Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 23 › Conversation 023-120

Nixon, Ehrlichman & Ziegler on FBI and Press Relations

Tuesday, May 2, 1972 · 5:35 PM–5:37 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsEhrlichman, John D.; Ziegler, Ronald L.; Nixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation023-120 on Tape 23StartTuesday, May 2, 1972 at 5:35 PMEndTuesday, May 2, 1972 at 5:37 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 023-120 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, through John D. Ehrlichman, directs Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler to brief the press regarding the upcoming appointment of an acting FBI director. The primary goal is to manage media speculation by confirming the pending announcement while avoiding premature commitments regarding a permanent nominee. Ultimately, the administration decides against pre-emptively closing off the option of a full-time appointment, opting instead to limit public messaging to the announcement of an acting director.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
John Ehrlichman.
The President suggests you simply start moving now if you get inquiries, that there will be an announcement in the morning with regard to the appointment of an acting director.
That should then forestall any speculation.
Well, what Bill Gill, for example, just called me, he already has a piece on film.
What they're doing is speculating on names, like your name is in it and other names are in it.
If you say an acting director and he won't appoint a – it's very likely he won't appoint a full-time director.
Now you divert the speculation –
A lot of it.
Well, I think that's good, don't you?
I think it's good to divert to speculation.
Yeah.
And that doesn't hurt the announcement tomorrow because the announcement is the name and the confirmation of the sourced information.
That's it.
So if you could get that out, you could do it just by not being specific about anything except there will be an announcement as to the designation of an acting director tomorrow at the morning briefing.
Right.
But I'm saying the better thing would be to take it a step further and say that the president will not announce or nominate full-time this year.
No, don't do that.
See, you immediately eliminate an option for him.
So he doesn't want to eliminate him?
Well, I haven't asked him, and he's in the other room, but I really don't think he'll want to freeze him.
Well, the point of it is we're going to freeze him tomorrow, aren't we?
Just a minute.
Hold on, Ron.
He wants to know if you want to go on one step further and say that you do not intend to send a nomination to the Congress this year.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
That would start all the speculation.
No, just as far as saying that there'll be an announcement in the morning with regard to an acting director, period.
Okay?
You know, I think there's some merit to this other thing because you drive them off of this speculation.
I understand.
The speculation is going to be inevitable, Ron.
I assume it will be, but you drive them off of it somewhat if you say nominate to full-time until this year, if we have decided to say that tomorrow.
If we haven't, then that's right.
See, that frees the president out of an option, and I just don't think we're there yet.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 2, 1972, John D. Ehrlichman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 5:35 pm to 5:37 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 023-120 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 23-120

Date: May 2, 1972
Time: 5:35-5:37 pm
Location: White House Telephone

John D. Ehrlichman talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See also Conversation No. 334-36I]

     Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
          -Acting Director
                -Announcement
                    -Speculation
                          -William A. Gill, Jr.
                          -Names
                          -Diversion
                    -Contents
                          -Names
                    -Full-time director
                          -Problems

Ehrlichman conferred with the President at an unknown time.

[See Conversation No. 334-36]

[End of conferral]

     FBI
           -Full-time director
                 -Announcement by Ziegler
                      -The President's intentions
                      -Acting Director
                 -Speculation
                      -Problems
                 -The President's options

Also recorded on May 2, 1972

  • 023-114 4:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 4:49 pm to 4:51 pm.
  • 023-115 4:51 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:51 pm and 4:57 pm.
  • 023-116 4:57 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 4:57 pm to 4:58 pm.
  • 023-117 4:58 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:58 pm and 5:26 pm.
  • 023-118 5:26 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Clyde A. Tolson talked on the telephone from 5:26 pm to 5:27 pm.
  • 023-119 5:30 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:30 pm and 5:35 pm.
  • 023-121 6:03 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 6:03 pm.
  • 023-122 6:06 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Helen Gandy talked on the telephone from 6:06 pm to 6:07 pm.

All 67 conversations from May 2, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 023-120, May 2, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/023-120 (accessed October 9, 2026).