Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 003-170
Date: Friday, May 28, 1971 at 9:45 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-170

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yeah.
[0:01] Mr. Ehrlichman, sir.
[0:03] Hello.
[0:04] Hello.
[0:04] Yes, sir.
[0:05] I forgot to talk to you about the water thing yesterday.
[0:08] Are you going to say that again today with me?
[0:10] Yes.
[0:10] Yes.
[0:11] You got the message that I did.
[0:13] I'm not going to put it in that.
[0:15] I'm just not going to leave it there.
[0:17] 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.
[0:23] Right.
[0:23] Now, maybe there's a way that you can look it out, but you and Whitaker, we do that.
[0:28] I'll be ready at 3 o'clock on that.
[0:30] Well, that isn't the most important thing.
[0:31] Now, the second thing is that...
[0:34] I wanted to ask you about the drug thing.
[0:37] 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.
[0:51] 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.
[1:00] generally with particular emphasis on wherever the problem is.
[1:06] Here's my point.
[1:07] Everybody's against drugs.
[1:08] If we put drugs for a veteran, then it immediately becomes the war.
[1:12] 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.
[1:18] Go after them.
[1:19] Now, when we say drugs generally, you know what I mean?
[1:22] And we say particularly the use of drugs by young people.
[1:27] See, I put it on that basis.
[1:28] By younger people.
[1:30] The use of drugs by youth.
[1:32] I think that's where the problem is, as far as the old junkies are concerned.
[1:37] Then, John, then you could come out, then on a subsidiary basis, you could hit the other.
[1:44] On a subsidiary, in the background, you could say, well, now we're going to handle the other problem.
[1:47] 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
[1:59] 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.
[2:07] And by inspired leak, I'll tell you a name of somebody.
[2:12] All right.
[2:12] Or maybe you have one in mind.
[2:15] And give a... Stuart Alsop, you know, is very, very hip on this, right?
[2:20] All right, well, if you could reach him, Mrs. Friday, he might be able to do it.
[2:24] That might not be a bad place.
[2:26] We could give him one.
[2:29] and that we're doing it at the highest level and so forth, and let his story be picked up.
[2:35] Why don't you catch him before his deadline today?
[2:38] All right.
[2:39] See if he's finished his column.
[2:40] He may have already got it in, though, this week.
[2:41] All right.
[2:43] He may be writing on this subject.
[2:44] He does about every other week.
[2:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[2:47] 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
[2:56] directly responsible to him for drugs for veterans.
[2:59] I don't like the sound of that.
[3:01] 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.
[3:10] See what I mean?
[3:11] Right.
[3:12] I just think that's a better way to do it.
[3:13] All right, sir.
[3:14] Is that all right with you?
[3:15] Another way, too, that gets more of that down here.
[3:19] Because I really want to take the drug program away from the Institute of Mental Health.
[3:23] Maybe we can work...
[3:24] I really feel, you know what I mean, I was kind to Richardson and everything.
[3:26] Let Brown, you know, get people on the couch and whatever these other people do and...
[3:31] You know, with him.
[3:32] God damn it, don't keep him out of the drug business.
[3:34] Krogh can pull that off.
[3:35] Huh?
[3:36] Krogh knows how.
[3:36] Yeah, as a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, if Krogh were a doctor, I'd put him in charge.
[3:40] I was afraid you'd think of that.
[3:42] No, really.
[3:43] He's that good.
[3:43] Yeah, I know he is, but we've got him in antitrust and a lot of other things.
[3:47] I just, I would hate to, you know, lose him.
[3:50] He can take this and be in charge.
[3:51] Sure, sure.
[3:53] You and Krogh talk about it, and I'll be back in touch with you at 3 o'clock.
[3:56] Fine.