Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 43 › Conversation 043-177

Haldeman & Dean on Senate Select Committee and George McGovern

Thursday, February 22, 1973 · 3:17 PM–4:04 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsHaldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); White House operator; Dean, John W., III; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); White House operator; Dean, John W., IIIConversation043-177 on Tape 43StartThursday, February 22, 1973 at 3:17 PMEndThursday, February 22, 1973 at 4:04 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 043-177 ↗

AI Summary

H. R. Haldeman and John Dean discussed strategies for encouraging the Senate Select Committee, specifically Senator Howard Baker, to broaden their inquiry to include Democratic campaign irregularities. Haldeman proposed leveraging opposition research, such as potential communist financing and the activities of Dick Tuck within the McGovern campaign, to create a more balanced investigation. They acknowledged a current lack of hard documentation but agreed to continue compiling and sharing any available materials to support this offensive approach.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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If there is any.
John Dean, please.
Thank you.
John Dean's office.
Bob Haldeman, may I speak to him, please?
Hello?
John?
Yes.
This paper doesn't say anything about the thought of making sure we push this to cover all the stuff the Democrats did and, you know, backup cases we've been developing and everything.
Is there any reason why the president shouldn't raise that with Baker?
No, there isn't.
The only thing is, we haven't developed much hard yet.
For example, I had a memo from you regarding the communist money.
We have no documentation of that sort of money ever having been involved by the McGovern people.
Right.
I just want to say that anything we can find can be passed along.
And that obviously they should push their people that way, too.
I mean, they don't have to just rely on what we can find.
No.
They should, for example, Dick Tuck.
We know he was on the payroll of McGovern.
Now, that's very interesting.
That's the sort of thing that can be developed.
Okay.

NARA Description

On February 22, 1973, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and John W. Dean, III talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:17 pm and 4:04 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 043-177 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 43-177

Date: February 22, 1973
Time: Unknown between 3:17 pm and 4:04 pm
Location: White House Telephone

H. R. Haldeman talked with the White House operator.

       Request for a call to John W. Dean, III

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman talked with Dean.

       Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities
            -Irregularities in George S. McGovern’s campaign
                  -Communist money
                  -Howard H. Bakery, Jr.
                         -The President’s meeting with Baker
                  -Dick Tuck

Also recorded on February 22, 1973

  • 043-219 2:45 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Carl B. Albert talked on the telephone from 2:45 pm to 2:47 pm.
  • 043-171 2:47 PM · 12 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 043-172 2:47 PM · 29 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 043-173 2:47 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 043-174 3:16 PM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 3:16 pm to 3:17 pm.
  • 043-175 3:17 PM · 9 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:17 pm and 4:04 pm.
  • 043-176 3:17 PM · 2 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:17 pm and 4:04 pm.
  • 043-178 3:17 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:17 pm and 7:24 pm.

All 52 conversations from February 22, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 043-177, February 22, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/043-177 (accessed October 1, 2026).