Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 024-136
Date: Monday, May 15, 1972 at 11:42 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Waggonner, Joe D., Jr.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-136
National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/646314588 (NAID 646314588)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (google/gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference. Verify against the audio before citing.

[0:00] EHRLICHMAN: Thank you, sir.
[0:02] NIXON: I just talked to Colson. He gave me the latest stuff. Did you hear anything else?
[0:07] EHRLICHMAN: Well, I don't know what he gave you, the
[0:11] NIXON: The FBI report.
[0:13] EHRLICHMAN: Gray tells me that this guy is very, very strange.
[0:18] NIXON: Yeah.
[0:19] EHRLICHMAN: He, but he
[0:20] NIXON: I see. Colson seemed to get the impression from the news people, the Democrats, he was a Young Democrat.
[0:25] EHRLICHMAN: He was that, and he was also pro-Wallace.
[0:29] NIXON: He got pro-Wallace material?
[0:31] EHRLICHMAN: Pro, but Colson. But why would a pro-Wallace guy shoot Wallace?
[0:35] EHRLICHMAN: Well, his his parents and his brother both say he's pro-Wallace, strongly pro-Wallace.
[0:41] EHRLICHMAN: There's a whole There's a whole load of stuff coming here from his apartment in Milwaukee to the custody of the Bureau.
[0:48] EHRLICHMAN: And they don't know what's in it yet, but
[0:52] NIXON: Maybe it's pro-Wallace. But
[0:55] EHRLICHMAN: He'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
[1:04] EHRLICHMAN: he asked the Bureau agent how many of them were going to help him tell his biography.
[1:09] EHRLICHMAN: And that kind of stuff. Very, very weird.
[1:13] NIXON: Yeah.
[1:14] EHRLICHMAN: But 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.
[1:24] NIXON: Good.
[1:25] EHRLICHMAN: So the thing's moving along, I think, just about as fast as anybody can make it.
[1:30] EHRLICHMAN: I would like to take the Secret Service totally out of the Milwaukee picture.
[1:36] NIXON: Totally. Take an order
[1:37] EHRLICHMAN: Totally, and
[1:39] EHRLICHMAN: and give the Bureau a freer hand, that
[1:42] NIXON: Bureau's better. Have them do it. Okay.
[1:44] EHRLICHMAN: Bob Bob is here, and he's got a medical report from surgery, and I'll hand him the phone.
[1:50] NIXON: Okay. Good.
[1:51] EHRLICHMAN: I'm just about to go in the Cabinet Room, and then go home.
[1:56] NIXON: Fine.
[1:57] EHRLICHMAN: All right, sir.
[2:08] HALDEMAN: Hello, Mr. President.
[2:09] NIXON: Hi, Bob. What's the [unintelligible]?
[2:11] HALDEMAN: Connally called Dr. Lukash about a half an hour ago,
[2:16] NIXON: Yeah.
[2:17] HALDEMAN: and Lukash got ahold of the, uh, chief surgeon.
[2:23] NIXON: Chief of what?
[2:25] HALDEMAN: Chief of surgery at the hospital.
[2:27] NIXON: Yeah.
[2:28] HALDEMAN: And, uh, their prognosis is extremely guarded.
[2:35] NIXON: Oh, my.
[2:36] HALDEMAN: Uh, he has massive internal injuries.
[2:42] NIXON: Did the bullet enter the stomach?
[2:43] HALDEMAN: The bullet entered the upper right quadrant
[2:46] NIXON: Oh, that's bad.
[2:47] HALDEMAN: went, uh, and they have not removed the bullet.
[2:50] NIXON: Yeah.
[2:51] HALDEMAN: Uh, they don't dare. It has perforated his, uh, bowel,
[2:56] NIXON: Yeah.
[2:57] HALDEMAN: and, uh, that is what they're doing the surgery on now.
[3:02] NIXON: Right.
[3:04] HALDEMAN: The bullet penetrated that, then penetrated through to the, uh, spinal column. It has bruised the spinal cord,
[3:13] NIXON: Yes.
[3:14] HALDEMAN: and it's now lodged somewhere in or near the spinal column.
[3:20] NIXON: Did they operate to try to take it out?
[3:23] HALDEMAN: No, they don't, they will not do any surgery in that area until later. They don't dare touch that now.
[3:29] NIXON: That's bad. That's bad.
[3:30] HALDEMAN: They are just trying to repair the damage to the stomach and bowel and everything in that, in the intestinal area.
