Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 22 › Conversation 022-031
Nixon phone call with Colson on ITT case and Richard Kleindienst
Monday, March 27, 1972 · 1:05 PM–1:09 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies to counter ongoing Congressional hearings regarding the International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) case and the confirmation of Richard Kleindienst. They focus on pressuring Republican senators Hugh Scott and Roman Hruska to launch an offensive, including a press conference that frames Senator Edward Kennedy’s questioning as a "sickbed inquisition." Additionally, Colson outlines plans to issue an affidavit from William R. Merriam to debunk allegations of a specific White House phone call to Dita D. Beard.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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Operator, you can hold a call to Colson and I'll call back.
Mr. President, he has to be calling in right now.
Would you like to take it?
He's calling in now and saying he's at a phone where he can talk.
Oh, okay, fine.
All right, fine.
Hello.
Yes, sir, Mr. President.
Are you still on the Hill?
Yes, I'm in, but I'm in... Oh, I didn't need to get anything from you.
When will you be back?
Well, we're waiting now for Hugh Scott, and I would think within the hour I'll be able to leave here.
What we're trying to do is to program Scott and Ruska to hold a press conference this afternoon and just blast hell out of the Democrats and try to call off these hearings.
They're trying to reschedule them for Wednesday, and
We're, Clark McGregor and I and Wally Johnson are trying to talk our boys into getting a stiff spine.
We've got Ruska turned around and we're just waiting for you, Scott.
Yeah.
But I'll be back in about an hour.
Yeah, well, look, I'll be, I have to do some diplomatic credentials.
I may see you around.
I'll give you a call around 4 o'clock.
All right, sir.
And in the meantime...
Did they get Merriam or somebody to knock down that White House call?
Yes, sir.
Well, they're preparing an affidavit to knock that down.
That can be very quickly knocked down.
There was no call.
What the hell was she talking about?
Well, Merriam is prepared to say in an affidavit that he told her that he had had a call from the White House merely as a way of flushing the truth out of her because he didn't know whether she would honestly say what she knew unless he used that as an excuse.
There was no phone call.
In other words, he lied to her.
He lied to her.
Well, he used that as a ruse, in effect, to get her to tell what she knew because she was being very cozy about what she knew of the convention arrangements.
So he used that just as a technique, really, to... Of course, this is a tough one because of the fact that
As you know, they want to tie the damn White House right into the thing.
Oh, sure.
Well, this is... That was the bad break in the hearing.
Well, what the hell.
Well, it is, except it was in her memo.
You know, it isn't... She referred to the call from the White House in the memo.
It's no new news.
It's just that the goddamn media take something like that and play the hell out of it.
But I don't think that's playing as the major part of the story.
Do you think the media are still playing?
They're going to play some of the rest of it.
Oh, sure.
The television last night, 11 o'clock, the national television on CBS was pretty balanced.
We didn't get a bad break out of it.
The only thing they're doing is they're doing a very nice cover-up on Kennedy, but we're going to be able to get that out.
Rusker is going to use that at his press conference.
Kennedy's ruthless questioning?
Yes, he's going to say that he cautioned the members of the Senate to be gentlemanly, and it's unfortunate that one wasn't.
Engaged in a ruthless inquisition.
Inquisition is just the phrase.
That's what we're calling it.
Hospital inquisition.
That's right.
Sickbed inquisition.
I think they ought to hit him there.
Damn media.
You know, they didn't get that out at all.
He was... Oh, the wires carried it prominently, but you notice the New York Times Graham story.
He's been working against us.
The Sanford Unger piece in the Post was damn good, except that for the first time we got a break in the Post, except to...
He didn't mention the Kennedy thing, although the wires played it very heavily last night.
But the Carlton White House, they'll try to knock that down today, will they?
Yes, sir.
That's being pursued right now, and I would hope they'd have that out early afternoon, that there was no such phone call.
Yes.
That's right.
Our point today, Mr. President, I just really feel we're at a crossroads.
I spent an hour with Rusker pumping him up.
Our point today is to get our guys on the offensive.
God damn it.
Why are we defending our innocence?
Nobody's been able to support the accusations.
That's right.
And Rusk is getting mad.
And they should go on the offensive and say we are not going to continue this charade.
That's right.
Unless they have something to do.
Well, it's their turn to show us where there's any proof here.
Otherwise, to the difficult position we're in, as Eastland's playing some games with us, he's told...
Marty at Justice, he said, don't you try to push us and force us, because if so, that will turn a lot of Democrats against Kleindienst.
The same token, if we delay the goddamn thing into May or June, Kleindienst isn't going to be confirmed.
Ever.
Ever.
So our best hope is to force their hand.
And if they want to vote Kleindienst down, let them vote him down.
That's right.
That's right.
But let's force their hand down.
That's right.
I'd much prefer to have him voted down than to have it hanging over Schleich Fortis.
Exactly.
Right.
Exactly.
Okay.
Well, push that hard, okay?
Yes, sir, and I'll have a report for you later.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On March 27, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 1:05 pm to 1:09 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 022-031 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 22-31
Date: March 27, 1972
Time: 1:05 pm - 1:09 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with the White House operator.
[See Conversation No. 328-7]
Request for call to Colson
The President talked with Colson between 1:05 pm and 1:09 pm.
[See Conversation No. 328-7]
Colson’s location
-Capitol Hill
International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Meeting with Hugh Scott
-Briefing of Scott and Roman L. Hruska
-Press conference
-Democrats
-Hearings
-Schedule
-Colson, Clark MacGregor, Wallace H. Johnson
-Hruska
-Scott
Colson’s schedule
The President’s schedule
-Forthcoming diplomatic credentials ceremony
-Return call to Colson
ITT case
-William R. Merriam affidavit
-White House call
-Denial of call
-Dita D. Beard
-Convention arrangements
-White House involvement
-Beard memorandum
-Media coverage
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Edward M. Kennedy
-Media coverage
-Hruska
-Press conference
-Kennedy’s questioning of Beard
-Media coverage
-New York Times
-Graham [first name unknown] story
-Washington Post
-Sanford J. Unger story
-White House call
-Denial
-White House strategy
-Hruska
-James O. Eastland
-Conversation with Robert C. Mardian
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-ConfirmationAlso recorded on March 27, 1972
- 022-030 12:59 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:59 pm.
- 328-005 12:59 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 12:59 pm.
- 328-006 12:59 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:59 pm and 1:05 pm.
- 328-007 1:05 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:05 pm to 1:09 pm.
- 328-008 1:09 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:09 pm and 2:15 pm.
- 328-009 1:09 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:09 pm and 2:15 pm.
- 328-010 1:09 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:09 pm and 2:15 pm.
- 328-011 1:09 PM · 6 sec — unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:09 pm and 2:15 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 022-031, March 27, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/022-031 (accessed October 1, 2026).