On June 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 9:51 pm to 10:09 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 004-010 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
Hello.
Yes.
I just talked to Henry.
He said everything came out all right for his problems.
Did that work?
Well, there were some very sophisticated engines there.
Yeah.
Nobody ever got a point of the same.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They were so subtle that only the...
But they didn't...
Henry always over-worries, so if he isn't worried... No, no, no, no.
It helped.
Yeah.
Good.
Very good.
We've got...
It's kind of interesting, the range of these things.
A couple... Another black gal, the head of the National Association of Negro Business Professionals, hit the drug thing again.
I think that's going to have some effect.
They may have got that across.
Well, you've got to keep saying it, but I think we scored a point on it.
Well, we're going to get it after the meeting with Laird.
Right, right.
But she made the point that she was particularly pleased on the employing and upgrading women and on the drug problem, and that Vietnam left her more optimistic on the war.
Oh, Clarence Towns was ecstatic, thought you were getting better with each appearance.
Rumsfeld, it's interesting, says...
He says, I swear I believe there was a conspiracy among the press tonight to paint the president a corner on the subject of the demonstration.
It worries Rumsdahl, of course, but not me.
He doesn't realize that's what I wanted.
No, it didn't worry him, didn't it?
He's talking about that there was a conspiracy on it.
Well, there was.
Except, as Ron points out, which is kind of interesting, the questioners were Rather and Deacon, who would be against us.
And the other two were Boyd and...
their horse, who would be with us.
I know.
They're all worried about that.
So they're, you know, they aren't, that isn't, those four aren't the group that would.
But on the other hand, it helps their credibility.
Oh, sure.
You know, one thing we ought to get across, Bob, is the number of questions we get.
21 and 28.
Hell of a lot of questions.
Darn right.
Rummy says, you really look good, look natural and at ease.
Thought the China answer was excellent.
He liked the little business about it.
That's an old one.
Kennedy's used it, too, but it marvels, Robert.
Yeah, one step at a time.
Well, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
One step.
Yeah, it is good.
Rummy made the point somewhere else that run ought to be briefed on the legality question.
That we didn't get through clearly.
and that there is a hang-up there, why people were arrested and not held, because he's afraid that the impression comes through that they weren't held because they were, in fact, not guilty, which, of course, isn't the case.
Well, get Mitchell to get some... Bob, listen, let's face it.
It doesn't make that much difference.
Let me tell you what happened.
We arrested a hell of a lot of people.
In a strictly legal sense, it was not legal.
That's right.
But we had to do it.
Now, that's all there is to it, and we'll do it again.
And that's because...
keeping this government going is more important than screwing around.
Because nobody was thrown in the can.
Nobody was kept in the can.
They're all released.
So what are they squealing about?
Don't worry about this little technical reason.
If somebody were in jail, that's different.
Nobody's in jail.
Right.
Mel Laird says this may have been the best one you've done yet.
Certainly one of the best.
He was surprised there was so little emphasis on Vietnam and so much on the May Day demonstrations.
But he liked it?
Yeah, very much.
Jim Haggerty said he was particularly impressed with the answers on the police disorders.
His next point was the answer to the question on China, and he was amazed it was number 18.
And his third thing he was impressed with was Vietnam in terms of the logic and in terms of the quick answer to Sarah McLendon, which he liked.
You know, but it wasn't the goods, but the... Yeah, but the people.
The men.
The people I care about.
That gave you a great chance to twist that.
Don't you think that was pretty good?
I sure do.
Because you could have gotten into a big, long...
I want to get the men home.
I don't want stupid stuff about shipping telephone poles home, and who the hell cares?
Haggerty says, I was impressed personally with the crispness of the answers and the ability to handle things on a comprehensive basis, again, ranging from the ILO to law and order.
The Klosky answer was both brilliant and unusual.
Oh, the political.
Well, of course, I hadn't planned that long.
The presidential press conference is not a proper forum to comment on political matters.
I wasn't going to comment on that.
You like that, don't you?
Klein makes the point.
He says, I think you'll find the reporters congratulating themselves on the follow-up, and if so, he intends to follow up by pointing out they always had the same opportunity.
Yeah, we don't plan anything.
It's up to them to do it, yeah.
Red Blunt says, I thought the reporters performed poorly.
They are usually bad, but this time they were worse.
Good old Red.
Raj Morton says, I wish the press would cover a broader spectrum.
The president does so well, it's a damn shame the American public can't hear what he has to say about revenue sharing and some of the other issues.
Rob, have you ever noticed a question on revenue sharing, on the environment, on reorganization?
We haven't had one.
which indicates to me that, well, yeah.
Some of these from public officials around the country.
The county commissioner in Mecklenburg County in North Carolina says he agreed with your statement on marijuana was his first point.
Got into the China thing.
He's not very keen on that, but he isn't very informed, so he'll support the president.
He agrees with the president on the discussion of the May Day issues, and he agreed on civil rights.
He said it's a very big issue in his area, and
He doesn't blame the president, but people are unhappy because of the Justice Department.
Well, I thought taking on Hesburgh was darn right.
That's why he said he was pleased.
I don't question their sincerity.
They shouldn't question ours.
Do you agree?
There's the county supervisor, St. Louis.
thought the president was magnificent, more warmth, more color, and better delivery than any of his other press conferences.
Who is it?
St. Louis.
Lawrence Roos.
Oh, Larry Roos.
He's liberal.
Is he?
Mm-hmm.
Good man.
I didn't know you knew him.
Ran for governor.
He thought the command of the subject was practically flawless.
