Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 039-079
Date: Monday, June 4, 1973 at 9:39 PM
Participants: White House operator; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/039-079

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello.
[0:01] I have General Haig calling, sir.
[0:03] Okay.
[0:05] There you are.
[0:05] Hello.
[0:06] Mr. President?
[0:07] Hi.
[0:07] How are you, sir?
[0:08] Fine, fine.
[0:09] I just got finished with our friend.
[0:11] Yeah.
[0:12] And he's all locked.
[0:13] Great.
[0:14] Great.
[0:14] So we, uh...
[0:15] Marvelous.
[0:16] Great accomplishment.
[0:17] Well, I think we're in good shape.
[0:20] I've just spent nine hours in this crap, and boy, I've got to go to bed.
[0:23] I bet you do.
[0:24] God, that's...
[0:25] But it's, uh, you know...
[0:26] the whole damn Dean thing is a fraud.
[0:28] That's what I thought.
[0:30] I didn't realize it, but it's a damn fraud.
[0:32] The more we looked, the more sure we were that it was just that.
[0:36] They didn't find it in the files, but I've listened to stuff.
[0:40] But looking back, I can see where he may have been involved, but he wasn't involved.
[0:45] Well, that's just— I've listened to this stuff until I'm sick.
[0:49] I've missed four telephone calls, two from Camp David and two from Florida, that we don't have recorded, but they can't be that important.
[0:56] No, impossible.
[0:58] So I thought you'd be— You'd have to have a thread.
[1:00] Yeah, that's right.
[1:02] No, no, no.
[1:02] But tell me how the Laird thing went, Al.
[1:04] Well, it just went great, sir.
[1:06] Where'd you see him?
[1:07] Out at his house.
[1:09] Great.
[1:09] Went out with Bryce and—
[1:11] And, uh, Bazzard and—and Baruti.
[1:14] Good!
[1:15] And both Bazzard and Baruti had set the mill up today.
[1:19] And, fortuitously, just before I went out, I had raised to have John Connolly come in.
[1:28] Great.
[1:29] And Baruti saw Connolly come in my office.
[1:31] Great.
[1:32] And as soon as we got to the house, he took Mel aside, and they were gone for a long break.
[1:38] When he came back, he was ready to go.
[1:43] Was he willing to announce on Wednesday?
[1:46] Yes, sir.
[1:47] Marvelous.
[1:48] Yes, sir.
[1:48] And he'll be there, too.
[1:49] He's got to be there.
[1:50] He should take a few questions.
[1:52] Well, he can be there.
[1:53] We discussed that.
[1:54] Maybe he shouldn't have.
[1:56] Well, we thought maybe just say he's on part-time until the 15th of June.
[2:00] He's got some personal things.
[2:01] Oh, sure.
[2:02] The main thing is to announce he's going to be with us.
[2:04] That's right.
[2:05] That's right.
[2:07] He had a tremendous thing.
[2:08] And he's going to start working on the Hill right away.
[2:10] He's going to be the vice president tonight.
[2:12] Great.
[2:13] Tell him he's going to be with us.
[2:15] You're going to tell the vice president.
[2:16] Great.
[2:16] Great, great.
[2:17] Worked out how he'd handle it.
[2:18] How does he feel about it?
[2:19] Is he in good spirit?
[2:20] He's personally enthusiastic.
[2:22] He's still leery about how to break it to his wife.
[2:25] Oh, well, the hell, you can shoot her.
[2:27] You know, he said, I've still got to work this out.
[2:29] That's right.
[2:29] On board.
[2:30] No question about it.
[2:32] Well, I'll tell you, after our bang of yesterday and my concern this morning, my gut, we're in business.
[2:38] When I went over the menu with Mel and Bryce of things we've got in the cooker, Bryce said, he said, this is the best thing I've ever heard.
[2:48] You mean like the Vietnam thing?
[2:50] Yeah, the energy, the economic announcement of our FBI guy.
