Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 34 › Conversation 034-049

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Washington Post and Press relations

Monday, December 11, 1972 · 7:49 PM–7:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 44 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation034-049 on Tape 34StartMonday, December 11, 1972 at 7:49 PMEndMonday, December 11, 1972 at 7:50 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 034-049 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 647841702 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon expressed intense frustration to Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler regarding the presence of Washington Post reporters at the White House Christmas tree display. Reasserting a previous ban on the newspaper's staff, the President ordered Ziegler to contact Connie Stuart to demand an explanation for the breach and to threaten her with immediate termination should such an unauthorized access occur again. Ziegler was instructed to verify the situation and report back to the President promptly.

Audio

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NARA Description

On December 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 7:49 pm to 7:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 034-049 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 34-49

Date: December 11, 1972
Time: 7:49 pm - 7:50 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

       Press relations
             -Constance M. (Cornell) (“Connie”) Stuart
             -Washington Post reporters
                    -Christmas tree
                    -Ziegler’s forthcoming call to Stuart

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

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

Hello.
Yes, sir.
Hi, Ron.
I don't want to bother you, but I just want to be sure you got ahold of Connie and got her straightened out for tomorrow.
Today, there were four people from the Washington Post looking at the Christmas tree.
I had given an order, which you may recall quite clearly, that nobody in the Washington Post was ever to be in this house again.
And, you know, I want to enforce, I want you to call Connie, call me back, ask her why they were there, and tell her if there's ever anybody that's there, her ass is out in five minutes.
Okay?
Okay, fine.
Thank you, sir.

Also recorded on December 11, 1972

  • 034-048 5:42 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:42 pm and 7:49 pm.
  • 385-017 5:42 PM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:42 pm and 7:10 pm.
  • 385-018 5:42 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:42 pm and 7:10 pm.
  • 385-019 5:42 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:42 pm and 7:10 pm.
  • 385-020 5:42 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:42 pm and 7:10 pm.
  • 385-021 5:42 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:42 pm and 7:10 pm.
  • 385-022 5:42 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:42 pm and 7:10 pm.
  • 034-050 7:54 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 7:54 pm to 7:55 pm.

All 42 conversations from December 11, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 034-049, December 11, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 647841702). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/034-049 (accessed November 15, 2026).