Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 36 › Conversation 036-061

Nixon phone call with Colson on Libel lawsuit and Media relations

Monday, January 22, 1973 · 8:47 PM–8:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation036-061 on Tape 36StartMonday, January 22, 1973 at 8:47 PMEndMonday, January 22, 1973 at 8:50 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 036-061 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417194565 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss Colson’s potential lawsuit against the media regarding recent reporting. While Attorney General Richard Kleindienst advised against legal action, Nixon encourages Colson to pursue the case to force a public retraction. The conversation also touches upon the death of Lyndon B. Johnson and its impact on the public perception of the Vietnam War settlement.

Audio

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NARA Description

On January 22, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:47 pm to 8:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 036-061 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 36-61

Date: January 22, 1973
Time: 8:47 pm - 8:50 pm
Location: White House Telephone
                                             -41-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

The President talked with Charles Colson.

[See also Conversation No. 402-16]

       Colson’s lawsuit.
            -News coverage
                  -Washington Star, television [TV] networks

       Lyndon B. Johnson’s death
            -Vietnam settlement
            -Johnson’s image

       Colson’s lawsuit
            -Richard G. Kleindienst
            -Reporter’s telephone calls
            -Retraction
                  -Kenneth W. Clawson’s call to Henry A. Grunwald

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Thank you.
Yes, sir, Mr. President.
Are your lawsuits coming?
Well, I've been giving it a lot of thought.
I sure as hell think I've got one.
Yeah, so too.
I haven't played much of the story, actually.
Tonight Star sort of buried it in there.
I think with the Johnson death that it probably did not make the networks, although I didn't watch that tonight.
really happen around here, don't they?
Yeah, I should say they do.
The irony of it, of course, is just that he should die before we've got something done there, yeah.
One day, maybe, or two.
Three or four, perhaps, but whatever the case may be.
Well, anyway, that's the strange turn that life takes.
I'm sure it would have given him a lot of satisfaction to see us finish that and send it down the craws of the critics.
Right.
Well, in any event, he'll make him look better in the end than he would have looked otherwise.
I often used to tell him when I talked to him over these years, and particularly the last couple of years, that how this game came out was going to have an enormous effect on his place in history, and he's aware of that.
Oh, I'm sure he's aware of that.
He would step up to it, unfortunately.
You know, he beat this just as well.
It probably wouldn't have helped us if he hadn't.
no that's right and uh we had everything that he could give us anyway right he came now that's uh that's something first time in 40 years or has been a former president i hadn't thought of that i completely forgot so you over lived through all the 40 years right okay but i'd uh i really think you ought to consider it what's what are the arguments against it well the only argument against it is one that uh i happen to be at a dinner party there
reception tonight with Dick Lindingston.
Oh yeah, what's he saying?
Well, Dick simply said, you know, don't put the damn story up.
Well, that may be true.
On the other hand, the case is a hell of a case.
I've had two of my prospective law partners looking at it.
What's the statute of limitations?
I've got three years.
But the real value of it, of course, is publicity.
And I could make a hell of a case because they've admitted and their reporter is calling me.
The reporter who wrote the story is calling me frantically tonight.
Take his call?
I haven't yet.
I've decided to make him sweat.
I was in Grunewald tonight, and...
I hope he reamed him out.
What he said is that we don't want it run as a letter to the editor, and an apology, we want it run on the news section.
And Grunewald said, I'll consider it.
Well, now we're there.
They're calling me tonight.
I think I've really gotten to them.
I'm sure.
Well, but you can't have them run it in a news section.
That doesn't do it.
They just say, well, we said this, but they say that, you see.
Oh, no, no.
They would do it with a statement of apology.
Attraction.
Okay.
They're calling it a regret, which is maybe a little different.
Okay.
I'd like to stick it to them.
All right.
Okay.
Thank you.

Also recorded on January 22, 1973

  • 398-016 7:56 PM · 35 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 7:56 pm and 8:15 pm.
  • 036-060 8:03 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 8:03 pm to 8:05 pm.
  • 402-012 8:22 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
  • 402-013 8:22 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
  • 402-014 8:22 PM · 9 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 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
  • 402-015 8:22 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:22 pm and 8:47 pm.
  • 402-016 8:47 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:47 pm and 8:50 pm.
  • 402-017 8:47 PM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:47 pm and 8:50 pm.

All 64 conversations from January 22, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 036-061, January 22, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417194565). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/036-061 (accessed November 15, 2026).