Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-170

Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Drug abuse policy and Water policy

Friday, May 28, 1971 · 9:45 AM–9:49 AM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation003-170 on Tape 3 (tape position 04:07:18–04:11:19)StartFriday, May 28, 1971 at 9:45 AMEndFriday, May 28, 1971 at 9:49 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 003-170 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417188577 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman discuss the administrative restructuring of water policy and a strategic pivot in the administration's drug abuse program. Nixon instructs Ehrlichman to frame the new drug initiative around youth addiction rather than specifically focusing on veterans to avoid negative political associations with the war. They also plan to use an 'inspired leak' to journalist Stewart Alsop to preemptively control the narrative and discuss moving oversight of the program away from the National Institute of Mental Health to a team led by Egil Krogh.

Audio

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NARA Description

On May 28, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 9:45 am to 9:49 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-170 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 003-170

Date: May 28, 1971
Time: 9:45 am - 9:49 am
Location: White House Telephone

John D. Ehrlichman talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 505-018D]

     Water issue
         -Ehrlichman's meeting with the President
         -Interior Department jurisdiction
         -Ehrlichman's meeting with the President

     Drug issue
          -Veterans
          -Handling
          -Veterans
          -Jacob K. Javits
          -Youth, addicts
          -Possible leak
                -Stewart J.O. Alsop
                      -Interest in issue
          -New program
                -Veterans, youth
                -Leadership
                      -Dr. Bertram S. Brown
                            -National Institute of Health [NIH]
                      -Elliot L. Richardson
                      -Brown

                       -Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
                             -Responsibilities

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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Yeah.
Mr. Ehrlichman, sir.
Hello.
Hello.
Yes, sir.
I forgot to talk to you about the water thing yesterday.
Are you going to say that again today with me?
Yes.
Yes.
You got the message that I did.
I'm not going to put it in that.
I'm just not going to leave it there.
Well, I'm going to have another... Look, if we're going to spend the money, I'm not going to leave it in the goddamn Interior Department.
Right.
Now, maybe there's a way that you can look it out, but you and Whitaker, we do that.
I'll be ready at 3 o'clock on that.
Well, that isn't the most important thing.
Now, the second thing is that...
I wanted to ask you about the drug thing.
I feel that having read this thing and so forth, John, that a better way to handle that, I mean, well, the purpose of this will be drugs for veterans and so forth.
I would like to have it handled in a way, see if you can think of a way to handle it, where we bring in the fellow for drugs.
generally with particular emphasis on wherever the problem is.
Here's my point.
Everybody's against drugs.
If we put drugs for a veteran, then it immediately becomes the war.
Now, we'll make it drugs generally, and if we get felt like jabbies, say, now look, our problem is at present time is the veterans.
Go after them.
Now, when we say drugs generally, you know what I mean?
And we say particularly the use of drugs by young people.
See, I put it on that basis.
By younger people.
The use of drugs by youth.
I think that's where the problem is, as far as the old junkies are concerned.
Then, John, then you could come out, then on a subsidiary basis, you could hit the other.
On a subsidiary, in the background, you could say, well, now we're going to handle the other problem.
The other thing I was going to say is that I think that, and I've marked in the news summary, that you might use the
the device of the inspired leak to show that we're way ahead of these clowns that are raising the point of drugs and so forth and so on.
And by inspired leak, I'll tell you a name of somebody.
All right.
Or maybe you have one in mind.
And give a... Stuart Alsop, you know, is very, very hip on this, right?
All right, well, if you could reach him, Mrs. Friday, he might be able to do it.
That might not be a bad place.
We could give him one.
and that we're doing it at the highest level and so forth, and let his story be picked up.
Why don't you catch him before his deadline today?
All right.
See if he's finished his column.
He may have already got it in, though, this week.
All right.
He may be writing on this subject.
He does about every other week.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, do you see what I mean about the fact that I think that just having us saying the president is setting up a man
directly responsible to him for drugs for veterans.
I don't like the sound of that.
Whereas if the president sets up a program of $120 million to fight drugs for youth, and then of course we know within house that it's all about veterans.
See what I mean?
Right.
I just think that's a better way to do it.
All right, sir.
Is that all right with you?
Another way, too, that gets more of that down here.
Because I really want to take the drug program away from the Institute of Mental Health.
Maybe we can work...
I really feel, you know what I mean, I was kind to Richardson and everything.
Let Brown, you know, get people on the couch and whatever these other people do and...
You know, with him.
God damn it, don't keep him out of the drug business.
Krogh can pull that off.
Huh?
Krogh knows how.
Yeah, as a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, if Krogh were a doctor, I'd put him in charge.
I was afraid you'd think of that.
No, really.
He's that good.
Yeah, I know he is, but we've got him in antitrust and a lot of other things.
I just, I would hate to, you know, lose him.
He can take this and be in charge.
Sure, sure.
You and Krogh talk about it, and I'll be back in touch with you at 3 o'clock.
Fine.

Also recorded on May 28, 1971

  • 003-165 8:47 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:47 am and 9:08 am.
  • 003-166 9:08 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 9:08 am to 9:12 am.
  • 505-017 9:08 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:08 am to 9:12 am.
  • 505-018 9:12 AM · 1 hr 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, unknown person(s), J. Edgar Hoover, Ronald L. Ziegler, John D. Ehrlichman, Henry A. Kissinger, Wilbur D. Mills, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:12 am and 11:04 am.
  • 003-167 9:16 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:16 am and 9:34 am.
  • 003-168 9:16 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:16 am and 9:34 am.
  • 003-169 9:34 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover talked on the telephone from 9:34 am to 9:43 am.
  • 003-171 9:49 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:49 am and 11:03 am.

All 49 conversations from May 28, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 003-170, May 28, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417188577). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-170 (accessed November 11, 2026).