Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 31 › Conversation 031-148

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on SALT and Camp David

Thursday, October 19, 1972 · 5:14 PM–5:17 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation031-148 on Tape 31StartThursday, October 19, 1972 at 5:14 PMEndThursday, October 19, 1972 at 5:17 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 031-148 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler reviewed recent administration messaging, specifically focusing on the announcement of the second phase of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and budget briefings conducted by John Ehrlichman. They coordinated logistical arrangements for an upcoming presidential trip to Camp David, including the scheduling of a photo opportunity with a working group and the planning of press pool coverage for the President's transit. Throughout the conversation, they emphasized the positive impact of the administration's recent policy initiatives and media engagement strategy.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Yes, sir.
You gave them quite a bit of news today, didn't you?
Sir, the SALT thing and— Yeah.
Early men went out and raided the Congress.
And Schultz—well, that was not at your place, but Schultz did.
No, but Schultz did, well, yeah.
And you got your line across, too, now.
Well, John had taught that, which is good.
Did he what?
John taught that in the three o'clock briefing, buddy.
Well, sure, but I mean, that's—he bought out the same thing.
Then we took a picture of the working group in the Brooklyn room.
in the Roosevelt Room with all spread out.
We said that—pointed out that you had been meeting throughout the day with early men.
This working group is in the Roosevelt Room.
Yeah.
They don't meet until tomorrow.
Right.
But you've been—we made the point you've been meeting with them today.
But what they do is go back there and develop the options review and then present, you know, details.
They can't meet tomorrow for that purpose.
So I'm holding that until tomorrow.
Right.
What'll happen is if you want up there, you can have a picture taken by Ollie.
Why don't we do it in Laurel this time rather than Aspen?
Or do you think we should do it in Aspen?
Aspen's, I think, better.
Yeah, that's right, Richard.
We took everything else where we had the new economic policy and so forth.
Okay, we'll have that at approximately, say, 4.30.
We'll have the picture at 4.30.
Friday?
And I want them to come back down and have a briefing Saturday morning— Saturday, right.
—and kill out of it again.
Mm-hm.
Good.
Assaulting, you handled or you— No, I handled assaulting.
Yeah.
Well, you do just low-key it, but it's a hell of an important announcement I have, of course.
No, it's plain big.
It's a crusade to the start.
Well, you just say that on November— I announced that on November 21st, the second phase would start in Geneva.
At Geneva.
At Geneva, and I pointed out one, and I spelled out the accomplishments of salt one.
said the date of November 21st had been decided when Gromyko met with you.
And, you know, he talked about the comprehensive act.
You know, you really come down to it.
I mean, leaving out the Kissinger thing, which of course we cannot depend upon one way or another, but think of this and the agreement and all the other things.
We've given them really a pretty good plate this week, haven't we?
We sure have.
They understand that, too.
I think it's been a good— What we do tomorrow, of course, will be simply a picture story, but it'll be a nice picture up there.
Well, I think it'll be more than that.
Sure.
That even— What you say, absolutely.
Isn't that steady?
Well, I hope the weather's good.
Okay.
Okay, sir.
Oh, I'm going to drive—I'm not saying anything to anybody about it, I told Haldeman,
down F-3rd, so I'm going just—going by helicopter immediately back.
I'm going to drive halfway to Camp David for about an hour and a half, and I might stop on the way to, you know, buy a pumpkin or whatever I may do.
The point is, a press pool can follow.
Well, yeah, we'll just—the press pool that was scheduled to go in the chopper, we'll just go in the cars.
And they can go wherever they want, fine, because I don't know that I will stop, but I'm going to go through the small towns.
Desire, I will.
Okay, good, sir.

NARA Description

On October 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 5:14 pm to 5:17 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-148 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 31-148

Date: October 19, 1972
Time: 5:14 pm - 5:17 pm

Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 370-19]

        News events
           -Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT] announcement
           -Budget issue
                -John D. Ehrlichman's briefing to the Congress
                -Working group
           -The President's schedule
                -Camp David meeting
                    -Photograph
                          -Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins
                               -Laurel, Aspen Lodge
           -SALT treaty announcement
                -Washington Star coverage
                -Ziegler's briefing
                    -Background
                          -Forthcoming meeting in Geneva
                          -The President’s previous meeting with Andrei A. Gromyko
           -Vietnam settlement
                -Henry A. Kissinger's negotiations efforts
           -Trade agreement

        The President's schedule
            -Camp David visit
                -Possible press coverage
                -Return route
                     -Press pool

Also recorded on October 19, 1972

  • 031-149 5:14 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:14 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 370-019 5:14 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:14 pm to 5:17 pm.
  • 370-020 5:17 PM · 15 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 5:17 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 370-021 5:17 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 370-022 5:17 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 370-023 5:17 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 370-024 5:17 PM · 7 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 5:17 pm and 6:00 pm.
  • 370-025 5:17 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:17 pm and 6:00 pm.

All 78 conversations from October 19, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 031-148, October 19, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-148 (accessed October 23, 2026).