[2:59] Right.
[2:59] That's got to be Saturday, isn't it?
[3:01] Yes, sir.
[3:02] Now we can do that on Saturday.
[3:04] And I interviewed two Bureau guys today.
[3:06] They left here just riding high just to be considered.
[3:09] Right, right.
[3:10] They aren't going to get it.
[3:11] No, but they're all up.
[3:14] Well, Al, you've done a great job on this, believe me.
[3:17] And getting Mel is going to be a ten strike.
[3:20] It'll get a hell of a load off of you.
[3:21] When you get Mel and Bryce in there, the three of you will be a—you'll run the shop.
[3:25] You're the chief of staff.
[3:26] And let these other guys go out and, you know, kiss the ass of the people you don't have to kiss, you know?
[3:31] We've got it now, sir.
[3:32] You think so?
[3:33] Yes, sir.
[3:34] Bryce, feel pleased?
[3:35] Delighted.
[3:38] He's really delighted.
[3:39] He's just— I'll see his bosses, you know.
[3:41] I mean, I'm going to do it.
[3:42] Oh, well, that's—
[3:43] I think you have to do it.
[3:46] Now, I talked to John because— John Connolly?
[3:49] Yes.
[3:50] I didn't want to—this was just spring on.
[3:52] Did you tell him about Mel?
[3:53] What did he think?
[3:56] He said he had mixed emotions on it.
[3:59] Mixed?
[3:59] Yes.
[4:00] He said if the president is going to deal with him closely and intimately and has confidence in him, then I'm for it.
[4:09] Well, that's what we're going to do.
[4:11] Right.
[4:11] He said, but I thought maybe there was an estrangement there.
[4:15] Oh, no, no.
[4:15] There's an estrangement only when he's in the cabinet, not when he's in the White House.
[4:18] Right, and I said that we had a hell of a talk Saturday, and he said, well, he's going to leave, and he's going to announce that he's done his work.
[4:26] And I said, well, wait until we do this announcement so that you can indicate that you were part of the new organization.
[4:34] Well, if he could just indicate that he was going to leave and still consult with us on energy.
[4:38] Exactly.
[4:39] He must say that.
[4:40] Yes.
[4:40] Well, I work with him tomorrow.
[4:42] In fact, I'm going to call him.
[4:43] Because he must not say that he's leaving us.
[4:47] But he must not because you say, look, John, we've got to have you on Savo for something much bigger later.
[4:53] Well, I did.
[4:54] That's what I told him.
[4:55] I said, I hope you know.
[4:57] And he was a little upset because you hadn't talked to him.
[5:00] No.
[5:01] And I said, John, you've got to understand something.
[5:03] I said, first, the president has only one view of you.
[5:07] And that is not in a role in this White House.
[5:11] A cabinet role would be, well, as you know, he's got thoughts for you, and I'm sure you know what they are.
[5:23] And that sort of perked him up specifically, what I was saying.
[5:28] And I said, nobody is held in higher regard that I know of than you.
[5:32] He's a little upset, so I— He is upset because I haven't seen him.
[5:36] Well, I know.
[5:36] I missed him last time he was going to help.
[5:39] That's right.
[5:39] But that's his problem.
[5:40] He's so goddamn sensitive about this.
[5:42] Very, very.
[5:43] So I'm going to call him tonight and tell him where it is coming on.
[5:48] Yeah, but tell him that I think that his staying on as a consultant to the president in international affairs, you know, is very important because tell him that, frankly, we have in mind something around the first of the year.
[6:02] That's right.
[6:03] Now, you ought to know this, too.
[6:08] We had a lawyer called Henry last night and asked him what he should do.
[6:16] He said, Henry, I'll
[6:20] consider coming on board if you're going to be around for at least a year.
[6:24] Henry said he wasn't, though.
[6:25] No, and Henry told me he told him he wasn't.
