Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 5 › Conversation 005-152

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Pentagon Papers and Public Relations

Wednesday, June 23, 1971 · 3:48 PM–3:49 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation005-152 on Tape 5 (tape position 04:31:58–04:33:37)StartWednesday, June 23, 1971 at 3:48 PMEndWednesday, June 23, 1971 at 3:49 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 005-152 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 644218099 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler coordinate the administration's public messaging regarding the release of the Pentagon Papers. They emphasize portraying the decision to release the documents as a proactive move made by the President at Key Biscayne rather than a defensive reaction to congressional or judicial pressures. Additionally, they briefly clarify that recent negative news coverage regarding the American Medical Association and health reform was unrelated to the President's recent activities.

Audio

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NARA Description

On June 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 3:48 pm to 3:49 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-152 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 5-152

Date: June 23, 1971
Time: 3:48 pm - 3:49 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 258-53]

     Pentagon Papers
          -Defense Department statement
          -Melvin R. Laird
                -Release of documents
          -President's recent decision at Key Biscayne
                -Release of documents

     National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC] TV show on American Medical
                                                                  Conv. No.
                                                                         Association’s
                                                                            5-150 (cont.)
          [AMA] attitude toward health reform
          -Unknown man's comments at dinner, June 22

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

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Yeah.
Hello.
Yes, sir.
After you get along, get out that story, all right?
Yes, sir.
It seems to be moving well.
Fine.
And defense has issued a statement this afternoon, too, indicating the fact that Laird is working it out with congressional leaders in a way that will maintain full security of the documents so it doesn't compromise any of the court proceedings.
Good.
But, well, I think it moved, as we had discussed.
And the main thing is to...
Just keep our, sure it doesn't appear to be a defensive action on our part.
I made it clear.
I was asked a question.
Well, it appears that the president made this decision after the vote last night.
I came back very quickly.
I said, no, as a matter of fact, the president made this decision in Key Biscayne over the weekend, period.
So it doesn't seem that we're reacting to any one event or anything particularly.
You made it over the weekend and...
in Key Biscayne because we didn't want confusion to exist in the minds of the Congressmen.
Well, we couldn't have set up a breakfast that soon anyway.
That's right.
Full assessment.
I think, Mr. President, what the gentleman last night at the dinner was referring to,
In terms of the, he indicated in the negative report that the news stories were very positive.
Yeah.
I think on the AMA, I think what he's referring to, NBC did a piece about the AMA attitudes toward health reform and so forth.
But it did not relate to your visit at all.
Well, I would expect that.
That's all right.
Fine.
Okay, sir.

Also recorded on June 23, 1971

  • 005-149 3:36 PM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:36 pm.
  • 258-049 3:36 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 3:36 pm.
  • 005-150 3:41 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 3:41 pm to 3:43 pm.
  • 005-151 3:43 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:43 pm and 3:48 pm.
  • 258-051 3:43 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and J. Philip Campbell met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:43 pm and 3:48 pm.
  • 258-052 3:43 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:43 pm and 3:48 pm.
  • 258-053 3:48 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:48 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 258-011 3:49 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:49 pm and 4:00 pm.

All 50 conversations from June 23, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 005-152, June 23, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 644218099). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-152 (accessed November 2, 2026).