Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 40 › Conversation 040-017

Nixon phone call with Rebozo on Howard Hughes contribution and Kenneth Gemmill

Monday, June 11, 1973 · 8:56 PM–9:00 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsWhite House operator; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rebozo, Charles G. ("Bebe")Conversation040-017 on Tape 40StartMonday, June 11, 1973 at 8:56 PMEndMonday, June 11, 1973 at 9:00 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 040-017 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon calls his close friend Charles "Bebe" Rebozo to receive an update on the recruitment of Kenneth Gemmill to manage a sensitive financial issue, specifically regarding a Howard Hughes campaign contribution. Rebozo expresses high confidence in Gemmill’s ability to resolve the matter discreetly and confirms that he has facilitated a meeting between Gemmill and Jesse Calhoun to finalize the process. The two agree that Gemmill’s legal expertise and approach will ensure the situation is handled effectively and without public attention.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Mr. President?
Yeah.
I'm ready with Mr. Rebozo.
Oh, fine.
And Mr. Bazzard is en route to the residence.
Fine, he can call.
Fine.
All right.
Ready.
Hello?
Hello, Mr. President.
You with our friend?
Yes, sir.
Where are you?
I'm up at Tupper Lake.
Oh, good.
A place up here in northern New York.
Good.
But I want to tell you that...
uh that fellow was great well i i was not where i could talk to you before yeah and i could see you weren't but uh i'm on a white house secure line and so forth and uh give me a little quick rundown he was a he was an assistant secretary of the treasury of eisenhower i see and he was also a chief counsel right and he had one case sometime back somewhere to it without any uh
What does he advise?
I have arranged, just got through a few minutes ago, to my friend out west to track him down in Ohio.
And he's coming over tomorrow and meet with him.
I gave him the phone numbers and everything else.
And I will touch base again later on at night or in the morning and see if...
with him and get all of that side of it.
Right.
But he, I want to tell you, I don't think we could have anybody better.
He's a power of strength, and he's a bright fellow.
He understands the whole damn thing.
The whole damn thing, yeah, the whole thing.
He thinks it can be handled?
Actually, the advice he gave was identical to Bill's.
Get it back.
Yep, yep.
But he also went a step farther in about...
Suppose that Calhoun won't take it.
Calhoun's got to.
We've almost got to.
Huh?
I talked to Calhoun tonight, a little while ago.
Right.
I didn't tell him what I was going to do, but I got him to see this fellow tomorrow.
I gave him his home phone number.
He's going to be calling him tonight.
Right.
And he's up in Dayton.
It's High Lauder's golf tour.
Oh, yeah.
So he's got to play tomorrow, and then he'll go on over tomorrow afternoon.
And I'll know either tonight or the first thing in the morning whether I should meet them again or not.
But I'm so pleased.
I can't tell you how pleased I am that I came up.
I'm impressed I am.
Right.
Suppose the guy won't take it, then what's the other?
Oh, he will?
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
There's no problem there.
What we want to do is be sure that it's clearly identified in the appropriate fashion.
He understood all that, yeah.
Oh, I should say he didn't completely agree.
Yes, sir.
He doesn't think... Then what happens?
Does he go down and see the IRS people?
He's going to work it out without any fanfare.
Right.
Yes, sir.
Good.
Yes, sir.
No, no, I tell you, this fella, you'd be very impressed with him.
Right.
He's got four children.
He used to live near you when you were VP, and he has been places where his wife apparently resembles Pat a little bit.
Oh, good.
And he feels very close to her, very proud.
We got a good man there.
Yes, sir.
Couldn't be better.
No, I really, I wouldn't have missed that trip for anything.
But I hope you'll forgive me for not coming back, but I wanted to come up here.
No, no, no, but the main thing is he can handle the situation.
Exactly, exactly.
And I wanted to tie up a couple of loose ends with respect to her and so on and our other arrangement.
That's why I wanted to come on up here.
Good.
Yes, sir.
Okay.
Good shape.
Good.
Give Bob my best.
All right, sir.

NARA Description

On June 11, 1973, White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 8:56 pm to 9:00 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 040-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 40-17

Date: June 11, 1973
Time: 8:56 pm and 9:00 pm
                                             -15-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Location: White House Telephone

The White House operator talked with the President.

[The following portion of this conversation was gathered by the Watergate Special Prosecution
Force (WSPF), but the WSPF did not prepare a corresponding transcript. Please refer to the
logging below.]

[Begin WSPF portion]

     President’s call to Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo.
           -Fred J. Buzhardt’s location

The President talked with Rebozo between 8:56 pm and 9:00 pm.

     Rebozo’s location
          -Tupper Lake, New York

     Kenneth Wilfred Gemmill
          -Meeting with Rebozo
          -Experience in Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration
                -Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
                -Chief Counsel
                -Advisement to Rebozo
          -Meeting with Rebozo’s Western friend
          -Location
                -Ohio
          -Rebozo’s confidence in Gemmill
          -Advice concerning Howard Hughes contribution
                -Gemmill
          -Forthcoming meeting with Jesse Calhoun
                -Talk with Rebozo
                -Calhoun’s location
                      -Dayton, Ohio
                            -Cy Lauder’s Golf Tournament [?]
          -Meeting with Rebozo
          -Meeting with Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
                -Family
                      -Mrs. Gemmill’s resemblance to Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
          -Ability
                                              -16-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

     Herb [Kalmbach ?]

     President’s greeting to Robert H. Abplanalp

[End WSPF portion]

Also recorded on June 12, 1973

  • 040-014 8:40 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:40 pm to 8:44 pm.
  • 040-015 8:44 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:44 pm and 8:50 pm.
  • 040-016 8:50 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at 8:50 pm.
  • 040-018 9:00 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:00 pm and 9:05 pm.
  • 040-019 9:05 PM · 19 sec — White House operator and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at 9:05 pm.
  • 040-020 9:07 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. talked on the telephone from 9:07 pm to 9:23 pm.
  • 040-021 8:30 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:30 am and 8:44 am.
  • 937-001 8:30 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:30 am to 8:35 am.

All 70 conversations from June 12, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 040-017, June 12, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/040-017 (accessed October 12, 2026).