He prefers the president using the podium as he did tonight.
You know, that podium is a hell of a help.
I'll bet it is.
Well, I can lean on it.
I can wipe my face when I want.
I've already noticed this.
He says he felt the president avoided the tendency he sometimes has to smile and freeze.
He felt he was much more relaxed and his smile came across much more naturally than he does sometimes.
Wasn't much chance to smile tonight.
No.
Mayor Dyke of Madison, Wisconsin, says he's a television pro.
The president made a good appearance, seemed at all times in command.
Length of replies was good.
However, he suggests that he preface some of the responses with the idea that he'd like to give some background to his response.
He thought the responses to the May Day questions were particularly good.
He thought the press's question regarding Vietnam indicated they didn't give a damn about Vietnam or his answers.
He suggested some future response indicate we don't want another Vietnam in the Middle East.
He suggested that the president looking directly into the camera and talking over the reporters to the television audience did not come across well.
He doesn't like that.
He doesn't like that.
I think most people do.
Sure.
And Bill Connors, County Executive of Delaware, says he was impressed with the point on the morality of our involvement in Vietnam.
POW question was good.
Encouraged by the discussion of efforts to normalize relations with China.
On the POW, pointing out the fact that Johnson stopped the bombing.
Yeah.
Yep.
And we've got...
The wires don't have any clear-cut lead out of it.
They're leading a whole series of leads.
UPI first lead is President Nixon declared Tuesday night he would go anywhere in the world if he thought it would lead to an agreement on nuclear arms limitations or a mutual troop production in Europe.
And...
He said he'd been, that Laird and Rogers had been consulting about the Soviet offer to negotiate on mutual reductions.
So, so they got that.
That was good for Laird and Rogers to point out that they were in the act.
Yep.
Yep.
Sure is.
Then, uh, second lead was President Nixon said Tuesday night he could not agree with the reported Civil Rights Commission, which accused his administration of retreating from earlier storm effects.
And, uh,
said he felt it necessary to respectfully disagree with the unfair charge another planning commission declaration the nation has not yet morally committed.
I do not think they should question it, sir.
Got that quote.
And their third lead is President Nixon Tuesday night ruled out any agreement with North Vietnam for release of U.S. presidents without assurances that action and not just discussion would follow.
That's pretty good.
Yeah, I think so.
The president hinted at a major change in the long-standing U.S. opposition to Communist China's admission of the United Nations.
That's the stuff they're leading.
There wasn't one clear-cut single lead.
There's a number of
Our AP moved in urgent, saying the president said a significant change has taken place among UN members on proposals amid red China, and he said the U.S. in about six weeks will announce position.
That gave Henry exactly what he needed.
Six weeks.
Right.
Not bad.
The business about whether you look at the camera is interesting.
Pat and Cheryl both thought that I should do it more.
I'm inclined to think they're right.
That's what the people like.
I want to look at it again because I try to make notes as I go so I don't get a feel of it.
I don't like to run it again and get a...
When you're talking, giving an answer like that, it seems to me you really should look right into the camera.
Because you're talking to the people and not to the reporter.
If you're doing some silly thing like Sarah McLendon's telephone pole, you're going to toss it away to her for like the political answer.
Because there you're really talking to the press.
I may be thinking of the press more than the people.
Yeah.
But you can take a look at that.
Because I can use that device more.
which gives me a better shot.
Yes, generally.
I do.
I think it does.
What I maybe get to, too, though, is you miss, if you do that, you miss a little bit of the flavor of being present at an event.
It becomes more like a presidential speech or something, where you're just talking to the folks, where this way you're bouncing the ball back and forth in the court there.
Let's look at this.
Let's look at it and see if it's quite right or not.
Why don't I check with the TV guy?
After others.
Watch different moments of the game.
I sure think so, though.
Yeah.
What do you think?
Oh, yeah.
Definitely.
I think you ought to always have it there.
The next thing we ought to look at and you ought to think about a little bit is whether that podium is exactly the way you want it.
Because, you know, whether it ought to be a little higher or a little wider or anything, you know, we might as well get it just precisely right.
Why don't you all look down over there?
It's really what's the most comfortable for you.
Also what looks best to you folks.
Yep.
Yep.
Well, I've wondered, for instance, it's black all the way around there, whether that really looks the best or whether it would look better if it was in a wood finish or blue or something else.
I don't know.
Well, you know, I get back to the fact that I'm glad they asked all these questions.
You know, folks are on our side.
You've got a chance to... Well, we know our problem in that damn pole.
That's right.
We're getting the law and order position and the dope position over.
Boy, you've got a chance to swing the boat up.
I think we hit the dope position.
We've done good.
Yep.
We've got to get back to the fact that it's an actual problem.
Yeah, supply, supply, addicts, pushers, information, messages.
I think coming out strongly on the being against the marijuana thing has only been done, has not been done.
He just did that at San Clemente.
That's right.
This bike did it nationally.
Awfully good.
It's moral or social grounds.
Isn't it something, though,
Oh, Roger's right.
They don't ask anything about revenue, insurance, parks, environment.
They've got nothing about those things, Bob.
I know, I know.
It's amazing.
It really is.
Anybody else?
No, that's...
It's probably all we did.
That's all we did.
The real question is how often you should do this.
It's a hell of a workout, but I'm inclined to think that once every three...
I think your three-week thing is a good pattern.
So you don't do it too much.
Not generally, no.
Maybe at a point where it becomes too much or something.
And it kind of depends on other things, too.
Yeah.
Well, okay.
You know?
No, sir?
Go ahead.