Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 24 › Conversation 024-136
Nixon, Haldeman & Waggonner on Assault on George Wallace
Monday, May 15, 1972 · 11:42 PM–11:49 PM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min
AI Summary
President Nixon, John Ehrlichman, and H.R. Haldeman discussed the investigation into Arthur Bremer, the assailant of George Wallace, including Bremer's political leanings and the evidence recovered from his apartment, with Ehrlichman recommending the FBI take full control of the investigation. They also reviewed the critical medical condition of George Wallace following surgery for a gunshot wound, noting the bullet's trajectory and the guarded prognosis, and discussed the propriety of presidential visits and public statements regarding the incident.
- Assault on George Wallace
- Arthur Bremer investigation
- George Wallace medical condition
- FBI investigation
- Secret Service
- Political affiliations
- Medical prognosis
- Presidential statements
Audio
This clip of the conversation was cut from the tape by the National Archives (catalog record ↗).
Listen to the full tape segment it comes from
Position in tape (archivists' log): 03:13:55 – 03:20:52
part B, 1:11:45
024a.mp3
024c.mp3
NARA Description
On May 15, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Joe D. Waggonner, Jr., and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 11:42 pm to 11:49 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 024-136 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 24-136
Date: May 15, 1972
Time: 11:42 pm - 11:49 pm
Location: White House Telephone
John D. Ehrlichman talked with the President.
Assault on George C. Wallace
-Charles W. Colson's report
-Arthur H. Bremer
-L. Patrick Gray, III’s evaluation
-Political affiliations
-Political leanings
-Support for Wallace
-Statements from family
-Material in apartment
-Gray
-Statements
-Plans for autobiography
-US attorneys
-Warrants
-Investigation
-Secret Service
-Withdrawal
-Compared with Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with the President at an unknown time.
-Dr. William M. Lukash's report
-Prognosis
-Internal wound
-Bullet
-Removal
-Surgery
-Damage
-Surgery
-Recovery
[Unintelligible]
-Lukash's report
-John B. Connally's statement
-The President's statement
-The President's possible visit
-The President's remarks in Blue Room
-Television coverage
-The President's possible visit
-Propriety
-Lukash's statement
-The President's schedule
-Camp David
-Visits
-Hubert H. Humphrey
-George S. McGovern
-HumphreyTranscript (AI-generated)
This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.
Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data
Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.
EhrlichmanThank you, sir.
NixonI just talked to Colson. He gave me the latest stuff. Did you hear anything else?
EhrlichmanWell, I don't know what he gave you, the
NixonThe FBI report.
EhrlichmanGray tells me that this guy is very, very strange.
NixonYeah.
EhrlichmanHe, but he
NixonI see. Colson seemed to get the impression from the news people, the Democrats, he was a Young Democrat.
EhrlichmanHe was that, and he was also pro-Wallace.
NixonHe got pro-Wallace material?
EhrlichmanPro, but Colson. But why would a pro-Wallace guy shoot Wallace?
EhrlichmanWell, his his parents and his brother both say he's pro-Wallace, strongly pro-Wallace.
EhrlichmanThere's a whole There's a whole load of stuff coming here from his apartment in Milwaukee to the custody of the Bureau.
EhrlichmanAnd they don't know what's in it yet, but
NixonMaybe it's pro-Wallace. But
EhrlichmanHe's Yeah. And he, when they were fingerprinting him, he was giving them a whole lot of shit, where he said he came from nowhere, and he's going nowhere, and
Ehrlichmanhe asked the Bureau agent how many of them were going to help him tell his biography.
EhrlichmanAnd that kind of stuff. Very, very weird.
NixonYeah.
EhrlichmanBut we're routing a lot of U.S. attorneys out of bed, and we're we're shaking things up, and they're getting warrants for his car and his apartment and that kind of thing.
NixonGood.
EhrlichmanSo the thing's moving along, I think, just about as fast as anybody can make it.
EhrlichmanI would like to take the Secret Service totally out of the Milwaukee picture.
NixonTotally. Take an order
EhrlichmanTotally, and
Ehrlichmanand give the Bureau a freer hand, that
NixonBureau's better. Have them do it. Okay.
EhrlichmanBob Bob is here, and he's got a medical report from surgery, and I'll hand him the phone.
NixonOkay. Good.
EhrlichmanI'm just about to go in the Cabinet Room, and then go home.
NixonFine.
EhrlichmanAll right, sir.
HaldemanHello, Mr. President.
NixonHi, Bob. What's the [unintelligible]?
HaldemanConnally called Dr. Lukash about a half an hour ago,
NixonYeah.
Haldemanand Lukash got ahold of the, uh, chief surgeon.
NixonChief of what?
HaldemanChief of surgery at the hospital.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanAnd, uh, their prognosis is extremely guarded.
NixonOh, my.
HaldemanUh, he has massive internal injuries.
NixonDid the bullet enter the stomach?
HaldemanThe bullet entered the upper right quadrant
NixonOh, that's bad.
Haldemanwent, uh, and they have not removed the bullet.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanUh, they don't dare. It has perforated his, uh, bowel,
NixonYeah.
