Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 23 › Conversation 023-006
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on William P. Rogers
Monday, April 17, 1972 · 2:36 PM–2:43 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discussed Secretary of State William P. Rogers's successful congressional testimony and the administration's plan to capitalize on it. Nixon directed Haldeman to have Patrick Buchanan extract key talking points from the testimony for immediate distribution to cabinet members and administration spokesmen. They also reviewed Rogers's assertive confrontation with Senator J. William Fulbright and coordinated the upcoming appearance of Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to maintain a unified public narrative.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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I thought one thing would you might have Buchanan or somebody that maybe is the best one to
go through the Rogers testimony and pick out the good lines.
I was just talking to Rogers about that.
That's exactly what I want to do.
He made a lot of good points there, Tommy, and if you could, and then get it distributed quickly.
I don't mean like three days, but this afternoon.
Could they do that?
I think so, yeah.
But Buchanan could get on it and get it done by tonight, certainly, couldn't he?
The question is how quickly we can get the testimony.
As soon as we get it, we can get it done.
Buchanan can do it damn fast.
By the New York Times, probably, or some others.
We'll get it.
Okay, fine.
And I made exactly that point to Bill because I said he had covered all the points that you had raised that we were after and that gave us a base for our other speakers now to follow up.
To all the members of the cabinet and from me, the president, and Secretary Rogers for the position of the administration, I thought you should like to have it for your guidance on the highlights of his testimony.
Okay.
Yep.
Good.
How did he feel?
Good.
He was very pleased.
He thought he had done very well.
Well, he's done very well.
There's no question about that.
But I just hope he realizes he stuck his neck out then.
But he'll get a hell of a play tonight, in my opinion.
Well, he thought he had done damn well.
He was feeling good about it.
He said, I covered every one of the points the president went over with me that he wanted covered.
And he recited several of his, what he felt were his major victories and all, you know.
Right, right.
Apparently he got mad at Fulbright at the beginning.
Good.
He said that kind of got it off to a good start.
Fulbright wouldn't let him read his statement, which is what he'd been called up to testify on in the legislation.
And Fulbright wouldn't let him read it.
And Fulbright said, you can read it at the end of the questioning.
And Rogers said, I don't want to read it at the end.
I'll just leave it and you can put it in the record.
Good.
Then Fulbright made a long speech, read a statement.
asking five questions, and when he finally finished it, Roger says, all right, Senator, I'll take your questions one at a time.
Repeat the first one, please.
All right.
Made him give him his questions one at a time, you know.
Good.
He obviously feels very good.
Well, you see, when he's cornered, he fights.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good.
The one thing he, the only weak sign he said in talking with him about it was, uh, uh,
He said he was awful glad that they were too dumb to zero in on the Soviet ship question with him because that would have been tough to answer.
That's right.
And he said that none of them were smart enough to cover that.
So our answer on that is just that we've responded through official channels.
Yeah.
And they'll go beyond that.
Good.
Well, Laird's going to go on tomorrow, so we'll follow right up with another line of
which is all right, too.
Keep our side out there a little while.
That's right.
They're democratic friends.
They can wheel and whine around all they want.
Bill had the feeling, and from what I saw, I would say the same thing, that they were very much on the defensive and didn't really quite know how to take the thing on.
Yeah, right.
I am here in the EOB.
I finished with Henry, and...
We're on just now.
As soon as there's any development on the other thing, I'm ready to go into it.
As I set aside this stuff, I'm going to see Laird at 5 o'clock here.
But except for that, I can do anything we want.
Very good.
And we'll have at it.
I would think you would hear from McGregor within another... Should hear any...
Right.
As soon as you hear, let me know.
Right.
NARA Description
On April 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 2:36 pm to 2:43 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 023-006 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 23-6
Date: April 17, 1972
Time: 2:36-2:43 pm
Location: White House Telephone
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with the President.
[See also Conversation No. 331-5]
William P. Rogers
-Testimony to Congress
-Selection of good lines
-Release
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Distribution
-New York Times
-Highlights
-Distribution to spokesmen
-Rogers's assessment
-Press coverage
-Major points
-Relationship with J. William Fulbright
-Rogers's statement
-Fulbright's questions
-Rogers's handling
-Senators' questions
-Quality
-Vietnam
-US air strikes
-Soviet ships
-Use of official channels
Melvin R. Laird
-Testimony before Congress
-Presentation of administration's position
-Democrats
-Rogers
The President's schedule
-Present location
-Meeting with Henry A. Kissinger and Ronald L. Ziegler
-Meeting with Laird
-Haldeman's meeting with Clark MacGregorAlso recorded on April 17, 1972
- 023-005 2:28 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:28 pm and 2:36 pm.
- 331-003 2:28 PM · 4 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 2:28 pm and 2:36 pm.
- 331-004 2:28 PM · 17 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 2:28 pm and 2:36 pm.
- 331-005 2:36 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:36 pm to 2:43 pm.
- 023-007 2:43 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 2:43 pm to 2:50 pm.
- 331-006 2:43 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:43 pm to 2:50 pm.
- 331-007 2:50 PM · 1 min — 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 2:50 pm and 3:48 pm.
- 331-008 2:50 PM · 31 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 2:50 pm and 3:48 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 023-006, April 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/023-006 (accessed October 1, 2026).