Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 17 › Conversation 017-037

Nixon phone call with Mitchell on Jimmy Hoffa and Pentagon surveillance

Friday, December 24, 1971 · 5:33 PM–5:39 PM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Mitchell, John N.Conversation017-037 on Tape 17 (tape position 01:44:26–01:50:09)StartFriday, December 24, 1971 at 5:33 PMEndFriday, December 24, 1971 at 5:39 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 017-037 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417191837 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell exchanged holiday greetings before transitioning to a discussion on the recent release of Jimmy Hoffa and the political handling of the Pentagon surveillance scandal involving Yeoman Charles Radford. Nixon emphasized the need to keep the Radford matter under close control to avoid discrediting the military, while expressing concern over Henry Kissinger’s emotional volatility and tendency to view the situation through a purely personal lens. Ultimately, Nixon directed Mitchell to restrain Kissinger from impulsive personnel decisions, such as firing Admiral Thomas Moorer, and advocated for keeping Radford under surveillance at the Pentagon to mitigate potential leaks.

Audio

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NARA Description

On December 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 5:33 pm to 5:39 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 017-037 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 17-37

Date: December 24, 1971
Time: 5:33 pm - 5:39 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Call from John N. Mitchell

The President talked with Mitchell.

     Mitchell's location

     Christmas greetings
          -Martha (Beall) Mitchell

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

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 12/21/2017.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[017-037-w001]
[Duration: 8s]

     The President’s schedule
          -Dinner
          -Family

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

     James R. (“Jimmy”) Hoffa release
          -Josephine (Poszywak) Hoffa
                -Health

     Henry A. Kissinger
          -Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
                -John D. Ehrlichman
                      -Melvin R. Laird
                -Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
          -Yeoman Charles E. Radford
                -Surveillance
                      -Pentagon
          -Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                -Kissinger
                      -President’s concern
          -Talk with Mitchell
          -State Department
          -JCS
          -Talk with Ehrlichman
          -Moorer
          -William P. Rogers

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 32% 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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Hello.
I have the Attorney General there, Mr. President.
Hello.
The President, sir.
Hello.
Yes, Mr. President.
Are you in California?
No, I'm in Phoenix, Arizona.
I just made the kickoff luncheon for the bull game.
That's the stuff.
Well, just called to wish you and Martha a Merry Christmas.
Well, I appreciate it.
Yeah, fine.
And, uh, yeah.
We're all going to be together in the White House.
I thought the Hoffa thing went well.
He looked, I think he created some sympathy for himself.
What do you think?
I didn't see it, but from... Yeah, well, you know, as he said, you know, I'll tell you, being in prison isn't all that, what it's cracked up to be.
You have some lonely days.
And you start to think, too, let's face it,
No useful purpose would be served by keeping him there any longer, John.
And his wife's sick and everything.
Yes, the political aspects of it were certainly laid down.
On our other subject, I think we are better advised, I mean, we really just got to
keep the lid on anything.
Henry, of course, got all the storages.
We've got to get rid of more right away.
And that's just the most ridiculous thing I can think of.
You know what I mean?
This is just a system and this and that.
And I think the main thing is to
keep it under as close control as we can.
But we cannot move to do anything to discredit the uniform.
That's what I'm convinced of.
I see.
I see.
Ah, I see.
Isn't that interesting?
Yeah.
I know.
Well, but I think you've got to keep Henry and everybody else, keep them, take the...
off his track of doing it.
I think on the yeoman, don't know whether John told you, I think the best course with him is to keep him here, I mean, you know, in the Pentagon, and under surveillance, and let him know he's under surveillance, and that's that.
Because you see, if you have him running after some base someplace, he's likely to be rude about it and write a book.
And if he's here, he knows that we can watch him.
And that also...
You know what I mean?
It doesn't give him anything to grub about.
That's my feeling, at least.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, they were there.
I talked to, well, Henry, not to Hague.
Yeah, Hague briefly on the phone, but Henry was in today.
What?
Did I what?
Yeah, I would have the session, but I think it's important not to let Henry sort of blame all this for troubles and so forth.
I think it's important for Henry to sort of cool off and
recognize that our best interests are served by not, you know, raising holy hell.
I think in terms of security, yes, it makes sense, but I don't want Henry to sort of get to the point where he thinks that everything and everything comes out.
He gets paranoid sometimes.
That's right.
I mean, in other words, the State Department's against him, the Joint Chiefs are against him.
You know, he's thinking of it, John, solely in personal terms.
And that's irrelevant.
But the personal stuff is irrelevant.
It isn't what this is all about.
This is something that goes far beyond that.
Well, I think you should.
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
Except then, as I said, he went to the other extreme and told Ehrlichman yesterday or last night or something that now he said, we ought to fire more right away.
Well, now that's just ridiculous.
That shows you he's emotionally unbalanced.
That's right.
Fire somebody.
His idea being that, well, by showing discipline there, that would scare Rogers.
Well, not for Christ's sakes.
Rogers doesn't, you know.
Isn't that silly?
He doesn't know his address very well.
Well, anyway, give my best to Phoenix and the gang.
I will.
Your telegram is going to be read on television tomorrow in connection with the truck program.
It ought to be a big one.
Great.
Great.
And Carol Goff.
Right there.
Hold them on to me.
Okay.
Bye.

Also recorded on December 24, 1971

  • 017-031 5:18 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Ralph H. Cake talked on the telephone from 5:18 pm to 5:19 pm.
  • 017-032 5:20 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 5:20 pm to 5:22 pm.
  • 017-033 5:22 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Stewart J. O. Alsop talked on the telephone from 5:22 pm to 5:24 pm.
  • 017-034 5:25 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Peter M. Flanigan talked on the telephone from 5:25 pm to 5:28 pm.
  • 017-035 5:29 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Elliot L. Richardson talked on the telephone from 5:29 pm to 5:32 pm.
  • 017-036 5:32 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:32 pm.
  • 017-038 5:40 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Maurice H. Stans talked on the telephone from 5:40 pm to 5:42 pm.
  • 017-039 5:43 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:43 pm.

All 74 conversations from December 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 017-037, December 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417191837). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/017-037 (accessed November 1, 2026).