Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 25 › Conversation 025-116

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Press conference and Public relations

Thursday, June 22, 1972 · 9:45 AM–9:50 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation025-116 on Tape 25 (tape position 04:46:08–04:48:15)StartThursday, June 22, 1972 at 9:45 AMEndThursday, June 22, 1972 at 9:50 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 025-116 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417193855 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler consulted regarding the administration's messaging strategy for an upcoming press conference. They discussed the specific timing and wording of the President's remarks, while also briefly touching upon the involvement of Charles W. Colson. The pair focused on refining public communication tactics to manage the anticipated media cycle.

Audio

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NARA Description

On June 22, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 9:45 am to 9:50 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 025-116 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 25-116

Date: June 22, 1972
Time: 9:45-9:50 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 344-14C]

     The President’s forthcoming press conference
          -Timing
          -Wording
          -Ziegler’s comments
          -Charles W. Colson
          -The President’s comments

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 57% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Hi.

Hello.

Hi, Ron.

You know we're going to have a... Let me have one.

All right.

Yeah.

Oh, you did.

Yeah, well, I don't think I'll get into it, though.

What do you think?

Well, I don't think you have to know, you know.

But again, I think that there's a few other things.

But I don't know.

I don't know.

yeah okay

Also recorded on June 22, 1972

344-013 9:20 AM · 45 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 9:20 am and 9:40 am.
740-001 9:20 AM — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:20 am and 3:02 pm.
025-114 9:40 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:40 am and 9:45 am.
025-115 9:40 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:40 am and 9:45 am.
344-014 9:40 AM · 1 hr 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Ronald L. Ziegler, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Charles W. Colson, and Gordon C. Strachan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:40 am to 11:25 am.
025-117 10:21 AM · 3 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:21 am and 11:10 am.
025-118 11:25 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:25 am and 11:29 am.
344-015 11:25 AM · 14 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 11:25 am and 11:29 am.

All 38 conversations from June 22, 1972 →

Ziegler & Dean on Watergate scandal and Public relations April 19, 1973 · 1 min
Nixon & Ziegler on Watergate scandal and Press relations April 17, 1973 · 4 min
Nixon & Ziegler on Press conference and Media relations June 28, 1972 · 5 min
Nixon, Ziegler & Dean on Watergate and Executive Privilege March 14, 1973 · 1 hr 10 min
Nixon & Ziegler on Press conference and David K. Bruce March 15, 1973 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Goldenson on John Scali and ABC News May 27, 1971 · 2 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 025-116, June 22, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417193855). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/025-116 (accessed November 1, 2026).