Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 40 › Conversation 040-024
Nixon, Harlow & Haig on White House staffing and Melvin R. Laird
Tuesday, June 12, 1973 · 9:19 AM–9:25 AM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min
AI Summary
President Nixon consults with Bryce N. Harlow to finalize his return to the White House staff in a senior advisory role. Nixon clarifies that he expects Harlow to serve as a key political strategist and confidant alongside Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and Melvin R. Laird, rather than merely focusing on congressional relations. The conversation concludes with an agreement for Harlow to begin his tenure on July 2, 1973, with a formal announcement scheduled for the following Saturday.
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Hello.
Well, good morning.
How are you, Bryce?
I'm fine, sir.
I'm very flattered you called me.
Now, that's why you're the old smoothie.
No, I mean...
I talked to Al yesterday, and I want to say two things.
One, that I'm just delighted that you're willing to do this.
And second, that I will call Howard... What's his name last name?
His name is Morgans.
Howard Morgans, yeah.
I know, and I've met him before.
He's sort of the round-faced fellow.
That's right.
Right, and about six foot tall.
Oh, about five, ten.
Well, he looks six foot to me.
I've shrunk.
Oh, no, you haven't.
No, I mean in my old age.
I know.
But in any event, what should I say to him?
I'm going to call him today in about an hour.
Well, I would say to him that you and I have talked.
Right.
And that you are very grateful to him.
Right.
Very grateful that he is.
and been willing to have anything available for your administration.
That's right.
And you wouldn't ask it except that I'm needed at this time.
That's right.
And that you think that I discussed that with him, you understand that.
Right.
You understand that you're sorry that it's necessary, but it is.
It's in the interest of the country.
And you just wanted to express your appreciation to him directly and personally.
Good.
Now, I don't know what Alan told you.
I wanted to have a chat with you.
Yeah, you told me, but I don't want to talk about that because I went over the whole thing.
Bryce, I've got a plate for you that you're going to love.
I mean, that we need, you know what I mean?
The idea that Al told me that you thought that because of Mel that the situation had changed.
As a matter of fact, it hasn't changed at all.
Because I have in mind, for Mel...
the domestic stuff and so forth.
I don't have in mind for you just being a congressional errand boy.
I want you to be the political man in this place.
You know what I mean?
The political man and then also the advisor on substance.
You know, on the basis of you and Mel and Al and I sort of sit down and hack these things around.
And that is what we need.
We just need your wisdom.
And not to pull your leg, you pull mine.
I'll pull yours a little.
You see what I mean?
Well, I just didn't want to come in there unless you really personally thought it was imperative.
No, it is imperative.
And then you see, you would, frankly, you'd be the man to talk to Bush.
You'd be the man to talk to Agnew.
And there would be some others that I might want you to do, like maybe Rocky Rake and so forth.
There are just so many plays that shouldn't be made, certainly by Al, and probably not by Mel, due to the fact that, you know, do you know the reasons?
Oh, yes.
I mean, it has to be somebody that is known to be very, very close to me on a very personal basis.
Well, Mr. President, if you feel like you really genuinely need me, you have me.
You know that.
Great.
Now, as a matter of fact, I'd like to have it announced Saturday, if that's all right with you.
Well, yes, that's all right.
And I told Al that I planned to leave this week to get a break.
Good.
And I'd be coming in, I guess, on Monday, the 2nd of July.
Good.
Well, when you come in, good.
That's great.
That's great.
And just right, because we will have finished the brush nut business by that time.
It's by Scoop Jackson's suggestion we postpone it.
Boy, these guys are getting pretty partisan, aren't they?
Good gosh.
Yes, and they'll get more so.
It's their business.
Well, we're going to beat them, though.
What a pity we didn't control the Congress.
I know, I know, I know.
It's amazing that we've had to do it for two times.
But as you were saying the other night, and I know when things were a little lower than they were today, you know, you've got to be like steel or whatever.
What was your term?
Yeah.
No.
Listen, boy, you ought to hear what I go through at night.
Well, I guess no president has been through anything like this, though, have they?
