Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 19 › Conversation 019-110
Haldeman & Harlow on Spiro T. Agnew and Congressional relations
Wednesday, January 26, 1972 · 3:35 PM–3:58 PM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min
AI Summary
H. R. Haldeman and Bryce Harlow discussed their concerns regarding Vice President Spiro Agnew’s tendency to question administration policy during sensitive meetings with Congressional leadership. Both agreed that Agnew's behavior, particularly his questioning of a Vietnam-related speech, appeared unthinking and harmful to the administration's message of unity. Haldeman tasked Harlow with finding a discreet opportunity, potentially during a planned tennis match, to counsel Agnew on how his conduct affects his role and political efficacy.
- Spiro T. Agnew
- Congressional relations
- Administration messaging
- Political strategy
- White House staff dynamics
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Hello.
I have Mr. Harlow.
Thank you.
You are.
Bryce.
Mr. Haldeman.
How are you, sir?
Good.
Why were you at leadership this morning?
Well, I'm not allowed in leadership because I'm not a leader.
Oh, is that it?
I'm a follower, so I go to other meetings instead.
Only us leaders.
That's right.
Only you leaders go to those.
Say, that's what I was calling you about, though.
What was your reaction to the way your friend Spiro responded to the challenges this morning?
Well, I don't know.
I think he... You know what I was really thinking?
What were you really thinking?
I was just thinking that he had had a very hard night and was feeling bad.
That's really what I thought.
Well...
But I don't know.
He was asking questions that...
That made him sound querulous.
Well, that's what I heard.
And, you know, some of the people that were there were awfully concerned about the fact that he did.
And the thing that, the reason I had checked on it was because at the staff meeting yesterday when we had the briefing on the thing, he did the same thing.
And it wasn't, it was noticeably a problem there, but for him and the leaders meeting to do that seems to me to be absolutely shocking.
Well, that's true.
He's never, of course, never, never, never has...
has felt the effect on the leadership meeting when he does that.
How can we convince him otherwise?
Can you do it?
If I, you know, if I have a way to, that is, if I have an environmental circumstance where I can, I might be able to affect it.
Because it just, you know, he pulled this, were you in the leadership meeting on the budget?
No.
Because apparently he did the same thing there.
He started questioning, you know, that the strategy was all wrong on the budget.
And on this...
When was that meeting?
I don't know.
A few weeks back, I guess, or something.
A few weeks ago.
I'm not sure, but...
Leadership or cabinet?
Maybe it was.
I guess that's what it was.
On the cabinet?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because isn't this the first leadership meeting?
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, you're right.
It was.
The cabinet thing is not so bad.
Well, it's not as bad, but even there, you know, the cabinet people are, the main reason you're going over this stuff after a decision's made, which these things are, is to get everybody lined up and fired up to go out and swing on it.
And it's utterly asinine after the president's told the nation what he's doing for the vice president to sit there and say he doesn't think he should do it.
I totally agree with that.
I just say it's not as bad, you know.
Yeah, that's right.
Because you're thinking about effect in the presence of these congressmen.
But with the leaders, it's unbelievable, isn't it?
Well, I remember we fell across this in early spring of 69.
Yep.
And it's a trait, really.
And I don't know...
But do you think he thinks he's being constructive by this or something?
Or is he just stupid or confused or what?
Well, I think that he... What I really think is it's unthinking.
In other words, he has a question in his mind.
And he doesn't relate it to that circumstance.
He doesn't feel the circumstance that exists in there.
He feels like these are all good friends working together.
I see.
And he has a question in his mind and would like to ask it.
And he doesn't realize that it suggests internal division or something of that sort, or that it suggests questions in their minds.
It never has registered on him.
that's probably it part of the reason for that i think is that although it's an instinct that he showed very early in the game we talked about i remember yep but uh part of it is he doesn't spend any time with the congress anymore you know i know he's never up there anymore and so he doesn't uh he isn't sensitized as much as he ought to be by this point in time or the nature of those beasts yeah and uh he actually feels like he's in a
private meeting of the president's closest friends, you know.
Yeah.
And you're just all talking.
Yeah.
