Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 37 › Conversation 037-027

Nixon phone call with Brennan on Press Conference Preparation and Watergate

Friday, March 2, 1973 · 9:24 AM–9:27 AM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Brennan, Peter J.Conversation037-027 on Tape 37StartFriday, March 2, 1973 at 9:24 AMEndFriday, March 2, 1973 at 9:27 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 037-027 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan coordinate preparations for an upcoming press conference by reviewing potential questions and developing strategic responses. They discuss handling sensitive political topics, including the monetary crisis, the Wounded Knee occupation, campaign fundraising controversies, and inquiries stemming from L. Patrick Gray’s ongoing FBI testimony regarding Watergate. The President decides to adopt a non-committal stance on active investigations, specifically regarding the Watergate and Gray hearings, to avoid prematurely addressing evolving controversies.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Yes, sir.
Any other stuff you want to...
I've got a memo here.
I'm just waiting for Ziegler to clear it on what we think are going to be the top ten based on this news.
Oh, yeah.
Sure, sure.
And we've got something on Khartoum.
Pretty well.
Guess that.
Right.
I'm going to talk to Henry about the Khartoum thing, so I'll get something on that.
I've got something here.
Oh, you have?
Yes, sir.
What about the...
I think we might get something on the dollar business that may not be covered here.
Monetary situation.
Right.
Why don't you ask Schultz, sir?
Okay.
Wait a minute.
I guess that's right.
Schultz would be the best one to ask as to what we ought to say, okay?
Okay, fine, sir.
And if we view the usual question, we have in there already that we're not going to value and so forth, but whether they, what they'd like to have said in the present context, you see what I mean?
Okay.
Because what they say may be able to help or hurt the situation as it turns out.
Okay.
And let's see, there's nothing particularly else, is there?
Maybe this, well, I've got a list of them.
You've got the date of the POW release, but we don't know.
Pat Gray stuff might come up.
Yeah, of course, of course.
Some of that.
I'm going to, I might ask you what you plan to do.
...replace your welfare program.
Yeah.
I think you've got that.
I've got some text in your own thing yesterday that can handle that.
Sure.
They might ask you about the wisdom and propriety of Stan soliciting a quarter of a million dollar campaign contribution from a firm which you knew at that time to be under investigation by the SEC.
I'd say, look, that matters will all be handled by the campaign committee.
Yeah.
You know, just throw that off.
That's good.
That's a good way to handle those.
They might ask you about what do you plan to do about the militant Indians at Wounded Knee.
The hostages have been released.
They're staying in Wounded Knee.
I just think they'll say, well, I have no comment on it at this time.
I don't think we should say anything about that.
Okay.
They might ask you about the, you know, something about the details of that Paris Agreement yesterday.
It was initialed in light of continuing ceasefires.
Yeah, well, there's nothing.
I think you might get that 5.5 guideline.
Yeah, I think so, too.
You've got something on that.
Yeah, I got that.
Now, they might ask you about the 30 governors who are now openly skeptical or in opposition to special revenue sharing.
What kind of chances does special revenue sharing really have now?
You might get a light one on Martha Mitchell's comment on Joe Ruckelshaus on the White House staff.
I didn't see that, what you said.
Oh, yeah, Martha, she said... Jill Ruckelshaus?
Yeah, she resented like hell this woman's libber on the White House staff.
It was a front-page story.
Who is it?
Jill Ruckelshaus.
She related to the other Ruckelshaus?
Oh, yeah, she's Bill Ruckelshaus' wife.
Was she a woman's lib?
Oh, yeah.
She's known as the Gloria Steinem of the Republican Party.
Gloria Steinem of the Republican Party.
Good God.
Martha didn't like it at all.
She blasted her right.
Let's see, the last one is, oh, the results of my air visit.
They'll probably ask that.
Now, the only one I see that's a bit of a problem is some of these questions coming out of Gray's testimony.
There's an awful lot of detail-specific stuff in there.
Well, they're going to say now, what do you think of the propriety of the FBI not interrogating Martha Mitchell simply because her husband...
out of deference to her husband.
I think we just should say I'm not going to comment on it while the hearings are in process.
Yeah, not going to comment on these... About while these hearings are in process, I'm not going to comment on it.
Yeah, right on the stuff.
I think I'll just let them all go that way.
I think that would be a good thing on this whole Watergate gray mess.
Yeah, you could say while the hearings are in process, I'm not going to comment.
Right, right.
Okay, Pat.
Okay, I'll get that stuff back.
The one thing you could check is the dollar thing, what else they want, if anything's said, okay?
Yes, sir.
All right, well...

NARA Description

On March 2, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Peter J. Brennan talked on the telephone from 9:24 am to 9:27 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 037-027 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 37-27

Date: March 2, 1973
Time: 9:24 am-9:27 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Patrick J. Buchanan.

[See Conversation No. 414-9]

       Preparation for President's press conference
              -Memorandum for President
                      -Ronald L. Ziegler
              -Khartoum
                      -Henry A. Kissinger
              -Monetary situation
                      -George P. Shultz
                      -Devaluation
              -Prisoners of War [POWs]
                                         - 18 -

                         NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

            -L. Patrick Gray, III
            -Welfare
            -Maurice H. Stans's fundraising
                    -Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] investigation
                    -Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
            -Indians at Wounded Knee
                    -Hostage release
                    -President’s position
            -Vietnam settlement
                    -Pan’s agreement
                             -Cease-fire
            -Wage and price controls
                    -5.5 percent wage guideline
            -Revenue sharing
                    -Governors' support
            -Martha Beall Mitchell
                    -Jill E. Ruckelshaus
                             -Women's liberation
                             -William D. Ruckelshaus
                             -“Gloria Steinem of the Republican Party”
            -Golda Meir's visit
            -Gray's testimony
                    -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
                    -Martha Mitchell
                             -John N. Mitchell
            -Watergate
                    -President’s position
            -Monetary situation
                    -Dollar

Also recorded on March 2, 1973

  • 414-009 9:24 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Peter J. Brennan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:24 am to 9:27 am.
  • 414-010 9:24 AM · 18 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 9:24 am and 9:27 am.
  • 414-011 9:24 AM · 12 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 9:24 am and 9:27 am.
  • 037-028 9:27 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:27 am and 9:31 am.
  • 037-029 9:31 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Kenneth R. Cole, Jr. talked on the telephone from 9:31 am to 9:38 am.
  • 414-012 9:31 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Kenneth R. Cole, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:31 am to 9:38 am.
  • 414-013 9:40 AM · 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:40 am to 10:25 am.
  • 414-014 10:25 AM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:25 am and 11:00 am.

All 58 conversations from March 2, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 037-027, March 2, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/037-027 (accessed October 24, 2026).