Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-105

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on SALT and Press coverage

Thursday, May 20, 1971 · 8:25 PM–8:27 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation003-105 on Tape 3 (tape position 02:02:05–02:04:26)StartThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:25 PMEndThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:27 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 003-105 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler reviewed the overwhelmingly positive television network coverage of the administration's announcement regarding the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Ziegler detailed favorable commentary from ABC, NBC, and CBS, noting that anchors like Walter Cronkite characterized the negotiations as a potential breakthrough for global peace. To maintain this positive momentum, Nixon directed the team to expand their media outreach strategy by engaging with major news magazines through additional background briefings led by Henry Kissinger.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Mr. President, I have Mr. Ziegler for you now.

Yeah.

There you are.

Hello.

Yes, sir.

How did they play it on the news?

Well, all of the networks used your entire statement.

And it was very positive all the way through.

ABC used your entire statement.

Hardcase News said that it was a very good comment.

You know, from all around, critics and everyone said that it was good.

He said Fulbright didn't say anything, but he looked like it.

And then Bergman, who was on ABC's Science Guy, went into what was a fairly good piece because it focused attention on the Soviet build-up of APM.

NBC again used the full statement and was positive in their approach.

CBS, same thing.

Walter Cronkite referred to the importance of it, the significance of it.

They have Severide on.

Yes, that's right.

Cronkite said it could be the most important negotiation for peace and mankind.

Severide focused primarily on the fact that the statement was phrased to minimize disagreement and maximize agreement.

And he referred to it as a major breakthrough.

And he said with the

With the good relations with China, or moving towards good relations with China, stabilization of the Middle East, assault talks, your relations with NATO, this could lead to very great significance in the overall world structure.

It could be great progress.

So it was all positive.

All the networks spent a good deal of time on it.

I talked to Henry.

He's going to do some more backtracking.

a little bit more tomorrow.

The 4 o'clock session as well.

We should do the news magazine.

Right, they were there at the 4 o'clock session.

We need to do the major ones.

We can't depend on the likes of them.

No, we invited John Steele to the 4 o'clock session.

Well, I may have accepted the two.

Right.

Okay.

Okay, sir.

NARA Description

On May 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 8:25 pm to 8:27 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-105 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 003-105

Date: May 20, 1971
Time: 8:25 pm - 8:27 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

     President's Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] announcement
          -Television news coverage
                 -American Broadcasting Company [ABC], Howard K. Smith
                 -J. William Fulbright
                 -Jules Bergman of American Broadcasting Company [ABC]
                       -Soviet weapons
                 -National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC]
                 -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
                       -Walter Cronkite
                       -[Arnold] Eric Sevareid
                       -Cronkite's and Sevareid's comments

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

                            -People’s Republic of China [PRC], Middle East, Strategic Arms
                            Limitation Talks [SALT], North Atlantic Treaty Organization
                            [NATO]
            -Henry A. Kissinger's backgrounders
                 -News magazines
                      -John L. Steele

Also recorded on May 21, 1971

003-214 8:00 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:00 pm and 8:11 pm.
003-103 8:11 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:11 pm to 8:12 pm.
003-215 8:12 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:12 pm and 8:14 pm.
003-104 8:14 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:14 pm to 8:16 pm.
003-106 8:28 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 8:28 pm to 8:29 pm.
003-107 7:32 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:32 am and 9:37 am.
503-001 8:13 AM · 1 hr 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:13 am and 9:25 am.
503-002 9:25 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 9:37 am.

All 40 conversations from May 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 003-105, May 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-105 (accessed October 12, 2026).