Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 44 › Conversation 044-082

Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Watergate and Public Relations

Thursday, March 29, 1973 · 6:25 PM–6:26 PM ET · White House Telephone · 43 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation044-082 on Tape 44StartThursday, March 29, 1973 at 6:25 PMEndThursday, March 29, 1973 at 6:26 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 044-082 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directed John Ehrlichman to draft a concise, clear statement regarding the Watergate scandal that could be distributed to members of Congress, the Cabinet, and Vice President Spiro Agnew. The primary objective was to establish a unified administration message that could be disseminated to journalists and political allies over the upcoming weekend. Ehrlichman confirmed he was already collaborating with Richard Moore on the drafting process to meet the President's request for a quick turnaround.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yes, sir.

I wondered what I had in mind here on this, if you could get one, is simply something that could be easy and simple that could be given to all of our congressional people, given to the members of the cabinet, for example, and Agnew, and frankly, then the Broody bunch could get a few more pen cloths into a few of the

of the colonists.

That's what I had in mind.

Okay.

All right.

In other words, so that we get some sort of a right over the weekend.

All right.

That's it.

I don't know whether you can come up with anything, but you can.

You can make a pretty good statement on this, don't you?

Yeah.

I'm working on it with more.

All right.

I'll do it.

NARA Description

On March 29, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 6:25 pm to 6:26 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 044-082 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 044-082

Date: March 29, 1973
Time: 6:25-6:26 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John D. Ehrlichman.

[See also Conversation No. 426-20]

       President's statement on Watergate
             -Congress
             -Cabinet
             -Spiro T. Agnew
             -William J. Baroody, Jr.

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

             -Kenneth W. Clawson
             -Journalists
             -Richard A. Moore

Also recorded on March 29, 1973

044-081 6:24 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:24 pm and 6:25 pm.
426-018 6:24 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 6:24 pm.
426-019 6:24 PM · 8 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 6:24 pm and 6:25 pm.
426-020 6:25 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:25 pm to 6:26 pm.
044-083 6:26 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:26 pm and 6:30 pm.
426-021 6:26 PM · 8 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 6:26 pm and 6:30 pm.
044-084 6:30 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:31 pm.
426-022 6:30 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:30 pm to 6:31 pm.

All 77 conversations from March 29, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 044-082, March 29, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/044-082 (accessed October 1, 2026).