Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 45 › Conversation 045-018

Nixon phone call with Kleindienst on Watergate and L. Patrick Gray III

Thursday, April 26, 1973 · 6:20 PM–6:24 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kleindienst, Richard G.Conversation045-018 on Tape 45StartThursday, April 26, 1973 at 6:20 PMEndThursday, April 26, 1973 at 6:24 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 045-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst discuss the need to address L. Patrick Gray III regarding his conflicting public statements about the destruction of sensitive documents linked to E. Howard Hunt. Nixon insists that Gray’s claim—that he was ordered by John Ehrlichman and John Dean to destroy the files—is untrue and potentially damaging. The President directs Kleindienst to contact Gray immediately to ensure he clarifies the account and avoids appearing as if he were following specific orders to destroy evidence.

Audio

Download MP3 · 6.8 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Yeah.
Yes, sir.
Are you aware you can talk?
Yes, I am.
Yeah.
I think it's very important, and perhaps, and I'll be able to talk in talking to Pat Gray on this thing, that the story to the effect, and I'm talking about the truth, the story to the effect that he came over
to Ehrlichman's office and received documents and was told by Ehrlichman and or Teen to destroy them, which is not true.
I mean, what happened is basically that he was handed the documents and then the Rupert fellow told them they were not related to Watergate, that they were political
and they were delivering them to him.
It seems to me that Gray, frankly, if he just walks out and says, I mean, he's going to look bad enough as it is, but if he walks out and says something that is not true, because Berlichman is, in my talk with Dean, and what Dean will say now, I don't know.
I mean, there's
But my talk with Ehrlichman, which I know is the God's truth, they handed in the document.
And I remember when this matter came up, Ehrlichman called.
You see, it's curious, just so you know the background.
Peterson first called Pat Gray and said, did you receive such documents?
And Gray denied having ever received any.
He had denied it twice.
Denied it twice.
Finally, he said he refreshed his memory.
He said, yes, he received them, but he destroyed them.
Now, the point is, Ehrlichman called Gray also and said, Pat, what about those envelopes that you got?
And Pat, of course, which, of course, he denied receiving them.
And he said, you remember that you got them.
And he says, where the hell are they?
He says, I destroyed them.
Erlichman was utterly shocked, and I'm sure Dean was utterly shocked.
I don't know what Dean will say now, I don't know.
There was discussion, you know, Dean says there was some discussion about we ought to get, we ought to destroy the documents and hunt states that have nothing to do with Watergate and so forth.
But the point was, it was not done.
They handed DeGray, DeGray did destroy them.
But the critical point is this, if for the director of the FBI,
enough for him to say, I took the documents and I destroyed them because they weren't related to any case that we had, and I didn't feel we should have political material there.
That's bad enough.
He says, I destroyed them because I was ordered to.
Can you imagine what that makes him look like?
I think I want you to have a heart-to-heart talk with him on that point.
I don't want him to be made to appear a liar on that point.
I understand.
So are you going to meet with him pretty soon?
Well, I had left the office, Mr. President.
I've got a dinner party of ten people.
I've talked to Henry about it.
I'm going to call Gray on the telephone in the next two minutes.
All right.
He's up there right now.
I told Henry to go up there so that I could... All right, fine.
All right, you call me back.
Yes, sir.
All right.

NARA Description

On April 26, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 6:20 pm to 6:24 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 045-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 45-18

Date: April 26, 1973
Time: 6:20 pm - 6:24 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Richard G. Kleindienst.

[See also Conversation No. 434-9J]

     Watergate
          -L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
               -Meeting with John D. Ehrlichman and John W. Dean, III concerning E.
                Howard Hunt, Jr.’s documents
                      -Veracity of Gray’s story concerning orders
                      -President’s conversations with Ehrlichman and Dean
               -Conversations with Petersen concerning documents
               -Conversation with Ehrlichman concerning documents
               -Possible statement concerning documents
               -Forthcoming conversation with Kleindienst

Also recorded on April 26, 1973

  • 045-013 5:53 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 5:53 pm to 5:55 pm.
  • 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.
  • 045-019 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 045-018, 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/045-018 (accessed October 5, 2026).