Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 34 › Conversation 034-137

Nixon phone call with Rush on Gordon Wade Rule and Civil Service

Tuesday, December 19, 1972 · 8:16 PM–8:17 PM ET · White House Telephone · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rush, [David] KennethConversation034-137 on Tape 34StartTuesday, December 19, 1972 at 8:16 PMEndTuesday, December 19, 1972 at 8:17 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 034-137 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kenneth Rush discuss the administrative removal of Gordon Wade Rule, a career civil servant suspected of long-term insubordination. Because Rule holds civil service protections that prevent immediate termination, the President authorizes Rush to strip him of all official responsibilities and initiate formal disciplinary charges. The conversation underscores the administration's determination to discipline Rule despite his established influence among congressional allies.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Yeah.
Mr. President, I have Secretary Rush calling you.
Oh, fine.
Thank you.
All right.
There's the President.
Thank you.
Hello, Mr. President.
Hi, Ken.
Yeah.
This bastard has been doing this off and on for years, I find.
Yeah.
He's a civil servant.
Oh.
We cannot fire him.
Yep.
But what we can do is remove him from all of his responsibilities and begin to file charges against him tomorrow.
I've ordered them to prepare charges starting tonight.
All right, good.
And go after him tomorrow.
That's the thing to do.
We're not going to allow this sort of thing to happen.
The civil service charges may take a year to get through.
But meanwhile, we can relieve him of all responsible...
But he's been doing it for years, huh?
He's been doing it for years.
He has a lot of friends on the Hill, it turns out.
And he's been getting by with this thing for a long, long time.
Uh-huh.
But we've got to move on him, don't you agree?
I do agree, yes.
Okay.
I think this is very bad.
All right.
Take him on.
Okay.
Thank you, Mr. President.

NARA Description

On December 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and [David] Kenneth Rush talked on the telephone from 8:16 pm to 8:17 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 034-137 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 34-137

Date: December 19, 1972
Time: 8:16 pm - 8:17 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with [David] Kenneth Rush.

       Gordon Wade Rule
            -Civil service status
                  -Firing
                  -Possible removal of responsibilities
                  -Charges
            -Actions
                  -Duration
            -Congressional friends

Also recorded on December 20, 1972

  • 034-133 7:41 PM · 45 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:41 pm.
  • 034-134 7:43 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and [David] Kenneth Rush talked on the telephone from 7:43 pm to 7:44 pm.
  • 034-135 7:44 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:44 pm and 8:07 pm.
  • 034-136 8:07 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 8:07 pm to 8:10 pm.
  • 034-138 8:18 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:18 pm to 8:22 pm.
  • 110-011 12:00 AM · 7 min — Herbert Stein, George Meany, John H. ("Jack") Lyons, C. L. Dennis, Paul Hall, I[lorwith] W. Abel, Frank E. Fitzsimmons, Pat Greathouse, Peter J. Brennan, Donald H. Rumsfeld, and George P. Shultz met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:00 am and 11:24 am.
  • 827-001 10:16 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:16 am and 10:20 am.
  • 827-002 10:16 AM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Zosimo T. Monzon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:16 am and 10:20 am.

All 47 conversations from December 20, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 034-137, December 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/034-137 (accessed October 12, 2026).