Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 2 › Conversation 002-053

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Anti-war protests

Wednesday, April 28, 1971 · 11:03 AM–11:06 AM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan)Conversation002-053 on Tape 2 (tape position 01:55:27–01:58:02)StartWednesday, April 28, 1971 at 11:03 AMEndWednesday, April 28, 1971 at 11:06 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 002-053 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with H. R. Haldeman and First Lady Pat Nixon regarding the viability of a scheduled congressional wives luncheon amidst planned anti-war protests expected to disrupt Washington traffic. The President resolved to proceed with the event to avoid appearing intimidated by demonstrators, emphasizing a policy of conducting business as usual. To ensure the luncheon occurred as planned, Nixon directed that White House staff coordinate with Rex Scouten to billet necessary service personnel overnight, ensuring they would be available despite potential road closures.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Yeah.
You had somebody for me.
Hello?
Not us, Mr. President.
Mrs. Nixon, he said it.
Oh.
Melvin R. Laird.
Mr. Nixon, Mr. President.
Yeah.
Dick, you know, I had planned a congressional, one of the ones on Monday.
Yeah.
According to the information we have, that's the day that they're going to try to stop all Washington, the bridges, et cetera, et cetera.
Do you think, and some of the ladies have called in.
Oh, yeah.
Let me just check.
I got Holloman coming in just now.
I'll check with him.
yeah because there were he's got the report from the command center yeah will you let me know as soon as possible what no no i'll talk to him right now hang on okay there's a situation on uh she has a congressional wives luncheon planned on monday that is a day when the the you know they're planning to stop traffic and some of the congressional wives have called in to know whether or not it should go forward uh yeah
We really think we ought to go forward.
We're going ahead with business as usual.
If they don't get there, let them be irritated by the fact that these people kept them out.
Traffic will be cleared by noon anyway because we're having the police move in to clear the traffic.
So we think you ought to go ahead with it.
I think it would be good.
I think postponing it.
Well, see, this is the idea.
It would be a very bad.
If it's going to be bad, our help can't come.
They're not going to ask the help to come.
Did you know that?
Well, the help, well, they sure as hell will.
We can't put a party on the top of that.
All right, fine.
The help will be there.
We'll have them stay overnight.
We'll arrange it on Sunday.
Just have Rex check to see what help you need and to make arrangements for them.
He should make arrangements for them to be billeted overnight on Sunday so that they can be in there to do the work in the morning.
And it's all taken care of, and we budgeted it here.
So you just tell Rex to get a hold of Bob if he needs anything.
Don't worry about the budget thing.
We've got a special fund for that purpose.
We'll just have the help stay in a hotel or something like that and come in.
Fair enough?
Okay.
I think it'll work fine.
Okay.
You see, we just must not appear that we're going to be driving us out.
Absolutely, and we're not going to let them do it.
And if you have half a crowd, that's all right.
Okay?
Good.
Bye.

NARA Description

On April 28, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 11:03 am to 11:06 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 002-053 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 2-53

Date: April 28, 1971
Time: 11:03 am - 11:06 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon's call

The President conferred with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman at an unknown time between 11:03 am
and 11:06 am.

     Melvin R. Laird

[Mrs. Nixon talked with the President between 11:03 am and 11:06 am; Haldeman can be heard
in the background]

[Conversation No. 2-53A]

     Mrs. Nixon's schedule
          -Congressional wives
          -Upcoming demonstrations

The President conferred with Haldeman at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:06 am.

            -Rex W. Scouten
            -Arrangements
            -Haldeman

                                                                                               Back to Top

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

Also recorded on April 28, 1971

  • 491-001 9:34 AM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:34 am and 11:37 am.
  • 491-002 11:37 AM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:37 am and 11:42 am.
  • 491-003 11:42 AM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Melvin R. Laird, James E. Johnson, James D. ("Don") Hughes, John H. Chafee, Frederic V. Malek, Ronald L. Ziegler, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:42 am to 11:59 am.
  • 491-004 11:59 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:59 am.
  • 491-005 12:00 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Tricia Nixon Cox, and Howell Conant met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:00 pm to 12:16 pm.
  • 491-006 12:16 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:35 pm.
  • 491-007 12:16 PM · 17 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:35 pm.
  • 491-008 12:16 PM · 10 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 12:35 pm.

All 31 conversations from April 28, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 002-053, April 28, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/002-053 (accessed October 12, 2026).