Haldemanand, uh, that is what they're doing the surgery on now.
NixonRight.
HaldemanThe bullet penetrated that, then penetrated through to the, uh, spinal column. It has bruised the spinal cord,
NixonYes.
Haldemanand it's now lodged somewhere in or near the spinal column.
NixonDid they operate to try to take it out?
HaldemanNo, they don't, they will not do any surgery in that area until later. They don't dare touch that now.
NixonThat's bad. That's bad.
HaldemanThey are just trying to repair the damage to the stomach and bowel and everything in that, in the intestinal area.
NixonDid, did any of the other bullets hit him in vital parts?
HaldemanNo, all the other bullets were superficial.
NixonOne one bullet hit him?
HaldemanOne bullet did the, did all this, this bad work.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanUh, the, uh, he's had massive hemorrhage,
NixonYeah.
Haldemanand, as I say, they, uh, they consider him in critical condition.
NixonAnd guarded.
HaldemanUh, Lukash has a call into the surgeon again in another hour,
NixonYeah.
Haldemanwhen they hope to be about through with the initial surgery.
NixonI think we should go ahead with Connally's statement, don't you?
HaldemanYes, sir.
NixonGo ahead, let him release it.
HaldemanI think, uh, with, uh, Wallace's doctor having published,
NixonRight.
Haldemanhis statement that Wallace had come through and was in recovery.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanConnally's statement is completely in order. I told him we would call him back only if there was a problem,
NixonNo, I don't think you should.
Haldemanand so his, uh, his office is releasing it from here, and he's released it from there.
NixonNo, that's fine.
HaldemanWell, the coverage The television carried your, uh, your visit to him on, uh, sheet film a couple minutes ago.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanAnd, uh, almost all channels they've carried your, uh, your remarks to the press
NixonBlue Room, yeah.
Haldemanand they just carried the, uh, the Wallace remarks.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanIt comes across very well.
NixonI think the point, though, is you're, uh, going to the hospital will have to be off now. I don't think it's proper.
HaldemanNo, going to the hospital would be impossible for us, although
NixonDon't try it.
HaldemanI think that point
NixonMake that point.
HaldemanI made that point.
HaldemanThe doctors feel that that should not be bothered,
NixonShouldn't be bothered.
Haldemanexcept with his family, and they'd like to get the, uh,
NixonThat's right.
Haldemanpress out of there, and get the crowd away,
NixonYeah.
Haldemanand let him get into the business of fighting for his life.
NixonRight, right.
HaldemanWhich is what it is, and they shouldn't build the recovery hope too, too much.
NixonNo, no, absolutely.
HaldemanI think the two things together play that out just the right, just the right tone.
NixonYeah.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanYes, sir.
NixonIs Ziegler still around?
HaldemanHe'll be off in just a minute.
NixonYeah.
HaldemanHe's been right with, uh,
NixonYes, sir.
HaldemanYeah, do well.
HaldemanAnd, uh, he might just, uh, tell them what the situation was.
NixonFine.
NixonDoes he feel that we should do anything in terms of, uh,
Haldemanvisiting?
NixonYeah.
HaldemanOh, no. He doesn't think there's any point in trying to get in on that.
NixonGood.
HaldemanNo, he did.
NixonI don't think so. I, I very much doubt if it's good.
HaldemanWell, and, and, uh, and we've done it already, so
NixonYeah.
HaldemanI was, I would very much doubt if there would be any point in doing that. You know, you can't see the fellow, and he couldn't see you.
NixonI would, I would very much doubt if there'd be any point.
HaldemanNo, you can't help him, and you can't see him.
NixonOkay, see you at 11 o'clock tomorrow, right?
HaldemanYes, sir.
Also recorded on May 15, 1972
- 024-130 9:44 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ann Duggan talked on the telephone from 9:44 pm to 9:45 pm.
- 339-020 9:45 PM · 5 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 9:45 pm and 9:48 pm.
- 724-009 9:48 PM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:48 pm and 10:15 pm.
- 024-131 10:15 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:15 pm and 11:07 pm.
- 024-132 10:15 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:15 pm and 11:07 pm.
- 024-133 11:07 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:07 pm and 11:12 pm.
- 024-134 11:12 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 11:12 pm to 11:41 pm.
- 024-135 11:41 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:41 pm and 11:42 pm.
Related conversations
- Nixon phone call with Rebozo on Assault on George Wallace and Arthur Bremer May 16, 1972 · 3 min
- Nixon phone call with Tkach on George C. Wallace and Walter Reed Hospital May 16, 1972 · 5 min
- Nixon phone call with Tkach on John C. Stennis and Medical prognosis February 6, 1973 · 1 min
- Nixon phone call with Lukash on George Wallace and Assassination attempt May 17, 1972 · 1 min
- Nixon & Tkach on Medical prognosis and Walter Reed Medical Center May 16, 1972 · 9 min
- Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Congressional relations June 13, 1972 · 2 min
Cite this conversation
Conversation 024-136, May 15, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 646314588). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-136 (accessed November 1, 2026).