Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-142
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Drug policy and Senate legislation
Wednesday, May 26, 1971 · 6:42 PM–6:46 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discuss various administrative priorities, focusing on the successful defeat of the Harold Hughes pay amendment and positive economic indicators. They review legislative progress, including federal efforts regarding New York City police, and coordinate upcoming meetings on drug policy involving John Ehrlichman and J. Edgar Hoover. Additionally, they finalize the decision to postpone the President's press conference to a Tuesday to maximize Nielsen ratings.
- Drug policy
- Senate legislation
- Economy
- Press relations
- Volunteer Army
- Nielsen ratings
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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I have Mr. Haldeman for you now, sir.
Oh, yeah.
There you are.
Hello?
Yes, sir.
Oh, any late developments after I saw you today?
I understand I'm going to see Ehrlichman tomorrow on drugs, which is good.
Right, Ehrlichman and... We had a very good meeting with Hoover and Ehrlichman.
Right, that's what John said.
Got a meeting planned for next week, and John's really right on the ball, and Kroger will get on it, and I'll stick it to Mitchell, and that's that.
Well, that's good.
Then you've really got Colson cranking on the other, you know, the follow-up on the...
police business, and we had a few things going.
I guess he told you that the other stuff was going on, and he didn't know it.
Oh, it's checking, going how?
On the New York case, and we've got some federal action going on.
Good, good, good.
And we've got an awfully good story on the star, lead story tonight on the economy, because the leading indicators are up again.
Oh, good.
lead headline, as index still predicts upturn in economy, six months of increase for gauge.
Good.
About time.
The market still dribbles along.
What happened at today?
It was off 28 cents or something today.
Oh, nothing significant.
Well, maybe it's reached the bottom.
Very minor drop, but just a little bit.
And it was, I don't think there was, let's see what the volume was.
That's right.
13 million shares.
The reaction to our trip, I think, has been quite good.
Awfully good, yeah.
I told Price to read that little thing I did for those editors because it really will give a lot of these people a sense of, you know, while it's rambles and all that, it's a sense of perspective, which they really need.
Yeah.
The Senate, you may have gotten the report on the Senate vote, the Hughes pay amendment was defeated, which is a monumental victory for us because all of our analysis was that we weren't going to be able to beat it.
What does it provide?
That was the 2.7 billion pay increase.
Oh, yeah.
It was the way to try and kill a draft by a so-called volunteer army.
And they beat it 42 to 31, which is a damn good vote.
Well, there's something.
Colson's analysis, Bob, is that he really, I says, what the hell's happening?
He thinks that our strong stand on NATO, the uniting of people,
Then followed immediately by the Soviet thing.
While it may not have had public effect, he thinks it's had a massive effect on these senators.
He's talked to Ed Brook and others, and they're just afraid we may have something up our sleeve and they don't want to be on the wrong side.
I think that might be it.
What do you think?
I don't know.
Because we're just knocking these votes off one after another here that we didn't, we thought we were going to have trouble with, or that, like this one, our guys were shooting, they thought they had that one lost.
Good.
and uh okay get a good vote on it so i think we're that kind of thing is very encouraging now that the senate will pretty much collapse i think after today uh yeah you know i have a feeling we're right in putting the conference over now you know i think everybody's leaving they're collapsing they're leaving and we wouldn't really hit them when they're listening well i also checked uh the nielsen people say that their estimate would be a normal friday night is uh
About 31 million homes.
A normal Tuesday night is 36 million homes.
So Tuesday is better.
And this will not be too normal.
No, and they say this Friday night would be only 27 million.
It would be 4 million off of normal.
Yeah.
So that's tremendous.
That's 9 million homes.
It's 20 million people.
Right.
Okay.
So I think we are right to put it over.
Okay.
Well, I'll see you tomorrow.
All right, sir.
NARA Description
On May 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 6:42 pm to 6:46 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-142 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 003-142
Date: May 26, 1971
Time: 6:42 pm - 6:46 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
[See Conversation No. 253-031]
President's schedule
-Drugs meetings
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Ehrlichman and J. Edgar Hoover
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-John N. Mitchell
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
Police
-Killings in New York City
-Possible legislation
-Charles W. Colson
Economy
-Story in May 26, 1971 Washington Star
-Stock market
-Dow Jones average
-Volume
President's trip to Alabama
-Response
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-President's editors' briefing
Senate
-Harold E. Hughes pay amendment
-Effect on Volunteer Army
-Effect of North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] and Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks [SALT] initiatives
-Colson's talk with Edward W. Brooke
-Recess
President's schedule
-Press conference
-Nielsen ratings estimates
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542Also recorded on May 26, 1971
- 003-140 6:33 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 6:33 pm.
- 003-141 6:33 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:33 pm and 6:42 pm.
- 253-031 6:42 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:42 pm to 6:46 pm.
- 003-143 6:46 PM · 1 min — Alexander P. Butterfield, White House operator, and Toni Sidley talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:46 pm and 6:50 pm.
- 253-032 6:46 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:46 pm and 6:57 pm.
- 003-144 6:50 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 6:58 pm.
- 253-033 6:50 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 6:58 pm.
- 253-034 6:50 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 6:58 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 003-142, May 26, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-142 (accessed October 12, 2026).