[3:37] NIXON: Did, did any of the other bullets hit him in vital parts?
[3:40] HALDEMAN: No, all the other bullets were superficial.
[3:43] NIXON: One one bullet hit him?
[3:44] HALDEMAN: One bullet did the, did all this, this bad work.
[3:48] NIXON: Yeah.
[3:49] HALDEMAN: Uh, the, uh, he's had massive hemorrhage,
[3:53] NIXON: Yeah.
[3:54] HALDEMAN: and, as I say, they, uh, they consider him in critical condition.
[3:58] NIXON: And guarded.
[3:59] HALDEMAN: Uh, Lukash has a call into the surgeon again in another hour,
[4:03] NIXON: Yeah.
[4:04] HALDEMAN: when they hope to be about through with the initial surgery.
[4:08] NIXON: I think we should go ahead with Connally's statement, don't you?
[4:13] HALDEMAN: Yes, sir.
[4:14] NIXON: Go ahead, let him release it.
[4:16] HALDEMAN: I think, uh, with, uh, Wallace's doctor having published,
[4:22] NIXON: Right.
[4:23] HALDEMAN: his statement that Wallace had come through and was in recovery.
[4:26] NIXON: Yeah.
[4:27] HALDEMAN: Connally's statement is completely in order. I told him we would call him back only if there was a problem,
[4:34] NIXON: No, I don't think you should.
[4:36] HALDEMAN: and so his, uh, his office is releasing it from here, and he's released it from there.
[4:41] NIXON: No, that's fine.
[4:43] HALDEMAN: Well, the coverage The television carried your, uh, your visit to him on, uh, sheet film a couple minutes ago.
[4:52] NIXON: Yeah.
[4:54] HALDEMAN: And, uh, almost all channels they've carried your, uh, your remarks to the press
[5:00] NIXON: Blue Room, yeah.
[5:02] HALDEMAN: and they just carried the, uh, the Wallace remarks.
[5:05] NIXON: Yeah.
[5:07] HALDEMAN: It comes across very well.
[5:08] NIXON: I 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.
[5:14] HALDEMAN: No, going to the hospital would be impossible for us, although
[5:17] NIXON: Don't try it.
[5:18] HALDEMAN: I think that point
[5:19] NIXON: Make that point.
[5:20] HALDEMAN: I made that point.
[5:21] HALDEMAN: The doctors feel that that should not be bothered,
[5:24] NIXON: Shouldn't be bothered.
[5:25] HALDEMAN: except with his family, and they'd like to get the, uh,
[5:27] NIXON: That's right.
[5:29] HALDEMAN: press out of there, and get the crowd away,
[5:30] NIXON: Yeah.
[5:31] HALDEMAN: and let him get into the business of fighting for his life.
[5:34] NIXON: Right, right.
[5:35] HALDEMAN: Which is what it is, and they shouldn't build the recovery hope too, too much.
[5:41] NIXON: No, no, absolutely.
[5:43] HALDEMAN: I think the two things together play that out just the right, just the right tone.
[5:49] NIXON: Yeah.
[5:50] NIXON: Yeah.
[5:51] HALDEMAN: Yes, sir.
[5:53] NIXON: Is Ziegler still around?
[5:54] HALDEMAN: He'll be off in just a minute.
[5:56] NIXON: Yeah.
[5:57] HALDEMAN: He's been right with, uh,
[5:59] NIXON: Yes, sir.
[6:00] HALDEMAN: Yeah, do well.
[6:02] HALDEMAN: And, uh, he might just, uh, tell them what the situation was.
[6:10] NIXON: Fine.
[6:13] NIXON: Does he feel that we should do anything in terms of, uh,
[6:17] HALDEMAN: visiting?
[6:18] NIXON: Yeah.
[6:19] HALDEMAN: Oh, no. He doesn't think there's any point in trying to get in on that.
[6:22] NIXON: Good.
[6:24] HALDEMAN: No, he did.
[6:25] NIXON: I don't think so. I, I very much doubt if it's good.
[6:29] HALDEMAN: Well, and, and, uh, and we've done it already, so
[6:35] NIXON: Yeah.
[6:36] HALDEMAN: I 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.
[6:44] NIXON: I would, I would very much doubt if there'd be any point.
[6:47] HALDEMAN: No, you can't help him, and you can't see him.
[6:51] NIXON: Okay, see you at 11 o'clock tomorrow, right?
[6:54] HALDEMAN: Yes, sir.