Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 5 › Conversation 005-130

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Vietnam War and H.R. 1

Tuesday, June 22, 1971 · 10:24 PM–10:30 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation005-130 on Tape 5 (tape position 03:55:51–04:00:21)StartTuesday, June 22, 1971 at 10:24 PMEndTuesday, June 22, 1971 at 10:30 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 005-130 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discuss media coverage strategies regarding Vietnam, the successful House passage of H.R. 1, and the ongoing legal battles over the Pentagon Papers. Nixon emphasizes the importance of framing the Pentagon Papers issue around the mishandling of top-secret documents to garner public support and protect national security. The two also coordinate efforts to generate press coverage for a story involving the British government through State Department spokesperson Robert J. McCloskey.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 43% 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.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello.
Hello.
Hi, Ron.
Yes, sir.
Did you get your story out all right?
Yes, I think it's fine.
We made CBS with the... Henry, I'm going to talk to you in a little bit of space.
Right.
CBS used the part of...
Seriously jeopardizing the negotiation.
That line... We want to lay the foundation on that because...
falls down.
Right.
Well, I was glad that Conkite got that on the end of the show.
As a quote, the wires moved that out too.
Then we issued the HR-1 statement.
That was a good victory.
I didn't hear about it.
Well, HR-1 passed.
288 to 135.
including, you know, Section 4, which is Social Security.
So, just the right, just the right deal.
And we assume your statement.
Good.
My predictions are looking pretty good in the House, at least.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Somebody tonight, to Bev Murphy of Gamble Company, was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh, he was, uh,
Tobias played it straight.
I don't know what's up to the band, but I'll check it in the morning first.
I talked to Buchanan briefly about it.
He said Atlantic City played all right, but it was at that period we were trying to get everything down, so he doesn't have a ton of talking to us about it now.
Well, the courts are keeping the damn thing alive, man.
Drag both New York and Marshall.
They both collided.
You know, they're thinking a lot.
They've asked for something real, secret stuff.
Codes to the threshold.
They might turn that thing and uphold it.
Well, if they uphold it on the right ground, then the people could turn on us.
If they uphold it on the ground, then it would jeopardize national security.
Well, I think people out in the country are a lot more concerned about mishandling the top secret documents than they are about the complexity of it.
And yet they want the open war to come out.
Well, I think there's mixed reaction, but I think if you...
handling top secret documents, their emotion is going to go to handling top secret documents.
Because it's quite a big thing when someone thinks the United States government is a top secret
Did that thing of the British get any play at all?
I did not see that.
It didn't give any...
Try to see if Klosky can't get that written something out of the state.
All right, for columns and so forth tomorrow.

NARA Description

On June 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 10:24 pm to 10:30 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-130 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 5-130

Date: June 22, 1971
Time: 10:24 pm - 10:30 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

     Story on Vietnam
          -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
          -Walter Cronkite

     H.R.1 statement
          -Vote in House of Representatives

     President's conversation with William B. Murphy, June 22, 1971

     Patrick J. Buchanan's conversation with Ziegler
           -Atlantic City story

     Pentagon Papers
          -Court action
          -National security

     British story
           -News coverage
           -Robert J. McCloskey
           -Charles W. Colson

Also recorded on June 23, 1971

  • 005-171 10:30 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 10:30 pm to 10:31 pm.
  • 005-131 10:31 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:31 pm to 10:38 pm.
  • 527-013 7:52 AM · 8 sec — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:52 am and 9:10 am.
  • 527-014 9:10 AM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:10 am and 9:14 am.
  • 527-015 9:10 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:10 am and 9:14 am.
  • 527-016 9:14 AM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, unknown person(s) [Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield's secretary], Henry A. Kissinger, Carl B. Albert, White House operator, unknown person(s), Clark MacGregor, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:14 am to 10:12 am.
  • 005-133 9:22 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mary Jane Delbazo talked on the telephone from 9:22 am to 9:25 am.
  • 005-134 9:31 AM · 2 min — John D. Ehrlichman, Carl B. Albert, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:31 am and 11:03 am.

All 52 conversations from June 23, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 005-130, June 23, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-130 (accessed October 11, 2026).