Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 42 › Conversation 042-054

Nixon phone call with Colson on Congressional relations and Vietnam War

Friday, April 16, 1971 · 11:06 AM–11:12 AM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation042-054 on Tape 42 (tape position 00:59:40–01:04:36)StartFriday, April 16, 1971 at 11:06 AMEndFriday, April 16, 1971 at 11:12 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 042-054 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies for securing congressional support for the administration's policies, specifically focusing on neutralizing opposition to the Vietnam War and the China initiative. They review the loyalties of Republican senators like Edward Brooke and William Saxbe, noting that these members' public support is effectively confusing and stalling liberal critics. Furthermore, they discuss the political utility of forthcoming poll data and the potential for anti-war protests to inadvertently strengthen the administration's core coalition.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Good morning.
Hello.
Good morning, sir.
How's the battle going on with your senators and congressmen?
Well, I think I'm a little encouraged about it.
Frankly, I talked to Ed Brook.
Did you get my memo on that?
No, I haven't.
I won't get it until tomorrow.
Right.
I sent you in a memo saying that I talked to Ed and he agreed.
I put it to him very cautiously.
That's right.
Because I said there are no promises, no secrets, no commitments.
But will you give us 30 days?
And he said, and then committed me with the president.
He said, yes, I will.
He then bowed out of yesterday's debate.
As you may have noticed in the news summary, he was supposed to have joined Harrison.
He was supposed to have joined Case and Mathias, but he refused to.
In fact, he took a line of, don't you think the President wants to get us out just as much as anybody else, which was helpful.
In other words, Saxby's line is good, too, I noticed that.
Saxby is marvelous.
I think what is, go ahead, McGregor.
Well, McGregor talked to Saxby and said, you know, good work, Bill.
And he said, you haven't heard anything yet.
He said, I'm getting a little tired.
pissed off at these Democrats, and he said, you haven't heard anything.
I'm coming around to you.
So I think it's healthy, Mr. President.
I really do.
I think that Brooks' attitude was just superb.
He said he's making speeches about you, and he is answering questions to everybody that he'll have no part of McCloskey's effort, that he's a Nixon supporter for 72.
But the McCloskey thing is just, the best thing is to say nothing about it.
It's kind of a joke, you know, and it's a
It'll go.
Well, of course, the more people like Milliken and who this week denounced McCloskey and Regal, the more liberals that do this.
Did Milliken denounce him?
Yes, sir.
And announced he was for you.
As we're able to develop a little more of this, I think it kind of stiffens our... Well, I think that the thing right now is that as the House gets back and as your Senate...
people, too, that I'd get Saxby and get a rather unusual combination, get some of them to get up there and start slamming these guys.
And like they did, you know, Scott ought to start back on.
See, the China thing, of course, really sends the liberals right up the wall.
I don't know what to do with that.
No, they don't.
Because they couldn't pull it for 20 years, so what the hell are they?
They're really in a bind on that.
Ed also, Brooke also made the speech that you asked me to have him make.
It was a marvelous two-page speech on China praising you.
So you're absolutely right.
That's got them very confused.
But I think we'll start early next week getting the sex piece.
Well, you've got to get your little hard core of first all-out people, and then you add to that.
the people that want to join from time to time, just like the Brooke and the Saxby when you get them on certain issues, and that'll just confuse the hell out of them.
I detect that there's a lot of... Look, they're worried now.
You see the March 7th, the April 7th speech held the line so firmly and cooled them that they're already...
I detect a change in attitude, Mr. President.
I think there was a little bit of...
uh panic in the ranks if you will a month ago oh there was a lot of panic and i think you've hardened that and i think that if we can just keep a few of these fellas from going over to the other side like if we can keep saxby's and brooks and that kind
It's going to have a hell of a psychological effect because those fellows even more than the Hawks.
The Hawks seem to have calmed down now, haven't they, since the Kelly thing?
Oh, yes.
Yes.
They're fine.
They're back on board.
We have no problem with that.
The demonstrations are going to help us there because, particularly since Agnes is allowing them to do it up the Capitol, that's good.
Just let those people up there see those people, right?
And if the Vietnam veterans...
put on their show this week, it's just going to make the hardhats and the rest of our coalition, it's just going to stiffen their back.
I hope they put on a little show.
I think it's important that our people get that reinforcement.
What about your friend Harris?
He'll have his poll results for me over the weekend.
They were completed last weekend.
I talked to him yesterday.
He's doing a... And you gave him our results.
Oh, yes.
Let's keep cracking that in there.
I sent the full thing up to him.
Good.
He promised to call me over the weekend as soon as the raw data is in.
That's all right.
I'll have a feel.
Just keep him a little jumping.
Oh, yes.
Because our stuff is...
Just keep our stuff moving, too.
That is, we're going to let a little more go on Sunday, I think.
This weekend, right?
Sure.
Why not?
That'll be up in the hands of all the congressmen and senators as well.
Right, right.
Okay, fine.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.

NARA Description

On April 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 11:06 am to 11:12 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 042-054 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 42-54

Date: April 16, 1971
Time: 11:06 am - 11:12 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 250-7]

     Colson's conversation with Edward W. Brooke
          -Memo to President
          -Debate in Senate
          -Clifford P. Case
          -Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.
          -Brooke
                -Support for President
          -William B. Saxbe

     Clark MacGregor's conversation with Saxbe
          -Democrats

     Brooke
         -Paul N. (“Pete”) McCloskey, Jr.

     McCloskey
         -William G. Milliken
         -Donald W. Riegle, Jr.
         -Saxbe
         -Hugh Scott

     President's People's Republic of China [PRC] initiative
           -Brooke
          -Saxbe
          -President's supporters in Congress
           -President's speech, April 7, 1971

[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under court order from
December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums, et al. v. James M.
Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records Administration produced this
transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[End of transcript]

     Harris poll
          -Results

     Opinion Research Corporation [ORC] poll
          -Forthcoming

Also recorded on April 16, 1971

  • 042-053 10:30 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:30 am and 11:06 am.
  • 250-006 10:30 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:30 am and 11:06 am.
  • 250-007 11:06 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:06 am to 11:12 am.
  • 250-008 11:12 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:12 am and 11:20 am.
  • 250-009 11:20 AM · 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:20 am to 11:58 am.
  • 482-001 11:58 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:58 am and 12:07 pm.
  • 482-002 11:58 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Mark I. Goode met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:58 am and 12:07 pm.
  • 482-003 12:07 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Mark I. Goode met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:07 pm to 12:09 pm.

All 51 conversations from April 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 042-054, April 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/042-054 (accessed October 3, 2026).