Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 45 › Conversation 045-178
Haig & Haldeman on Watergate scandal and Executive privilege
Wednesday, May 9, 1973 · 6:35 PM–7:55 PM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min
AI Summary
Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and H. R. Haldeman discuss concerns regarding Haldeman’s upcoming grand jury testimony and the potential subpoena of his personal notes. Haig expresses alarm over reports that Haldeman’s lawyers might have provided copies of these notes to the White House counsel, which could compromise claims of executive privilege. Haldeman clarifies that he possesses no copies outside the White House and confirms that he will return any existing extracts to his secure files to mitigate legal vulnerabilities.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, Bob?
Yeah.
How'd you do?
I didn't go.
You didn't go?
No.
I mean, I waited, but they took Ehrlichman all afternoon.
I go on Monday morning at 10.30.
Monday morning at 10.30.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Have you got copies of your notes out of the building here?
No.
Do your lawyers have them?
No.
You told our people that they did.
No, they don't.
Are you sure of that?
Yeah.
They don't have copies of my notes.
My people said that your lawyer said that he had the original and that he had copies of them.
The president agreed to show them to you, to Bazaar.
Now, what they were worried about... Now, he has some stuff of John's.
He gave him copies of John's investigating notes.
That's all he has.
That's all he has.
Well, no, he has some notes from John on, you know— They have to be back.
Wait a minute.
Okay, I'm sorry.
See, you understand, uh, you were asked and you had any notes.
You couldn't take executive privilege on them.
They had subpoenaed them from you because they were outside of White House custody.
In the first place, that's wrong.
You better get a better lawyer than you got.
Two different things.
One is the question of whether I have custody, and the other is the question of whether they're covered by privilege.
And the fact of the matter is that, A, I do not have custody, I do not have the notes, I have not made copies of them, and I have no copies outside, and the lawyers have no copies.
Well, okay, that's good.
You know, they came in with an entirely different story.
No, I don't believe that.
You don't believe that they came in with a different story?
The lawyers?
No, sir, I believe that your lawyers did, because I believe that Len Garment's capable of anything, but I don't believe my lawyers told Len Garment that.
Or Fred Buzard.
Well, Chapkey, Buzard, and Len were all in the session and came out, came over sort of concerned about it.
Well, I think they're confused rather than concerned.
Yeah.
Or maybe both.
Well, you know, it could be either.
The thing is, you've answered my question.
You've answered my question, because we would have been in a hell of a mess.
They described the hell of a mess, you know, a potentially difficult situation.
Let me point out that if I did have, which I don't, they're still covered, my copies are covered by privilege also.
The problem is they're in my custody, but even if they were in my custody, I have no reason to turn them over to anybody.
Fortunately, they're not.
Yeah, well, what they claimed would happen was the judge could hold you in contempt.
that you did it or send the marshals over to search.
And that's the kind of thing that you're vulnerable to.
I would be if I have.
I don't have one.
Well, that's good.
That's fine.
So there's no question on that.
But I think they need some better legal advice.
I'll tell you, this fellow is very good.
I really feel a lot better.
He's oriented totally on the problem here.
Yeah.
What I think we ought to do is we ought to get Garment and that idiot out of the way and let you guys meet with Lazard at some point.
Yeah, that's what I think.
And find out what the hell is really going on.
Okay.
Well, that's exactly why we got him in here.
I think we better do that.
Because I think...
You can reassure the president, I have no copies of any of my notes.
Good.
There are no copies made of any of my notes, except one or two Xeroxes that I made in the room 522 the other day, and I left them there.
Because I got to thinking I better not take anything out.
Yeah, that's right.
And I didn't.
Okay.
So I have nothing in my possession.
All right.
What I do have is some extracts from those notes, and just don't tell anybody I have those.
I'm going back to 522 tomorrow, and I'll put them back in.
Put them back, yeah.
All they are is, you know, notes from the notes.
But they're still privileged, and you can hang tight on that privilege.
Look, you're kidding yourself.
If you argue on the custody question only, you've got to argue both, and each of them holds.
Well, they would do it.
I can't deliver anything I don't have custody on, but I also can't deliver anything covered by privilege.
Well, you know, that's exactly right.
They would do it.
If I had stuff at home, I still couldn't do it.
Yeah, but you wouldn't want to be subjected to it.
I couldn't agree with you more.
Well, I may be subjected to it.
They may come and search for it.
I don't think they will if you deny you have it.
Huh?
You see, that's all I'm saying.
Yeah, well, there's no problem there.
I don't have them.
I haven't had them.
Good.
They probably misread, but they may have been told you had some extracts or something.
No, no, they haven't even been told that.
Have your guys read your notes?
Nope.
They have not read my notes.
I've covered with them a couple points that are in them.
I've gone through points of vulnerability.
So we're aware of some of them.
And our lawyers purposely over there today logged in three examples of what would be put out if the files were put out.
And they did it to scare those people.
It was their tactic, and they felt they were quite successful.
Right.
Okay.
Well, that's helpful.
But their purpose was precisely that.
Yeah.
That's helpful.
I got a better feeling.
So don't worry about any copies of notes.
I have none.
Okay.
Okay.
Fine.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On May 9, 1973, Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:35 pm and 7:55 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 045-178 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 45-178
Date: May 9, 1973
Time: Unknown between 6:35 pm and 7:55 pm
Location: White House Telephone
-113-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 45-178 (cont’d)
Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
[See also Conversation No. 434-9B]
Watergate
-Haldeman Grand Jury appearance
-John D. Ehrlichman’s Grand Jury appearance
-Timing
-Haldeman’s notes
-Copies
-Haldeman’s Lawyer’s statement to J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
-Ehrlichman’s notes
-Copies
-Executive privilege
-Custody of notes
-Haldeman’s lawyers
-Statements
-[Horace] Chapman (“Chappie”) Rose, Buzhardt, and Leonard Garment
-Haldeman’s notes
-Executive privilege
-Possible judicial action
-Buzhardt
-Garment
-Possible meeting with Haldeman’s lawyers
-Haldeman’s notes
-Location of copies
-Extracts
-Executive privilege
-Custody
-Possible judicial action
-Haldeman’s lawyers
-Points of vulnerability
-Tactics
-114-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUMAlso recorded on May 9, 1973
- 434-005 6:17 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:35 pm.
- 434-006 6:17 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:35 pm.
- 434-007 6:17 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:35 pm.
- 434-008 6:17 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:35 pm.
- 434-038 6:17 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:35 pm.
- 045-177 6:35 PM · 13 sec — Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:35 pm and 7:55 pm.
- 434-009 6:35 PM · 1 hr 55 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:35 pm to 8:26 pm.
- 045-179 6:55 PM · 1 min — Alexander M. Haig, Jr., White House operator, and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr. talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:55 pm and 7:55 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 045-178, May 9, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/045-178 (accessed October 5, 2026).