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Conversation 037-154

TapeTape 37StartMonday, March 19, 1973 at 1:28 PMEndMonday, March 19, 1973 at 1:31 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.Recording deviceWhite House Telephone
AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discuss the administration's ongoing public relations strategy to manage the Watergate investigation. They coordinate efforts to brief columnists, emphasizing the administration's cooperation while specifically distinguishing the current situation from the Sherman Adams scandal. Nixon stresses the importance of clearly communicating that, unlike the Adams case, White House staff members are not currently formal targets of misconduct charges.

WatergatePublic relationsPress briefingsSherman Adams caseJohn W. Dean IIIAdministration cooperation
AudioNARA Description

On March 19, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 1:28 pm to 1:31 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 037-154 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 37-154

Date: March 19, 1973
Time: 1:28 pm-1:31 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 420-17]

       Watergate
             -Ziegler's press briefing
             -Administration cooperation in investigation
                      -Columnists
                      -William L. White's column
             -Ziegler
             -John D. Ehrlichman
             -Kenneth W. Clawson
             -[First name unknown] Lindbaugh [sp?]
                      -Meetings with columnists
             -Compared to Sherman Adams case
                      -John W. Dean, III
                      -Nature of charges
                             -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                      -Hugh Scott's statement
Transcript (AI-Generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

Yes, sir.
Did you survive your briefing?
Oh, yes, no problem.
I hit the cooperative point and constitutional responsibility.
We have to hit that cooperation, I would say, too, with all of the comments and so forth and so on.
Right, yes, sir.
I was noticing Bill White's piece, who's normally very good at this, and he was thinking that we ought to get out of it.
or the indication of the cover-up thing bothers him and so forth and so on.
I don't know why that isn't across.
Zygmunt Ehrlichman has covered it, hasn't he?
Yes, sir, and we're hitting it at the briefings, and as I said, Clausen and Linebaugh are meeting with a columnist and moving that line.
Well, that's good.
Just so they do, and they hit it hard.
They will have a little problem.
They have some problem in distinguishing the Adams thing, I guess, but I don't know.
What line are you having them take just to try it?
with the colonists.
Well, first of all, they're not a parallel situation, certainly not with Dean.
Dean is the lawyer, and there's no charge about that.
That's right.
Beyond that, it's kind of a fuzz area, but the fact of the matter is that none of these, you know, what is wrongdoing and who is charge wrongdoing?
In the Adams case, it was very clearly, you know, the charge was against him in the Adams case.
That's right.
He was the central figure.
He was the defendant.
That's right.
In this case, the charge is not against him.
The question is, do they know something about the charge?
That's the way I think you have to handle it.
uh scott came out with a statement today which yeah which uh did all right he said that uh his appearance yesterday was basically bombast and uh that's great that's good so that was he's always good at that that was moving okay fine okay
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