Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 8 › Conversation 008-065
Nixon phone call with Colson on Congressional relations and Public relations
Thursday, September 9, 1971 · 11:18 AM–11:23 AM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies for mobilizing Republican senators to publicly support the President’s recent address to Congress. Colson reports on the coordinated effort to stage supportive statements from lawmakers over several days to counter potential media indifference. The two express frustration over the mainstream press, specifically the Washington Post, for failing to adequately report on Republican critiques of Democratic rivals like Edmund Muskie.
- Congressional relations
- Public relations
- Media bias
- Republican Party strategy
- Edmund Muskie
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 19% 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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NARA Description
On September 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 11:18 am to 11:23 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 008-065 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 8-65
Date: September 9, 1971
Time: 11:18 am - 11:23 am
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Charles W. Colson.
The President's recent speech to Congress
-Wire service leads
-Clark MacGregor
-Compared to State of the Union address
-Public support
-Republicans senators
-Statements
-MacGregor
-Difficulty
-Republicans
-Media
-Robert J. Dole
-Edmund S. Muskie
-News summary
-Washington Post
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 42s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
**********************************************************************Also recorded on September 9, 1971
- 008-061 10:11 AM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield talked on the telephone from 10:11 am to 10:20 am.
- 008-062 10:20 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 11:01 am.
- 008-063 11:01 AM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 11:01 am to 11:13 am.
- 008-064 11:13 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:13 am and 11:18 am.
- 568-001 1:18 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:18 pm and 1:22 pm.
- 008-066 1:20 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:33 pm.
- 278-001 1:20 PM · 2 min — 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 1:20 pm and 1:33 pm.
- 278-002 1:20 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:33 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 008-065, September 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/008-065 (accessed October 16, 2026).