Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 37 › Conversation 037-154

Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Watergate and Public relations

Monday, March 19, 1973 · 1:28 PM–1:31 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation037-154 on Tape 37StartMonday, March 19, 1973 at 1:28 PMEndMonday, March 19, 1973 at 1:31 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 037-154 ↗

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.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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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

NARA 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

Also recorded on March 19, 1973

  • 037-153 12:35 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:35 pm and 1:28 pm.
  • 420-012 12:35 PM · 10 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 12:35 pm and 1:28 pm.
  • 420-013 12:35 PM · 10 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 12:35 pm and 1:28 pm.
  • 420-014 12:35 PM · 10 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 12:35 pm and 1:28 pm.
  • 420-017 1:28 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:28 pm to 1:31 pm.
  • 420-018 1:38 PM · 1 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 1:38 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 420-019 1:38 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:38 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 420-025 1:38 PM · 45 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 1:38 pm and 2:37 pm.

All 31 conversations from March 19, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 037-154, March 19, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/037-154 (accessed October 12, 2026).