Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 15 › Conversation 015-050

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Press Relations and Presidential Travel

Thursday, November 18, 1971 · 7:16 PM–7:23 PM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation015-050 on Tape 15 (tape position 01:13:32–01:20:22)StartThursday, November 18, 1971 at 7:16 PMEndThursday, November 18, 1971 at 7:23 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 015-050 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discuss frustrations regarding press coverage of Nixon's recent trip to Florida and his perceived abrupt departure from the AFL-CIO convention. Nixon expresses annoyance that the press operated under the assumption he would stay through the weekend, leading to speculative reporting about his motivations. He instructs Haldeman to ensure that future travel schedules are never explicitly confirmed to the press, aiming to maintain maximum flexibility for his movements and prevent reporters from making personal arrangements based on his presence.

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uh bob i was just looking at the star and uh i don't know whether warren can do this but he's there's some sort of ridiculous uh thing in there to the effect that uh that i had left miami abruptly because of what happened at the convention something like that oh no he shot that down but but i don't know what the hell he's talking about we we didn't i trust you or nobody didn't tell
tell these press guys they could take their wives and concubines down there.
I had no plans to stay over the weekend.
It was not a weekend.
I was planning to go down and come back when I pleased.
And as you know, we've always got to have that rule.
We always do have that rule.
But when we come back up, they went and announced on short notice that we're coming back up.
Well, from now on, now on, let me say, I'm not going to tell them anything.
And I don't want Ziegler or Warren ever to tell the press
give them any idea.
Now, when we go to California, tell them I'm going to come back, and then tell them I'm going to come back the next day.
I think that's the best way to do it, because we can't have this situation, Bob, where the press gets the impression that I have to be, if I decide I'm going to come back, I've got to be free to do it without saying I've changed my plans.
But then they ask the question, was there any international crisis or something that had come up that caused you to come back?
Bob, they shouldn't have been told I was going to stay.
What were they told?
That I was going to stay over the weekend?
I had no plans to stay over the weekend.
That's always the way to handle it.
That's my point.
Why didn't you tell them I was coming up to see the dancers?
He did.
Okay.
Well, it's just a little hard to handle, I understand.
He hasn't had much experience.
Well, in the future, don't worry.
You won't need to worry about it because in the future, they're never going to know whether it's an early return.
In the future, Bob, we're not to know when I go and when I come back.
I'll go, but I ain't goddamn pleased.
Now, we just have gone, we've been much too generous to these people, you know.
Well, fine, that's, let me say, that's exactly what I'm going to do in the future, from now on, every time.
And they must understand it.
Because what we have done is that we've stayed because, you know, Ziegler's told me, well, gee, all the guys that got their wives out here and all that crap.
Oh, in California we've done that.
And I'm not going to have that anymore.
When we go to California, I want them to know that I intend to come back Sunday morning.
See?
Then you get the story the other way if you don't.
I know, I know.
Then we'll decide to have a press conference out there, which is fine.
You see my point?
I just feel, though, we've got to keep my running room free and not let it be done on the basis of what the press's plans are.
That's what I'm concerned about.
We do.
We do.
We do it.
We trip down.
We do it.
We keep it open.
Well, you see, the main thing, the main thing, the main thing, and this is the problem of not having had, you know, probably Sigler or Scully down there composed it,
what they're trying to do is to play this as I would expect that they would.
Basically, not in terms of what I said, but it was a rude reception.
Well, now, we know it was a rude reception, but, you know, that isn't the play that we should have gotten out of it.
And, well, there's probably no way you can beat it.
These guys up here will work on it a bit.
But on this one,
Just let me be very sure we understand in the future, I do not ever want them to assume that I'm going for the weekend.
Never.
If I go to make a speech, I'm going to make a speech.
When is he coming back?
He's probably coming back today.
If the weather's nice, I'll stay.
If the weather isn't nice, I'll come back.
See?
That's the way I would have handled this one.
Because, you know, it's going to rain tomorrow.
That's the main reason I came back.
It's already raining.
I just checked on it.
It's raining like hell.
So we're out of a good time.
Well, it's a tough one, I know.
I hear you.
That's one, no matter who we had down there and how many people or what we did, you're going to get that kind of a question.
You've got to answer it.
Well, I'll tell you what I think.
On any?
Yeah, I know who we think.
I think this is it.
I saw those guys.
They were down there with their wives and girlfriends and the rest.
They were planning the weekend, and they're disappointed because they came back.
Now, God damn it, don't let them get in that frame of mind again.
That's all I mean.
Then they won't be disappointed, see?
If they know we're coming back, then they won't take all their people down.
That's the point.
And then they're going to write it this way.
And I think that's where our mistake is.
Don't ever let them say, well, gee, he's probably going to stay for you.
Now, in California, they're to be told,
that he's probably coming back Sunday and I'll change and have a press conference on Tuesday, see?
Don't you think so?
Oh, I don't.
I think we should... Let them go out and plan all this.
And then when if I have to...
Suppose I change my mind and have to come back.
That's the way we should do it.
It's exactly the way we do it, which is to say we don't know.
The main thing is just keep me free.
Just keep me free.
Well then, let me put it this way.
Don't, don't, don't.
Yeah, just be good.
just so they never have any assumption, well, is it possible he'll stay over the weekend?
The answer is, I haven't decided yet.
Probably not.
Probably not.
But if he does, fine.
So that they don't have any disappointment and we don't go.
You see?
That's what I'm concerned about.
Well, I don't think he probably could have avoided it.
But I was just
They should really get this one time when they could get this thing played correctly if they worked.
I know they are.
Sure.

NARA Description

On November 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 7:16 pm to 7:23 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 015-050 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 15-50
Date: November 19, 1971
Time: 7:16 pm - 7:23 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

The President talked with Haldeman.

     The President's schedule
          -Trip to Florida
                -Return to Washington, DC
                      -Washington Star report
                            -Gerald L. Warren
                      -Ronald L. Ziegler
                      -Reporters' assumptions
                      -Classical Khmer Ballet event
                      -Pierre Salinger
          -Future trips
                -Notification to reporters
                      -Ziegler
                -California
                      -Possible press conference
                -Ziegler, Warren and John A. Scali
          -Trip to Florida
                -Reception at American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
                      Organizations [AFL-CIO] convention
          -Future trips
                -Handling
          -Florida trip
                -Weather
                -Reporters
                      -Entourage
          -Forthcoming California trip
                -Press conference
                -Uncertainty of schedule

Also recorded on November 19, 1971

  • 015-051 7:23 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:23 pm and 7:27 pm.
  • 015-052 7:27 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 7:27 pm to 7:40 pm.
  • 015-018 8:01 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 8:01 pm.

Cite this conversation

Conversation 015-050, November 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-050 (accessed October 12, 2026).