Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-122

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Supreme Court appointments

Monday, October 18, 1971 · 5:54 PM–5:58 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation011-122 on Tape 11 (tape position 03:26:49–03:30:44)StartMonday, October 18, 1971 at 5:54 PMEndMonday, October 18, 1971 at 5:58 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-122 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman coordinate upcoming scheduling commitments and internal White House messaging. Nixon orders a total media blackout regarding Supreme Court appointments to conceal a private strategy being developed with John Mitchell. The two also discuss polling methodologies concerning youth demographics and resolve logistical disagreements regarding travel arrangements for John Connally and Robert Finch.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Yes, sir.
I have Mr. Halderman.
Yeah.
Hello?
Well, any last-minute reports before I go over to the... No, sir.
Agony of the All Dolls house?
No, I'm just getting dressed to go over and precede you there.
Good.
All right.
On the court thing, incidentally, let me suggest in your staff thing that I'm, Mitchell and I, have
Really, we're going to have to handle this very closely, you know.
Right.
And we've got some ideas that some of them don't know anything about, and that I deliberately am not telling anybody about.
Okay.
Just say that I... No further suggestions?
Well, I have them all, and I have them all in mind.
Right.
But I don't want a lot of warbling around in the press, Bob.
Okay.
I'd just like you to put a total blackout.
Okay.
Any discussion in the court at this point... All right, fine.
...by our staff, because...
that's better anyway and we'll do all right i mean they're yeah just don't assume that just don't assume anything right and don't assume that anything's changed right they all like to appear wise okay and uh this is you'll see reasons when we've because john and i got a game going here that may be very interesting good we're true okay okay well put the lid on it then
Oh, Colson was telling me that that, which I hadn't realized, that that poll you were in Newsweek was by Gallup.
I wasn't sure which one it was.
At least the youth part of it was by Gallup, so I suppose the rest was, too.
I imagine it was, then.
Sorry, then.
See, he factors in the heavier, you notice the heavier youth thing, and that's why he shows Kennedy doing better than the others.
Mm-hmm.
He also puts more youth in, apparently, than Harris's, which is really the other way around, I think.
That's right.
It did.
You know, really, these posters, that's why the damn thing are so fickle, isn't it?
You know, you can just depend upon it.
You're going to add 5% for youth or 10% for youth or 20%, you know.
Sure, they can juggle it all kinds of ways and make a rational case for it.
It'll load you.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
And I talked to Haig about Kissinger and the Moscow thing.
Oh, okay.
So that's done, and he totally agrees with it.
He said that he thought Henry was...
He's agreed with it all along.
Yeah, and I said it just won't do, and that's all there is to it.
So, yeah, I think Al has agreed, and he sees that what is involved here is just...
It's a little of the ego problem again, but it just isn't the right thing to do for other reasons.
It has to do with our policies.
So I've cooled that one myself.
You don't need to bother him with it.
Okay.
I talked to Henry, and he was in good spirits.
Still in Hawaii?
Yeah.
They were about to leave, I think.
Well, I think that his getting away and being on the plane, you know.
Oh, could I mention one other thing?
We've got one problem here that I want you to be sure Don Hughes covers correctly.
I want Connolly to have the first choice on the plane.
You know, because both he and Finch will be gone, they'll overlap their trips.
Oh, right.
Okay.
Connolly must have the, you know, what you call the backup plane.
Yeah.
He should have that because he has the longer flights and, of course, will have a bigger coverage, too.
Yeah.
And they'll have to give Finch, you know, one of those...
tubes.
They're all right, though.
Oh, sure.
Sure.
And Bob won't mind.
Fine.
Okay?
Yes, sir.
Fine.
Bye.

NARA Description

On October 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 5:54 pm to 5:58 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-122 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-122

 Date: October 18, 1971
 Time: 5:54 pm - 5:58 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

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

 [See Conversation No. 291-22]

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

        The President's schedule
             -Attendance for performance of         A Doll's House

        Supreme Court appointments
             -John N. Mitchell
             -Staff comments
             -White House strategy

        Charles W. Colson
             -Newsweek poll
                  -George H. Gallup
                        -Youth
                             -Edward M. Kennedy
                             -Louis P. Harris

        Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
             -Henry A. Kissinger
                  -Moscow

        H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman's conversation with Kissinger
              -Hawaii
              -Guam

        James D. ("Don") Hughes
             -John B. Connally
                   -Plane
                        -Robert H. Finch

Also recorded on October 18, 1971

  • 011-118 5:25 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:32 pm.
  • 011-119 5:32 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone from 5:32 pm to 5:40 pm.
  • 291-019 5:32 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:32 pm to 5:40 pm.
  • 011-120 5:40 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:54 pm.
  • 011-121 5:40 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:54 pm.
  • 291-020 5:45 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 5:45 pm and 5:54 pm.
  • 291-021 5:45 PM · 12 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 5:45 pm and 5:54 pm.
  • 291-022 5:54 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:54 pm to 5:58 pm.

All 46 conversations from October 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-122, October 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-122 (accessed September 28, 2026).