And I think that's what he feels.
Well, and that's fine to do before a decision.
Yeah.
After a decision, the only thing to talk about is how you get it sold.
Well, what he ought to be doing is patting the president on the back.
Damn right.
Well, Henry said it was kind of interesting, because Henry said what he was objecting to at the staff meeting yesterday, he was 180 degrees turned around on in the leadership meeting this morning.
Is that so?
Yeah.
Yesterday he was opposed to the ceasefire, and apparently this morning he was going in the opposite direction or something.
Well, really it's just an insensitive thing.
That's what it is.
There's nothing deliberate that he's trying to do to be harmful.
I'm certain of that, but...
Do you think there's a way to get it, you know, bring it to his awareness so that he realizes what he is doing?
Because it really, apparently this morning, I guess you agree it was to the point of really being harmful.
I don't know whether anyone minded that as much as, for example, Henry did.
Henry was vexed by it.
Yeah.
And then Chad, you know, said an aside to me about it at the time.
Yeah.
I haven't seen him alone for a long time.
I'm supposed to play tennis with him soon.
You know, at that cabinet dinner, he said for me to call C.D.
Ward and arrange a tennis game, and I haven't done it.
Maybe I ought to do it now.
Why don't you do it and see if you can ease into it?
I wasn't going to do it.
Leave it to him, you know, to initiate it.
But maybe I ought to initiate it now.
Well, we've got too many things coming up and too much going on.
The problem, what this creates is a real problem of how you use the guy this year.
Yeah.
Because if we're going to get, you know, this kind of thing, what we're going to have to do is just keep him out of the, where he can do any harm, which is ridiculous.
I don't see him saying any of these kinds of questions openly.
Yeah.
But he's capable of doing that kind of a thing in a private session.
In that kind of a session, yeah.
Why don't you take a stab at it?
Well, let me try.
Let me try, and he's funny about this.
Yeah, I know.
I meant to be funny about the way he does this.
I know.
I don't think he intends to be harmful at all, but he just does it.
Well, that's all the more reason to talk to him about it, then.
Yeah.
So if he had realized, if that theory is right, then if he realizes what he's doing, he would presumably not do it.
Yeah, well...
I mean, let me try to follow through on this tennis deal, and then I can find a chance perhaps to talk to him during it.
Okay.
Right in between a serve and an overhead.
Very good.
Just hit it lightly.
I hit the overhead and just knocked the hell out of it.
See, that's what you ought to start doing.
I used to couple and say that's what you have in mind.
Yeah, okay.
Okay.
All right.
Good.
Thanks, Bryce.
NARA Description
On January 26, 1972, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and Bryce N. Harlow talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:35 pm and 3:58 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 019-110 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 19-110
Date: January 26, 1972
Time: Unknown between 3:35 pm and 3:58 pm
Location: White House Telephone
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with Bryce N. Harlow.
[See Conversation No. 318-3C]
Haldeman's schedule
Congressional January 25, 1972 leadership meeting about the President's Vietnam speech
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew's conduct
-Previous meetings
-Staff meeting
-Harlow’s possible efforts
-Cabinet meeting
-Budget
-Decisionmaking process
-Motivation
-Mentality
-Congressional relations
-Henry A. Kissinger's comments
-Kissinger's reaction
Harlow's schedule
-Agnew
-Clarence D. Ward
Agnew
-Role in the 1972 campaign
-ConductAlso recorded on January 26, 1972
- 656-028 3:20 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:20 pm and 3:23 pm.
- 318-001 3:23 PM · 3 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 3:23 pm and 3:29 pm.
- 318-002 3:23 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:23 pm and 3:29 pm.
- 656-030 3:23 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:23 pm and 5:01 pm.
- 019-108 3:29 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 3:29 pm to 3:35 pm.
- 318-003 3:29 PM · 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Bryce N. Harlow, Frank Stanton, and William H. Carruthers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:29 pm to 4:20 pm.
- 019-109 3:35 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:35 pm and 3:58 pm.
- 019-111 3:35 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:35 pm and 3:58 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 019-110, January 26, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/019-110 (accessed October 6, 2026).