Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 40 › Conversation 040-064

Nixon phone call with Haig on Energy Policy and William W. Scranton

Wednesday, June 13, 1973 · 11:22 AM–11:26 AM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation040-064 on Tape 40StartWednesday, June 13, 1973 at 11:22 AMEndWednesday, June 13, 1973 at 11:26 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 040-064 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig coordinate the upcoming announcement of William W. Scranton’s appointment to an energy position and the timing of a related presidential economic speech. They discuss the strategic staging of news to ensure maximum media impact, specifically aiming to hold the Scranton announcement for the Sunday papers while keeping the energy message for Saturday. Additionally, the pair reviews the logistics for that day's scheduled Cabinet and Bipartisan Congressional Leadership meetings.

Audio

Download MP3 · 6.5 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello?
Yes, Mr. Pyle.
Did you hear from Scranton yet?
He called DeBona and indicated that he was going to do it, but he still hasn't given me his final answer yet.
Well, the reason that I ask is that I'm going to put it in the speech that we're going to do it Saturday if he'll agree to do it.
See what I mean?
Right, sir.
I've announced it.
Do you see what I mean?
Are you going to announce his name?
No, no, no, no, no.
Oh, goodness, I wouldn't throw the story away.
No, but I meant that I'm going to send the...
I want to put in the speech they said I will soon send, the way I've got it now, I'm saying I will soon send a new energy message to the Congress.
I want to say that on Saturday he'll announce or, you know, or something like that.
Do you see what I mean?
Yes, sir.
I'd like to be able to know if he's going to go Saturday.
If he isn't going to go Saturday, well, it's important to know.
Right, sir.
Well...
He's promised me a call back.
He's done the check he said he was going to make with the boner and spoke as though he was going to do it.
Okay.
If I could wait about 30 minutes.
You not only can wait that, but because I can change this one line up until 4 o'clock when we've got to start running this thing off.
Right, sir.
Well, he assured me he'd have an answer.
I've just been working with Ray, and we've made a few changes, and I think it's got a good tone.
How do you feel?
Oh, I thought it was excellent.
I really did, and...
i think incidentally the more i look to scranton uh option here it's good it is good you got you know you got some staff people because they had problems with them that won't like this i don't care about that of course i mean scranton and the see scranton was all hung up on the war and on student riots and uh uh you know and uh you know
marijuana and a few other things but he'll do this well i think he's ideal and i don't care about the staff people get the man in here right he isn't gonna give the store away no and i think we're all lined up well for this afternoon the way uh uh for the cabinet meeting uh cabinet george for you to you would just say a few words and leave right sir and then leave uh
Then for the congressional bipartisanship at 5.30, it'll take a little longer because...
I'll have to stay through the whole thing.
That's right.
We'll hold it until no more than 30 minutes in any event.
We'll try.
That's all right.
Make it an hour.
They'll want to get out of there.
That's right.
And we've got all the briefings lined on and the handouts, and I think we're going to have a good platform for this tonight.
And we're working very intensely on the package to exploit that.
Yes, sir.
I think we're going to have a briefing and so forth.
That's right.
So we've got these two damn good things, and then we'll let them ride tomorrow, and I'm going to call in to Bryce, and I'm sure we can announce him tomorrow.
Yeah, we must announce him tomorrow.
I think we should in any event because we won't get Scranton or Toad by tomorrow.
That's right.
And I don't think we're ready on the message yet, are we?
On the... On the energy thing.
Well, it's almost ready.
Yeah.
It'd be better to do it Saturday.
Let's do it Saturday and not kill this story.
No, that's the reason.
See, the Bryce story is sort of a sidebar.
The Scranton thing is a big story and should be for Sunday papers.
Right, exactly.
All right.
All right.
Bye.

NARA Description

On June 13, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 11:22 am to 11:26 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 040-064 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 40-64

Date: June 13, 1973
Time: 11:22 am - 11:26 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 445-1C]

     Energy position
          -William W. Scranton
                -Telephone call to Charles J. DiBona
          -President’s speech on the economy
                -Energy message to Congress
          -Scranton
                -DiBona
          -President’s speech on the economy
                -Time to be duplicated
                -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
                -Tone
          -Scranton
                -Credentials
                      -Problems with staff
                            -Vietnam War
                            -Student riots
                            -Marijuana

     President’s schedule
           -Cabinet meeting
                 -Time
           -Bipartisan Congressional Leadership meeting
                 -Time
                                               -57-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                 -Length of meeting

     Press relations
           -Briefings
           -Henry A. Kissinger
           -Bryce N. Harlow’s appointment
                  -Telephone call from Haig
                  -Time
                  -Announcement
                        -Scranton
           -Energy message
                  -Timing
           -Harlow and Scranton

Also recorded on June 13, 1973

  • 040-065 11:26 AM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:26 am and 11:33 am.
  • 445-002 11:26 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:26 am and 11:33 am.
  • 445-003 11:33 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:33 am to 11:36 am.
  • 040-066 11:35 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 11:35 am to 11:36 am.
  • 040-067 11:36 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:36 am and 11:37 am.
  • 445-004 11:36 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:36 am and 11:37 am.
  • 040-068 11:37 AM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. talked on the telephone from 11:37 am to 11:38 am.
  • 445-005 11:37 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:37 am to 11:38 am.

All 95 conversations from June 13, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 040-064, June 13, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/040-064 (accessed October 9, 2026).