[6:29] But Laird said what he said was, Mel, if you're coming, you can count on me.
[6:36] Look, Henry hasn't got any choice.
[6:39] Christ, he goes back to Harvard, he's nothing.
[6:42] I'm sorry about Connolly, though.
[6:44] I knew he would be out of sorts, but he just takes more time than I can give him right now.
[6:49] I told him that you were just working day and night on this goddamn case.
[6:52] That's right.
[6:53] And you really had to.
[6:54] We're being forced into it.
[6:57] All right.
[6:57] I think he felt much better.
[7:00] The main point is that he is the man we have in mind for the big job.
[7:05] That's right.
[7:06] That's right.
[7:07] At the proper time.
[7:07] He knows that.
[7:08] All right.
[7:09] And that's all he really— Of course.
[7:12] But the main thing is that I don't want him to travel abroad.
[7:15] See, he used to travel as my representative.
[7:17] Now, Henry doesn't want that, but I do.
[7:19] There's no problem.
[7:20] I mean, about a conflict of interest and all that crap, he can travel abroad to check with that.
[7:26] You see what I mean?
[7:26] Absolutely.
[7:28] Absolutely.
[7:28] That'll build up his law business, too.
[7:30] Yeah.
[7:30] Well, no, I think he's fine, yeah.
[7:33] It was bad.
[7:35] I intensely kept him at arm's length.
[7:37] Yeah.
[7:37] Of this—
[7:38] And I knew he'd look at that as a little bit of a threat.
[7:42] And he did, but we're all right.
[7:46] But he was afraid I wouldn't be close enough to Mel.
[7:49] Good God, I mean, I wouldn't bring Mel aboard.
[7:51] That's not it.
[7:52] What is it?
[7:53] He's concerned about Mel coming at all?
[7:55] That's right.
[7:56] He sees him as a threat.
[7:58] Yeah, well, he knows damn well that I know what Connolly is, you know.
[8:03] What the hell?
[8:03] Well, I told him, I said, anybody that the president brings in here—
[8:07] Someone that is not eligible for the other.
[8:09] That's right.
[8:10] Absolutely.
[8:11] Absolutely.
[8:13] That's great, Al.
[8:14] We have 8.30 meeting?
[8:16] Yes, sir.
[8:17] All right.
[8:18] Well, I'll tell you, I've been through the damnedest experience today.
[8:21] Eight hours of listening to these damn tapes and telephone calls.
[8:24] We don't have some.
[8:26] I made two from Key Biscayne on the 23rd, and I made one from Camp David that we don't have recorded, but the hell with them.
[8:33] If they are heading in, I'm the hell with them.
[8:36] I'll tell you, there's nothing in these calls.
[8:39] You see, it couldn't possibly happen.
[8:40] It could.
[8:41] It could.
[8:42] It could on the 23rd, perhaps, after the 21st.
[8:45] But after that, I was investigating.
[8:49] And he couldn't have anything in either.
[8:50] That's right.
[8:51] Other than his words.
[8:52] But, my God, you know, we've really gone through it.
[8:55] I think it was well worth it.
[8:56] Yeah, and bizarre, too.
[8:57] It was well worth it.
[8:58] He felt better, wasn't he?
[8:59] Oh, God, he's totally confident.
[9:00] You know, what's happened?
[9:02] Cox is in a running dogfight with Irwin today.
[9:06] Oh, great.
[9:06] He gave him an ultimatum today.
[9:08] Isn't that great?
[9:09] But what Bizarre said he's doing, he's posturing himself to quit.
[9:13] He's going to resign.
[9:15] Oh, boy.
[9:16] There won't be any trials.
[9:18] No, they put in.
[9:22] Okay, we got Richardson confirmed, so we just let Peterson do it.
[9:25] That's right.
[9:25] Okay.
[9:26] All right.
[9:26] Bye.
[9:27] See you tomorrow, 8.30.
[9:28] Right.