Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 6 › Conversation 006-062

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Pentagon Papers and National Security

Wednesday, June 30, 1971 · 7:22 PM–7:27 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation006-062 on Tape 6 (tape position 01:09:52–01:14:55)StartWednesday, June 30, 1971 at 7:22 PMEndWednesday, June 30, 1971 at 7:27 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 006-062 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss the administration’s aggressive strategy regarding the release of the Pentagon Papers and the subsequent national security implications. Nixon explicitly directs Haldeman to adopt a 'hard line' approach, rejecting concerns over press freedom and potential political backlash in favor of framing the situation as a critical security issue. Furthermore, the two coordinate efforts to investigate Daniel Ellsberg and potential institutional espionage, with Nixon tasking his staff—specifically John Dean and Tom Charles Huston—with executing a tough, decisive response.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 21% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Yeah.
The hardest.
Bob?
Yeah.
First, the way that the layer thing is going to be handled, I guess, is that he's got to handle it.
He's not a good story.
He's not a good story.
He's not a good story.
Second point is that
But on the other hand, I want you to tell him that, because I know that you're going to have Scali and Garmin.
I've decided on the hard line on it.
Maybe you've got to get the hard line with regard to this thing, rather than the line that just came out.
and I want John to develop his thoughts along that line.
I'm not sure I should make a statement.
I'm not sure I should at this point.
But, you know what I mean?
This may be, you want to let it ride, right?
Most important is we've got to know in this layer, oh, they've got a huge espionage network.
We've got to look at them.
We've got to look at their institutions.
We've got to look at their files.
We've got to look at their screens.
Also, we've got to get all of this information regarding the cops.
I don't know.
I guess we don't have anybody on our staff that's working on this other thing.
Except Houston.
We've got a team can in this group.
Well, but do they understand how we want to play the game?
Can you tell them?
They know how tough it has to be playing?
Yes.
Dean, you say?
Yeah, I think what we may want to do is...
Better have two pockets.
It's a tough game.
Now, the Richardson thing is terribly important.
What did he say?
He said, fine, he would get him in right away.
He then started telling me what a fine fellow he is.
All right.
I don't know about that.
The point is, we have got to find out if he did that.
Yep.
Oh, I told him.
You told him it's ready to break.
I told him the story may break tomorrow, but they've got a hot story on it, and then we've got to get the guy in it, because it could really blow up into a big one.
We've got to get him in and find out what the story is.
And then, see, it's just the type of guy that would be bad, father and admiral, gone to Harvard, you know, one of that sort of thing, you know what I mean?
He gets brainwashed.
That's just the kind of Bob we're going to find.
Ellsworth probably comes from a good family.
I don't think he's too surprised.
Well, he married into a good family.
He sure did.
See?
Yeah.
The other thing, I've already talked to Colson on, of course, we unfortunately destroyed the Monday, but I do hope that we are able to continue to hit our prime thing now that we've started this.
Right.
I'm sure that we'll get to do something.
Did you see any of the television?
Okay, well, I'm glad you got Richardson.
Let's follow through on it.
In the morning, I think we'd better get together in turns after I run the meeting.
We'll get together in turns.
And do I understand, in terms of getting this whole, we've got to get it steamed at all.
But I decided on the hard line.
I'm going to go on that.
And rather than just turning it all over because it's... You see, John Mitchell is obviously...
I don't care about the repression issue.
I'm not concerned one damn bit about a time before that.
I don't think that hurts us politically at all.
If we can make a security issue about it, that's what we have to do.
If we throw in the towel, we'll lose both.
Okay, well, I'll go over that with John, and we'll see what he does.
Good.
Tell John Ehrlichman when he gets back.
going to go with a complete cave-in on the whole security system as a result of this.
I mean, very strict, very tough, bite-off, invincible thing.
Not concerned.
Don't get the freedom of the press.
Don't listen to Scali and the people like that, you know, who are, etc., who will be, and they should be, they will be terribly concerned because they're under enormous pressures.
But that is not my view.
Okay.

NARA Description

On June 30, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 7:22 pm to 7:27 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-062 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 6-62

Date: June 30, 1971
Time: 7:22 pm - 7:27 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     Melvin R. Laird

     John D. Ehrlichman
          -Forthcoming conversation with Haldeman
          -John A. Scali, Leonard Garment
          -Patrick J. Buchanan

     Pentagon Papers
          -Laird
                -Break-in of Brookings Institution
          -White House staff
                -Tom Charles Huston
                -John W. Dean III

     Elliot L. Richardson
           -Conversation with Haldeman
           -Unknown man

     Daniel Ellsberg
          -Family
          -Marriage

******************************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Privacy (D) reviewed under deed of gift 05/08/2023. Segment cleared for
release.]
[Privacy]
[006-062-w001]
[Duration: 5s]

     Daniel Ellsberg
          -Marriage
                -Patricia Marx
                      -Father-in-law Louis Marx

******************************************************************************

     President's conversation with Charles W. Colson
           -Crime issue

     Television coverage of story

     Pentagon Papers
          -John N. Mitchell
          -Reaction to Supreme Court decision
          -Security issue
          -Administration's response
          -Haldeman's forthcoming conversation with Ehrlichman
          -Freedom of the press
          -Scali, Garment

Also recorded on June 30, 1971

  • 006-063 7:28 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield talked on the telephone from 7:28 pm to 7:29 pm.
  • 006-064 7:29 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:29 pm.
  • 006-065 7:30 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:30 pm.
  • 006-066 7:30 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:30 pm and 7:41 pm.
  • 006-067 7:41 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 7:41 pm to 7:43 pm.
  • 006-068 7:44 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz talked on the telephone from 7:44 pm to 7:46 pm.
  • 006-069 7:46 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:46 pm.
  • 006-070 7:46 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 7:46 pm to 7:49 pm.

All 66 conversations from June 30, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 006-062, June 30, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-062 (accessed October 5, 2026).