Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 25 › Conversation 025-073

Nixon phone call with Morgan on Richard Helms and Luis Echeverría

Tuesday, June 20, 1972 · 10:51 AM–10:54 AM ET · White House Telephone

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Morgan, Edward L.Conversation025-073 on Tape 25 (tape position 03:10:26–03:12:24)StartTuesday, June 20, 1972 at 10:51 AMEndTuesday, June 20, 1972 at 10:54 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 025-073 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon updates CIA Director Richard Helms regarding a recent meeting with Mexican President Luis Echeverría. Nixon confirms that he has authorized a private discussion between Echeverría and Helms, intending to facilitate a high-level intelligence channel. The President also instructs Helms to brief the Mexican leader on U.S. foreign policy perspectives concerning the Soviet Union and China.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 111.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 111.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 4) · 22.3 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 03:10:26 into the tape and ends around 03:12:24.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
3:10:50Could you get me Director Helms, please?
3:10:53Yes, Mr. President.
3:10:56Hello.
3:10:56Director Helms, Mr. President.
3:10:59Hello.
3:11:00Good morning, Mr. President.
3:11:00Dick, I just left President Echeverria.
3:11:03He took me aside.
3:11:04He doesn't speak much.
3:11:05I speak in English, but he says, I'm seeing Director Helms this afternoon.
3:11:11I said, good.
3:11:11I said, you can, you know, he has authorized it.
3:11:19directly to you from me.
3:11:20So you should tell him that I talked to you and so forth.
3:11:23I don't know what games we're playing there, but he's strong.
3:11:27He wants to play the right games.
3:11:29I had told him, I gave him a little fill in Russia and China.
3:11:32I said, no, we've had all these initiatives, but let me make one thing clear.
3:11:35I have no reason to believe that both nations are going to continue their support of subversion in other countries.
3:11:42I said, we have agreed on
3:11:45no overt confrontations in effect but i said this is what you've got to expect and i think uh so uh that's the way i sort of i we didn't go in any other domestic things he has but uh so uh well thank you very much sir i will uh we are dick walters is going with me and we're going to have about an hour's chat with him

NARA Description

On June 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Edward L. Morgan talked on the telephone from 10:51 am to 10:54 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 025-073 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 25-73

Date: June 20, 1972
Time: 10:51-10:54 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Edward L. Morgan.

[See Conversation No. 342-12B]

*****************************************************************

[Previous archivists categorized this section as unintelligible. It has been rereviewed and
released 10/30/2017.]
[Unintelligible]
[025-073-w001]
[Duration: 1m 57s]
     Edward L. Morgan memorandum
         -Questions raised

     Civil rights division
           -Lawyers
                 -Presidential appointees
                 -Potential transfers
           -Delay
           -Reason why

*****************************************************************

Also recorded on June 20, 1972

  • 342-011 10:20 AM · 14 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 10:20 am and 10:25 am.
  • 025-072 10:25 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:25 am and 10:51 am.
  • 342-012 10:25 AM · 55 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, White House operator, and Edward L. Morgan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:25 am to 11:20 am.
  • 342-013 11:20 AM · 22 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 11:20 am and 11:26 am.
  • 342-014 11:20 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 11:26 am.
  • 342-015 11:20 AM · 58 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 11:20 am and 11:26 am.
  • 342-016 11:26 AM · 59 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:26 am to 12:45 pm.
  • 025-074 12:32 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 12:32 pm to 12:33 pm.

All 49 conversations from June 20, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 025-073, June 20, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/025-073 (accessed September 30, 2026).