Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 045-106
Date: Tuesday, May 1, 1973 at 6:44 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Finch, Robert H.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/045-106

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:04] You ring the operator.
[0:05] I was out of the room.
[0:06] Yes, sir.
[0:07] I have Mr. Finch returning.
[0:08] Thank you.
[0:09] All right.
[0:10] I'll hang on.
[0:11] You are.
[0:13] Hello.
[0:13] Hello.
[0:14] I hear you're between speeches, Robert.
[0:15] Yes, sir.
[0:16] I hope your morale's all right.
[0:18] Yes, sir.
[0:19] It couldn't be better.
[0:20] I think given those terrible circumstances, you didn't prove we would have to be done, and I don't know how difficult it was.
[0:27] It's hard to take men that are so selfless and so dedicated and
[0:33] to have to say, all right, fellows, when you know they're innocent, you have to leave, but we had to do it, Bob.
[0:40] I understand.
[0:41] And that was a hard Sunday, and then they had to get up for a speech.
[0:44] It was harder, too.
[0:45] Did it come over all right in television?
[0:46] Were you out there?
[0:47] Yeah, it's an excellent picture.
[0:50] What kind of effect did it have?
[0:51] What have you found today as you've talked around people?
[0:54] They just were desperate to hear.
[0:55] They wanted reassurance, and that's what it gave them.
[0:59] And obviously, you'd
[1:01] And the reaction you'd say was positive then?
[1:12] Sure.
[1:15] Well, he is a special prosecutor, of course.
[1:23] And that Percy, he cooked his goose with me when he came out and said, well, we've got to have one.
[1:29] He didn't trust Elliot.
[1:30] My God.
[1:32] That son of a bitch.
[1:37] I think you're going to find the morale among your people.
[1:40] I'd always just say we just have confidence in the integrity of the president.
[1:45] This is one of those rare presidents who has the guts to investigate.
[1:50] I mean, to...
[1:52] investigation of his own team.
[1:55] That's true.
[1:56] And the balanced hand.
[1:57] I mean, he did not, he didn't try to foreclose the grand jury, and that's what I did today in both my press conferences.
[2:04] People expect that's the presidential judgment.
[2:07] Right.
[2:07] And in the end, they're going to realize that this whole goddamn Watergate thing was all about a crappy little thing that everybody shouldn't have gotten that excited about.
[2:15] That's right.
[2:16] It'll pass.
[2:17] It'll pass.
[2:19] And it's going to be hard, but it'll pass.
[2:21] It does give us a chance to underscore that it's gone on with the Goldwater campaign and other circumstances.
[2:27] That's right.
[2:28] Well, keep your old morale up, boy.
[2:30] If there's anything at all I can do...
[2:32] I know you've called three or four times, and I've deeply appreciated it, Bob.
[2:36] Well, you know, I stand ready if there's any small thing.
[2:39] That's right.
[2:40] I had a good talk with Herb Klein just now and told him the same thing.
[2:44] I'm going to keep...
[2:45] I don't want him to leave for a month now.
[2:47] I mean, he's got this beautiful job, but I don't want him to leave mainly because it looked like he was leaving because of this.
[2:52] I think that's why.
[2:54] Yeah, so I heard I had a good talk.
[2:55] Okay.
[2:56] Thank you very much.