Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 020-062
Date: Tuesday, February 8, 1972 at 2:44 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/020-062

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:01] Go.
[0:01] Mr. Ziegler.
[0:02] Yes, sir.
[0:03] Your press thing, briefing go by as you expected?
[0:06] Well, they made the run today on the list.
[0:10] On the list?
[0:11] Right.
[0:12] Oh, crap.
[0:12] But we had a little, all right.
[0:14] What run do they make?
[0:16] Have we picked our friends?
[0:17] I hope not that.
[0:18] No, no.
[0:19] Jesus Christ, that's the most horrible bunch of people I ever saw.
[0:22] And I made the point again that you weren't involved.
[0:24] And I said, it's obvious that the president was involved by the people and the organizations who have fallen on the list.
[0:31] So I made that point.
[0:32] But a couple of people who aren't on the list talked about the
[0:38] blocking out regional areas of the country.
[0:41] And I said, well, that's absurd.
[0:43] We purposely did not select the list based upon regions or states, because indeed, if we did
[0:49] select a list on that basis, then we would be open for substantial criticism.
[0:53] We looked at the news, the journalism community as a whole in the nation, and selected those who regularly covered the White House and repeated the criteria, and said that as a result of this, all segments of the news media will be able to provide instant news reports to all segments of the country.
[1:11] Well, really, I think most of the fair guys realize it's a damn good job.
[1:16] Oh, yeah, sure.
[1:16] Yes, sir.
[1:17] And I've gotten calls.
[1:18] It's not just those that went.
[1:19] I mean, that's damn fair.
[1:20] That's right, they do.
[1:22] But still, those who don't go, for example, we're getting a little heat from down in the southwest.
[1:26] Texas.
[1:27] Right.
[1:29] I talked to Secretary Connolly about it, and he's not worried about it.
[1:32] And he's handling it, too.
[1:34] Well, the point was that you just didn't have anybody that fit the criteria.
[1:38] That's right.
[1:38] The Dallas News came close, but they just didn't quite fit it.
[1:43] What do you have from Texas?
[1:46] Anybody at all?
[1:46] No, no one.
[1:48] That's too damn bad.
[1:50] Yep.
[1:50] Well, we, of course, talked about the Dallas Nose there, but... See, there are a few selections that are on the list, and I made the point that we had to make some judgments.
[1:59] There are a few selections on the list that don't specifically meet the criteria...
[2:04] where some would who are not on the list.
[2:06] Do you see what I mean?
[2:07] But I made the point we had to follow the criteria in a general way, but I had to make some judgments too.
[2:15] But I was able to hit the... You called Connolly on this, did you?
[2:18] I talked to him at the leadership.
[2:20] He said it was okay.
[2:21] He's talking to Kruger down there and so forth.
[2:24] I said, now, level with me.
[2:25] Are you concerned about this?
[2:27] And he said, no, I'm really not.
[2:30] And also, we'll help him on the Russian mess.
[2:33] Right.
[2:35] Okay.
[2:36] The other point, one guy asked me, he said, isn't it true, Ron, that the reason you've made these selections and there are television people on here is because it's a TV spectacular?
[2:45] And I really hit that, and it's moving on the wires.
[2:47] I said, that statement is absurd, and that's what they led with.
[2:51] I said, and it suggests to me, whenever I'm asked that question, that whoever asks the question is not aware of the...
[2:58] of other communication functions within the whole mix in this country.
[3:05] And I said, if you want to break down the technical support that each member of the writing press gets, I said it would add up to about 10 people per member of the writing press because of the ground station personnel and the telex operators and all of the rest.
[3:23] So that seemed to diffuse that.
[3:26] But I expected to see.
[3:28] It wasn't extensive, and it just allowed us.
[3:34] Is Scott's thing getting any kind of a play in the wire?
[3:37] It is, yes.
[3:38] Good.
[3:39] So I think we're in fairly good shape on that.
[3:42] Did they come at you again on that?
[3:44] No, they didn't.
[3:46] Well, they already had their story for today on that.
[3:49] Right.
[3:53] Pat and I are sitting down here right now going over some things.
[3:56] Who?
[3:57] Pat Buchanan's in my office now, so we're going over something.