Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 45 › Conversation 045-013

Nixon phone call with Kleindienst on Watergate and Daniel Ellsberg

Thursday, April 26, 1973 · 5:53 PM–5:55 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kleindienst, Richard G.Conversation045-013 on Tape 45StartThursday, April 26, 1973 at 5:53 PMEndThursday, April 26, 1973 at 5:55 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 045-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst discuss pending legal developments in the Daniel Ellsberg case and the potential resignation of FBI Director L. Patrick Gray. The conversation focuses on a damaging New York Times report regarding Gray's destruction of sensitive documents from E. Howard Hunt’s safe. Nixon emphasizes his commitment to transparency, tasking Kleindienst and Assistant Attorney General Henry E. Petersen with evaluating the political and legal implications of the situation overnight.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Attorney General, sir.
Yeah.
Yeah, Mr. President, I just, uh, I'm just going to call you.
About the, uh, report from the Times?
No.
Yeah, go ahead, yeah.
California situation.
Yeah.
The judge, and he's taking it under advisement, and they'll rule on it tomorrow.
See, fine.
Good.
We'll have nothing tomorrow.
The other thing, Dick, I was going to call you about is, you know, that, uh, you know, this situation, which I think I should talk to you about, because it involves Pat Gray involving, uh, the, the, uh,
is being given that, the contents of, some of the contents of Hunt's safe.
I learned of that the first time I come.
And that's in the New York Times and so forth.
And that Gray did, and Gray has destroyed it, you know.
Okay.
Don't you feel that under the circumstances that Gray, and I'm just, I don't think I'm overreacting, but under these circumstances, are we going to have to resign?
What do you think?
How do you handle this one?
Do you want to think about it?
Dr. Henry Peterson called me back.
I'd like to think about it overnight.
Well, we're not going to have you do it tonight.
I guess you're right.
But I mean, the story's going to remind me twice about it.
What's Henry think we should do about it?
Well, we both don't know.
And I just hate to come up and make a decision, you know.
Right.
That's fast.
All right.
Well, can I ask you and Peterson to think a little about it?
Yes, sir.
I know this is one of those things, but I want the whole damn thing out, don't you?
Tough as it is.
It's going to come out anyway.
Well, sure.
Sure, it's going to come out.
But Dick.
Back to life right now.
Dick.
are crying out loud.
God damn it, if these damn things happen, I as president have got to get them out.
That's right.
That's my responsibility.
It's my responsibility, and I'm going to meet it.
Yes, sir.
All right.
I'll talk to you tomorrow morning.
Bye.

NARA Description

On April 26, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 5:53 pm to 5:55 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 045-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 45-13

Date: April 26, 1973
Time: 5:53 pm - 5:55 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Richard G. Kleindienst.

[See also Conversation No. 431-9E]

     Watergate
          -Daniel Ellsberg case
                -Court procedures
          -L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
                -Destruction of E. Howard Hunt, Jr.’s documents
                      -New York Times story
          -Possible resignation
                -Kleindienst consultation with Henry E. Petersen
                -Disclosure

Also recorded on April 26, 1973

  • 045-014 5:55 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 5:56 pm.
  • 045-015 5:56 PM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry E. Petersen talked on the telephone from 5:56 pm to 6:17 pm.
  • 045-016 6:17 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:20 pm.
  • 045-017 6:17 PM · 18 sec — John D. Ehrlichman and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:20 pm.
  • 045-018 6:20 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 6:20 pm to 6:24 pm.
  • 045-019 6:37 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:37 pm and 6:49 pm.
  • 045-020 6:49 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 6:49 pm to 6:50 pm.
  • 045-021 6:50 PM · 4 min — John D. Ehrlichman, White House operator, and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 7:08 pm.

All 73 conversations from April 26, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 045-013, April 26, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/045-013 (accessed October 5, 2026).