Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 5 › Conversation 005-037

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Media relations and The Washington Post

Sunday, June 13, 1971 · 9:56 AM–10:03 AM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation005-037 on Tape 5 (tape position 00:46:09–00:53:23)StartSunday, June 13, 1971 at 9:56 AMEndSunday, June 13, 1971 at 10:03 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 005-037 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discuss media coverage of Tricia Nixon Cox's wedding, evaluating the performance of various television networks and newspapers. While expressing general satisfaction with television coverage, the President strongly criticizes a Washington Post article by Judith Martin for its negative tone. Consequently, Nixon orders a total ban on Washington Post reporters from attending future White House social and residential functions, instructing Ziegler to exclude them from coverage pools while maintaining a veneer of professional discretion.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 55% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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Hello.
Hello.
Yes, sir.
Hi, Ron.
I wanted to check on the CBS coverage.
I don't think they're going to be available today.
Mort Allen, after I told you, I called him.
He's on his way.
Oh, he doesn't...
He put all of that together.
He does that every time.
He does it anyway.
I talked to Mort, and he...
Had a different impression than I did when I talked to you last night.
He watched all the way through.
I hadn't seen the CBS thing.
Ward told me that Rather, throughout the program, was just very, very good.
Is what he told me.
Well, NBC, I thought, was particularly good.
NBC was great.
I thought Reynolds and Sherwood last night, I saw that.
Yes, I saw.
The half hour?
Yes, sir.
I saw them.
They were very good.
Excellent.
But I didn't see CBS, and Mort Allen said that he had watched CBS.
What time did it come on?
CBS was from 6 to 7.
They had an hour, too.
Yes, sir.
Good.
So we should have that material for you, and also the fire service material.
They're putting that together.
I noticed that in the poster, you had this.
well you know they dropped her terribly on her wedding
the post.
Yeah.
Judith Martin covered it.
She got inside and just gave her a yellowish ass.
But the star.
The star was excellent.
Excellent.
The time was good.
The time, sorry.
What was the post lead with?
The cost?
No, no.
They had a story in there on cost.
They read, led with the fact that Patricia was married with a girl.
They had little things that
In the story, Patricia was a little nervous at the start.
Well, that's crap.
You didn't read that anywhere else.
It didn't come over that way on television.
Patricia was very relaxed all the way down.
We were chatting with her.
We walked along.
So it just was that type of thing.
Well, now the thing that on this, of course, on the post office,
Remember I told you around, I'm going to be very, very tough on that now.
There's never to be in the White House again on any social event.
Well, that's the first thing.
I don't mean just Judith Martin, but nobody.
On the pool.
Nobody from the Washington Post is ever to be in the White House on anything.
I'm here.
But, you know, anything that I'm here, that's it.
Never to be to a church function.
Never to be to a social function.
Never in the White House.
Not in the residence.
They can be at the press conference.
Never.
Is that clear?
Yes, sir.
I'm the Washington Post, and that means everybody.
Because you called him in.
You told him.
I'm going to blank him out totally.
I think we should for a while.
No, not a while.
I'm never going to let him.
Because I decided that long ago.
But they are never to be, and I don't mean Carol Kilpatrick.
I don't care who it is.
It's never to be in this White House covering the social function.
Anytime there's a fool, it's always a fool.
Yeah, well, yes.
Nobody has a right to come in unless he's invited in that right.
I just want to exclude it.
Just totally exclude it.
We want to exclude some other people at the time.
Because they had to reach pretty far to job on this.
Such a big, such a fine story.
My reaction to George, I read it, but you, you know, if you read it, I'm not defending it at all.
That's right.
But it's really not, I mean, it's not that blatant negative.
Oh, no, it's clever.
It's cleverly done.
The average guy sits down in the plane, he reads it.
I know all the arguments about the post and so forth, but I just don't like the paper.
I don't like the editorial paper.
I don't like anything about it.
I'll tolerate the Times, the New York Post, anything else, the St. Louis Post, the Washington Post.
I know what you're trying to do.
And they are never to be in this White House again.
Now, I want that understood.
Okay, I do.
Never get them in.
Now, you don't let Connie over.
That's my order.
In other words, when I'm in my presence at the Washington Post, no Washington Post reporter will be in this White House, except Matthew Preston.
Now, do it, of course, cleverly.
Don't you put it out.
But you know, but you pick the fools.
And, you know, churches just exclude them.
I don't want to cover the church services.
And they get off the wire.
They subscribe to the wire service.
I always invite the star, whoever it is, just invite them.
I never invite them.
I always invite the Daily News.
The Daily News is the one.
But I was, I think, frankly,
I'm sure, I'm sure, I guess...
I can't believe that... Helen...
Right.
But again, my point to the person sitting out in the plane reading that story...
Those things wouldn't hit them.
Although, because we know where they're putting them.
Overall, I think the picture material is totally over-relevant.
That's all right.
But they should have done.
I know.
They've done.
There's a way.
Well, they do have their...
Well, none of the others.
None of the others.
They're all...
They don't care for her.
And also, they know she broke the rules every time.
Didn't come up once in any of the briefings.
Didn't come up once in any of the briefings.
No, I think it's fine.
Fine, Ron.
Okay.

NARA Description

On June 13, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 9:56 am to 10:03 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-037 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 5-37

Date: June 13, 1971
Time: 9:56 am - 10:03 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

     Tricia Nixon Cox's wedding
           -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] coverage
           -Television coverage
                -Lyndon K. (“Mort”) Allin's comments about Dan Rather and CBS
                -National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC]
                -Frank Reynolds and Virginia Sherwood on American Broadcasting Company
                      [ABC]
                -Wire services
           -Washington Post article
                -President's conversation with Julie Nixon Eisenhower
                      -Judith Martin
           -Washington Star's article
           -New York Times article
           -Washington Post
                -Article
                -Tricia Nixon Cox's demeanor
                -White House functions
                      -Martin
                      -Carroll Kilpatrick
                -Article
                -President’s opinion
                -Social events
                -Constance M. Stuart
                -Washington Star
                -New York Daily News
                -Wire service
                      -Helen A. Thomas
           -Martin

Also recorded on June 13, 1971

  • 005-038 10:04 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:04 am.
  • 005-039 10:05 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 10:05 am to 10:10 am.
  • 005-040 10:10 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 10:19 am.
  • 005-041 10:19 AM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 10:19 am to 10:32 am.
  • 005-042 10:53 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:53 am and 11:06 am.
  • 005-043 11:06 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 11:06 am to 11:07 am.
  • 005-044 11:07 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:07 am and 11:51 am.
  • 005-045 11:07 AM · 10 min — Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:07 am and 11:51 am.

All 38 conversations from June 13, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 005-037, June 13, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-037 (accessed October 12, 2026).