Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 5 › Conversation 005-097
Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Pentagon Papers and Media coverage
Wednesday, June 16, 1971 · 7:48 PM–7:56 PM ET · White House Telephone · 8 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler reviewed public and media reaction to the ongoing publication of the Pentagon Papers, specifically focusing on the performance of New York Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger and commentary by Maxwell Taylor and Howard K. Smith. Ziegler briefed the President on potential administration strategies, including comparing the current leak to historical precedents regarding the declassification of intelligence, such as the World War II Japanese fleet movements. The two agreed to maintain their current course of action and wait for further assessments before determining additional responses.
- Pentagon Papers
- Media coverage
- Declassification
- Maxwell D. Taylor
- Arthur O. Sulzberger
- McGovern-Hatfield amendment
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Hello.
Yes, sir.
How did the news play?
Well, a medium, Salzberger was on.
He returned to Europe, so he came back and got his legs in.
But that was on ABC and NBC.
CBS had Maxwell Taylor on.
He did a very effective job and made the points about the secret documents and the
how government must be able to communicate confidence, sort of downgrading the thing.
But the Salzberger thing sort of came against us a little bit.
Howard K. Smith had an interesting editorial.
But in terms of Salzberger, he's staking the time line.
Yeah, but the thing of it is, on film, he looked like a man who sort of was on his way to court.
in other words that's the impression that came over the tube in other words he looked sort of cornered and although you know he was making the point that it was our opinion that no by printing this material though american troops were endangered and it was not against the national security he had sort of a defensive air about him which i think played to played to our advantage but this evening there was still still a little bit of a focus on the
on the censorship of the impression.
Well, I'd say the overall impression to the public in relation to the situation was not negative toward us, but I wouldn't want to say it was positive.
I'd say it was sort of in between, and it was sort of blurred.
Yes, sir.
On ABC and NBC it was blurred.
On CBS, Maxwell Taylor did a very effective job, I know.
How did, what did Smith say?
Well, Smith made the point, as a reporter I have to say, that I think that material like this, when it falls into hand, that the publication should be printed.
He said that people lose sight of the fact that there are contingency plans, there must be contingency plans.
And he said the New York Times report suggests that there was only one party to the conflict.
He said you have to keep in mind that during this period, over the last four, over the four years preceding this period,
the communists were making a move of open aggression against South Vietnam.
And he said, that side of the story is not told.
He said, contingency plans must be developed by a government, and they were belatedly being developed by the United States government during the spirit of history.
So he said he would reserve his judgment until the emotion of the moment cooled down.
So I thought it was...
Well, as far as the news, you don't think that changes our plan?
No, sir.
I think we should still continue to assess it tomorrow.
And then I think in Rochester, I think that would be a good format to put it in perspective.
Because also, there will be the court testimony coming up here, too, which will
which will again put our... That will not be public.
I don't know.
It seemed to me from Marty that it would be.
Would be?
I'll have to check that again, but it was my impression in talking to Marty that it might be public.
Because he was referring to the fact that McCumber was going to testify and that that would be...
testify where well in the park yes well he's a good man the material on the mcgovern had to of course played as a victory that could play yes sir they all mentioned oh absolutely as a victory
And CBS again, I think it was CBS, had Dole on it.
And he was fairly comfortable.
What did he say?
Well, he made the point of the various amendments, the various ten amendments that had been made.
And it was an unnecessary attempt to tie the president's head.
Did he tie it into the previous administration of the knowledge or not?
I didn't see him make that point.
We're checking, and we should have for you tomorrow, the information.
And they're also checking on the Korean War information.
The initial report I get is that none of the material from the Korean War has been published.
And that...
Although the State Department has declassified their documents relating to World War II up to 1946, they have not declassified intelligence information and covert operations during World War II.
We're pinning that down, and we are going to see if there is material evidence
from World War II that has not been declassified, which parallels the material that the New York Times has in relation to Vietnam.
We'll have that tomorrow.
Now, the Sun-Times thing, I'm sure you recall, but I didn't.
Apparently, the Sun-Times was about to print the movement of the Japanese fleet, which would have indicated that the United States had broken the code.
and the United States government apparently obtained a sealed indictment against the Sondheims at that time, but the government was checkmated because if we would have moved with the indictment, it would have indicated to the Japanese that we indeed had broken their code.
Of course, that was Mark Kern.
It had to do with the situation.
That's right, but even in that case, they did not print the document.
They simply were
printing material that was contained in the document.
Well, I think they've been pretty well tied down with this McGovern Hatfield thing.
which has blurred over a couple of things today.
We had some good victories in the House.
For example, there was an attempt to either cut down or delete some ABM money, which was lost today in the House.
So that was a victory for it.
But the Hill information was pretty well absorbed by the McGovern and Hatfield.
The McGovern and Hatfield thing is a significant thing.
Yes, sir.
In all cases, it was referred to as a victory for the administration against the attempt.
NARA Description
On June 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 7:48 pm to 7:56 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-097 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 5-97
Date: June 16, 1971
Time: 7:48 pm - 7:56 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.
Pentagon Papers
-Press coverage
-Arthur O. Sulzberger
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] and Maxwell D. Taylor
-Sulzberger
-Statement
-Public reaction
-Press coverage
-Taylor
-Howard K. Smith's statement
-New York Times
-Administration's response
-Court testimony
-Ziegler's conversation with Robert T. Mardian
-William B. Macomber, Jr.'s forthcoming testimony
-McGovern-Hatfield amendment
-CBS television
-Robert J. Dole
-Precedents in handling release of materials
-Korean War material release
-Declassification of World War II State Department documents
-Chicago Sun-Times
-Movement of Japanese fleet in World War II
-Indictment
-McGovern-Hatfield amendmentAlso recorded on June 16, 1971
- 005-094 5:10 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 5:10 pm to 5:11 pm.
- 523-006 5:16 PM · 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, Lawrence M. Higby, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:16 pm to 6:05 pm.
- 523-007 6:05 PM · 2 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 6:05 pm on June 16, 1971 and 7:55 am on June 17, 1971.
- 005-095 7:46 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:46 pm.
- 005-096 7:47 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:47 pm.
- 005-098 7:56 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:56 pm.
- 005-099 7:57 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone at 7:57 pm.
- 005-100 7:58 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 7:58 pm to 8:22 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 005-097, June 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-097 (accessed October 12, 2026).