out at 9.30?
I left at 9.30, yeah.
Good.
And I talked about 25, 30 minutes.
You know, I think I had to do that much so that they felt they got their money's worth and then he put the bite on them because they didn't have anything else.
But, you know, I did something.
Ogilvie was there and Bill Scott and Percy.
So I...
urge them all to support them.
But then I proceeded to talk a little about the future, and I mentioned the SST.
I just thought I should, with Percy being here.
And I didn't mean when I said I understood that there are many honest men felt it was bad for the oncology, but I said we must not retreat.
We must not allow this to be a pattern where America recoils from exploring the unknown, from
looking outward, and then we turn inward and become small.
I really hit it hard.
Do you think it was a good idea?
I think that's great.
You won't like it, but did they look at Percy at all when you were doing it?
Oh, hell no.
Boy, they all stood up and cheered like hell if they had.
Did they?
Oh, sure.
Did they cheer that particular thing?
No, no.
I didn't let them.
I didn't quit on that.
Yeah.
But that was the general theme, but I just thought that, uh,
You know, there's no reason to be so goddamn hypocritical there to let that crowd of my supporters, a lot of my supporters who are going to support Percy, know that I completely just approved of his running off the reservation every time.
And I also took national defense.
And I said, if America has got to maintain its defense unless we get an agreement with the Russians.
And Max Fisher was sitting there, and I said, the Mideast, all trust for America's involved, for the Mideast, all the rest, I hit that hard.
So Percy voted against ABM.
and uh might as well uh see what he shapes up a little i think that's damn good the uh interesting was a couple of things the uh the uh i would say about almost all of them had heard that broadcast and were and they were really quite surprised they were really moved by it these these businessmen good they uh they apparently they thought it was uh you know the
It was the last part of it, too, that did it.
They must say, put the cream on that, the frosting on the cake.
So it shows you that even the hardened business guy is, the business guy like that more than the press guy is.
Slug you out much more.
We may have struck more of a chord than we realized, or at least struck a pretty good chord.
I mean, as your little poll indicated, that 44% very favorable is probably quite true.
Yeah, yeah.
Julie called and told me an interesting thing that Mrs. Eisenhardt called her to say when she liked it in This Tonight and said that on the news tonight, one of the networks had Mrs. Taylor and Kevin.
I'm not surprised.
Isn't that nice in the favor?
That's really a terrific follow-up, isn't it?
Yeah.
I mean, it gives an extra shot to the thing, to the people.
Oh, sure, and that replays the whole emotional thing again.
And, uh,
refers back to that so that's great at least got that uh moving in the right direction when are you taking off tonight or tomorrow no no no i'll be in tomorrow i'm going to go tomorrow afternoon well go as soon as you can i mean there's no reason i'm not doing odds and ends tomorrow you know anyway i'll be around all morning leave around four o'clock when you have your great birch meeting good good okay very good

NARA Description

On April 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 9:59 pm to 10:03 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 001-052 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 1-52

Date: April 8, 1971
Time: 9:59 pm - 10:03 pm
Location: White House Telephone

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with the President .

     Dinner for W. Clement Stone
          -President’s remarks
          -Richard B. Ogilvie
          -William J. Scott
          -Charles H. Percy
                -Supersonic Transport [SST]
          -President's remarks
                -National defense
                -Max M. Fisher
                -Middle East
           -Percy
                -Vote on Anti-ballistic Missile [ABM]

     President's speech, April 7, 1971
           -Reaction of attendees at Stone dinner
           -Poll
           -Mamie D. Eisenhower
           -Julie Nixon Eisenhower
           -Mrs. Karl Taylor
           -Kevin Taylor
           -Reaction

     Haldeman's schedule

Also recorded on April 9, 1971

  • 001-050 9:37 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:37 pm and 9:57 pm.
  • 001-051 9:57 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:57 pm.
  • 001-053 10:06 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:06 pm to 10:15 pm.
  • 001-054 8:40 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:40 am and 10:02 am.
  • 476-003 8:40 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:40 am and 8:52 am.
  • 476-004 8:40 AM · 58 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:40 am and 8:52 am.
  • 476-005 8:40 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:40 am and 8:52 am.
  • 476-006 8:40 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:40 am and 8:52 am.

All 42 conversations from April 9, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 001-052, April 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-052 (accessed October 12, 2026).