Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 015-050
Date: Thursday, November 18, 1971 at 7:16 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-050

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] 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
[0:28] tell these press guys they could take their wives and concubines down there.
[0:31] I had no plans to stay over the weekend.
[0:34] It was not a weekend.
[0:35] I was planning to go down and come back when I pleased.
[0:37] And as you know, we've always got to have that rule.
[0:40] We always do have that rule.
[0:45] But when we come back up, they went and announced on short notice that we're coming back up.
[0:47] Well, from now on, now on, let me say, I'm not going to tell them anything.
[0:51] And I don't want Ziegler or Warren ever to tell the press
[0:56] give them any idea.
[0:57] 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.
[1:02] 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.
[1:21] But then they ask the question, was there any international crisis or something that had come up that caused you to come back?
[1:24] Bob, they shouldn't have been told I was going to stay.
[1:28] What were they told?
[1:29] That I was going to stay over the weekend?
[1:31] I had no plans to stay over the weekend.
[1:35] That's always the way to handle it.
[1:36] That's my point.
[1:47] Why didn't you tell them I was coming up to see the dancers?
[1:50] He did.
[1:51] Okay.
[1:53] Well, it's just a little hard to handle, I understand.
[2:07] He hasn't had much experience.
[2:08] Well, in the future, don't worry.
[2:11] You won't need to worry about it because in the future, they're never going to know whether it's an early return.
[2:16] In the future, Bob, we're not to know when I go and when I come back.
[2:20] I'll go, but I ain't goddamn pleased.
[2:22] Now, we just have gone, we've been much too generous to these people, you know.
[2:31] Well, fine, that's, let me say, that's exactly what I'm going to do in the future, from now on, every time.
[2:38] And they must understand it.
[2:41] 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.
[2:49] Oh, in California we've done that.
[2:50] And I'm not going to have that anymore.
[2:52] When we go to California, I want them to know that I intend to come back Sunday morning.
[2:57] See?
[2:59] Then you get the story the other way if you don't.
[3:00] I know, I know.
[3:01] Then we'll decide to have a press conference out there, which is fine.
[3:04] You see my point?
[3:05] 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.
[3:12] That's what I'm concerned about.
[3:18] We do.
[3:18] We do.
[3:18] We do it.
[3:18] We trip down.
[3:19] We do it.
[3:19] We keep it open.
[3:19] 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,
[3:33] what they're trying to do is to play this as I would expect that they would.
[3:41] Basically, not in terms of what I said, but it was a rude reception.
[3:43] 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.
[3:58] And, well, there's probably no way you can beat it.
[3:59] These guys up here will work on it a bit.
[4:00] But on this one,
[4:01] 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.
[4:08] Never.
[4:09] If I go to make a speech, I'm going to make a speech.
[4:12] When is he coming back?
[4:14] He's probably coming back today.
[4:16] If the weather's nice, I'll stay.
[4:17] If the weather isn't nice, I'll come back.
[4:19] See?
[4:20] That's the way I would have handled this one.
[4:22] Because, you know, it's going to rain tomorrow.
[4:24] That's the main reason I came back.
[4:25] It's already raining.
[4:27] I just checked on it.
[4:28] It's raining like hell.
[4:29] So we're out of a good time.
[4:52] Well, it's a tough one, I know.
[4:53] I hear you.
[4:53] 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.
[4:56] You've got to answer it.
[4:57] Well, I'll tell you what I think.
[4:58] On any?
[4:58] Yeah, I know who we think.
[4:58] I think this is it.
[4:59] I saw those guys.
[5:00] They were down there with their wives and girlfriends and the rest.
[5:04] They were planning the weekend, and they're disappointed because they came back.
[5:07] Now, God damn it, don't let them get in that frame of mind again.
[5:09] That's all I mean.
[5:11] Then they won't be disappointed, see?
[5:13] If they know we're coming back, then they won't take all their people down.
[5:17] That's the point.
[5:18] And then they're going to write it this way.
[5:20] And I think that's where our mistake is.
[5:22] Don't ever let them say, well, gee, he's probably going to stay for you.
[5:25] Now, in California, they're to be told,
[5:27] that he's probably coming back Sunday and I'll change and have a press conference on Tuesday, see?
[5:32] Don't you think so?
[5:33] Oh, I don't.
[5:33] I think we should... Let them go out and plan all this.
[5:37] And then when if I have to...
[5:39] Suppose I change my mind and have to come back.
[5:44] That's the way we should do it.
[5:45] It's exactly the way we do it, which is to say we don't know.
[5:47] The main thing is just keep me free.
[6:07] Just keep me free.
[6:08] Well then, let me put it this way.
[6:09] Don't, don't, don't.
[6:11] Yeah, just be good.
[6:13] just so they never have any assumption, well, is it possible he'll stay over the weekend?
[6:16] The answer is, I haven't decided yet.
[6:19] Probably not.
[6:20] Probably not.
[6:21] But if he does, fine.
[6:23] So that they don't have any disappointment and we don't go.
[6:26] You see?
[6:27] That's what I'm concerned about.
[6:29] Well, I don't think he probably could have avoided it.
[6:33] But I was just
[6:35] They should really get this one time when they could get this thing played correctly if they worked.
[6:50] I know they are.
[6:50] Sure.