Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 36 › Conversation 036-079

Haldeman & Timmons on Vietnam settlement and Congressional relations

Tuesday, January 23, 1973 · 12:43 PM–1:01 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsHaldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Timmons, William E.Conversation036-079 on Tape 36StartTuesday, January 23, 1973 at 12:43 PMEndTuesday, January 23, 1973 at 1:01 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 036-079 ↗

AI Summary

H. R. Haldeman and William Timmons coordinate the guest list and scheduling for upcoming congressional leadership meetings regarding the Vietnam settlement and federal budget. They discuss the strategic inclusion of "wild card" members—lawmakers with specific interests in the legislation—while managing potential political friction caused by excluding formal leadership figures. The participants finalize the list of attendees and adjust the meeting schedule to accommodate the national mourning period for Lyndon B. Johnson and Henry Kissinger's subsequent press obligations.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
What about adding House and Senate finance, ways and means?
They have nothing to do with this.
Yeah, but it gets mills and... You can invite them as, well, God knows.
Well, they do.
You're going to have to put dough into it.
That's appropriations.
Well, it's appropriations dough, and it's armed services authorizations.
They just raise the money.
They don't...
I think it's kind of out of place, particularly if we're going to have them down here Friday...
On the other thing, I've got my list here.
The ones I had recommended as wild cards are Jackson McGee.
Oh, that's right.
Tower Goldwater, Stratton Wagoner, Devine and Kemp.
Stratton Wagoner.
Devine and Kemp.
Yeah.
We can get one.
Scoop Jackson, Gail McGee, and John Tower and Barry Goldwater.
Just a second now.
He says on the finance thing that you have a problem because they've got no involvement and we'll have them here Friday for the other thing which they are in.
They don't belong in this meeting unless there's some
some reason to do it.
On the wild cards, he had Jackson and McGee on the Democratic side, Tower and Goldwater on the Republican side from the Senate, and in the House, Stratton and Wagner on the other side, and Devine and Kemp from our side.
No.
Not in this leadership.
Now, would you rather have someone other than Kemp?
Kemp, okay.
Okay.
The difficulty with Devine, the difficulty with Devine, it came out of the people, the leaders, the public leaders that are not being invited.
Then they all wonder, like that nice little fellow from New York will wonder why he wasn't invited, why Kent was invited.
You got my point?
Yeah.
problem with Devine being a leader, then why don't you have the other leaders, like Conable and so on?
Is that a problem?
I think the president's right.
It would be a problem, except Sam has been so good with his bunch, his 80 conservatives, and that's why I had him.
Can we take someone else who's a non-leader from that group?
Yeah.
And explain that to Sam.
Yeah.
I'll put together two more names.
He says Kemp's okay.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Okay.
Must be non-leader.
He's got to get another non-leader on that side.
Now, bear in mind that John Tower is a wild card, and he's also a leader now as policy chairman.
Does that present a problem?
Tower may pose a problem because he's now policy chairman, so he's a leader.
Does that worry you on the Senate side?
do you think that poses a problem i don't think so he's so damn identified in this issue that's the thing as he says he's so identified on the issue and then in a way divine is too that really it's logical why they're there how much of a problem do you have with conable if you have divine we're getting no no no problem
No problem, I think.
You have Conable some other time as well.
Yeah.
I can explain that.
Barber's understandable.
More trouble.
And you're not having other leaders.
Conable isn't the only leader you're leaving out.
That's right.
Well, John Rhodes would probably have the biggest gripe.
Because you're leaving Rhodes out and Bob Wilson.
Ha, ha, ha.
Ha, ha, ha.
Okay.
Well, you want to confirm this later on?
I'll take them the way you got them.
Devine and Kemp?
Yeah.
Okay.
And that is now not 10 o'clock, but 8.30 tomorrow morning.
It has to be because of the Johnson business.
Henry's got to brief the press afterwards.
Now, do we still have the full Republican group tomorrow afternoon?
Yeah.
We do.
Just a minute.
Just to explain, that's the president's policy to invite to various leadership meetings people who have special interests in the subject under discussion, and that's the theory behind that.
We'll use different people at different times.
Right.
The GOP leaders will be Friday morning on the budget, not tomorrow afternoon.
Okay, Friday morning?
Friday morning at 8.30 GOP and 10.30 bipartisan.
Okay.
You need to make up the list on those for budget meetings.
Yep.
Okay.
Good-bye.
Go.
Bye.

NARA Description

On January 23, 1973, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:43 pm and 1:01 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 036-079 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 36-79

Date: January 23, 1973
Time: Unknown between 12:43 and 1:09 pm
Location: White House Telephone

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with William E. Timmons.

[This is the original beginning of Conversation No. 036-079, which has been merged with
Conversation No. 036-078.]

[See also Conversation No. 404-11J]

       The President’s schedule
            -Vietnam settlement announcement
                  -Congressional committees
                  -Wilbur D. Mills
                  -John G. Dow
            -Congressional leadership meeting
                  -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
                  -Gale W. McGee
                  -John C. Tower
                  -Barry M. Goldwater
                  -Samuel S. Stratton
                  -Joe D. Waggoner, Jr.
                  -Samuel L. Devine
                  -Jack F. Kemp
                                             -50-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                                  Conversation No. 36-79 (cont’d)

                  -Devine
                         -Barber B. Conable, Jr.
                  -Tower
                  -John J. Rhodes, Robert C. Wilson
             -Lyndon B. Johnson’s death
             -Henry A. Kissinger
                  -Press briefing
             -Budget meeting
                  -Republican leaders
                  -Schedule
                  -List of attendees

Also recorded on January 23, 1973

  • 404-010 12:15 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:15 pm to 1:35 pm.
  • 036-072 12:40 PM · 12 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:40 pm and 12:43 pm.
  • 036-073 12:40 PM · 17 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:40 pm and 12:43 pm.
  • 036-074 12:40 PM · 25 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:40 pm and 12:43 pm.
  • 036-075 12:43 PM · 23 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:43 pm and 1:01 pm.
  • 036-076 12:43 PM · 3 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:43 pm and 1:06 pm.
  • 036-077 12:43 PM · 17 sec — the White House operator and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:43 pm and 1:01 pm.
  • 036-078 12:43 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:43 pm and 1:01 pm.

All 94 conversations from January 23, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 036-079, January 23, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/036-079 (accessed October 23, 2026).