On a sustained basis.
No, not on a sustained basis.
Because they've never had the media, you know.
They haven't had this amount of media.
But I'm not complaining.
I'm not complaining.
understanding, from personal experience, as to why all this crap goes on.
I suppose.
And to give it perspective.
Yeah.
And you just grin at it and say, well, all right, if the table's reversed, I'll be doing the same goddamn thing to you guys.
Yeah.
And, of course, we're going to do this.
I would, I would, but I didn't do it.
When I look back at what I did in the Hiss case and the 5% case, I was on the fringes of that one.
Heck, I was a panty waste.
Oh, I know.
Well... Good heavens, I didn't come up for the impeachment of Truman.
And I recollect, I argued with you at the time, remember, we, in the 68th campaign, so carefully eschewed foreign policy and...
So nice to lend it.
I know.
And then he unloaded that damn bum and hauled on you.
I know.
Do you remember when we talked in the front of the plane about that Bryce?
Oh, do I?
Come in.
Come in, Al.
I'm just talking to Bryce.
And we saw him deliberately try to screw you.
Apparently, we made the sale to Bryce, Al.
He says you made it, though.
But I'm taking the credit, just so I call him a softie.
That's right.
If you hadn't talked to me, I wouldn't have come.
I mean it.
Well, anyway, anyway, this is it.
But don't expect to be on board until the second, if that's all right.
Is that all right, Al?
Take your vacation.
You get it.
But when we... Incidentally, one thing I want you to know that we're going to work out, we're going to plan.
I told Al that when I go to Key Biscayne or Camp David, you and Mel and Al and I will all go together.
In other words, I may not see you, but that's the way you can get a little time off.
You know?
That's fine.
Fine.
You've got to have a little...
I don't need whatever you're telling me to do.
You've got to have the little goodies out of this thing, Al.
I mean... Well... All right.
The goodies will be given you.
Right.
All right.
God bless you, and thank you.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On June 12, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Bryce N. Harlow, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 9:19 am to 9:25 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 040-024 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 40-24
Date: June 12, 1973
Time: 9:19 am - 9:25 am
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Bryce Harlow.
[See also Conversation No. 937-5A]
President’s conversation with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
-Harlow’s joining of the White House staff
President’s telephone call to Howard J. Morgan
-Morgan described
-Physical attributes
-Harlow’s advice to the President regarding Morgan
-Harlow’s forthcoming role on White House staff
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Harlow
-Conversation with Haig
-Role on White House staff
-Melvin R. Laird’s role
-Domestic policy
-Congressional relations
-Advisor to President
-Politics
-Haig’s role
-George H. W. Bush
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Nelson A. Rockefeller, Ronald W. Reagan
-Haig and Laird’s roles
-Relationship with President
-Announcement
-Date
-Schedule
-Haig
-Beginning date
Watergate
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson’s statement concerning Brezhnev’s forthcoming visit
-Partisan reaction
-President’s response
-Congress
-President’s handling
-Press relations
-Compared to Alger Hiss case and Five Percenters
-Impeachment of Harry S. Truman
-1968 campaign
-Lyndon B. Johnson’s bombing halt
-President’s reaction
The President conferred with Haig.
[Begin conferral]
Harlow
-Role on White House staff
-Haig’s role
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
-President’s telephone call
-Beginning date
-Vacation
[End conferral]
Harlow
-Visits to Key Biscayne and Camp David with Haig, Laird, and PresidentAlso recorded on June 12, 1973
- 937-002 8:35 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:35 am and 8:44 am.
- 040-022 8:44 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 8:44 am to 8:46 am.
- 937-003 8:44 AM · 1 hr 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:44 am to 9:18 am.
- 040-023 9:18 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:18 am.
- 937-004 9:18 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 9:18 am.
- 937-005 9:19 AM · 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Bryce N. Harlow, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:19 am and 10:00 am.
- 937-006 10:00 AM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:00 am and 10:03 am.
- 937-007 10:00 AM · 10 sec — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:00 am and 10:03 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 040-024, 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/040-024 (accessed October 12, 2026).