Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 45 › Conversation 045-217
Nixon phone call with Haig on Congressional relations and Legislative strategy
Thursday, May 10, 1973 · 6:40 PM–6:48 PM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Alexander Haig discuss the political fallout from a recent legislative setback in the House of Representatives, attributing the loss to poor coordination within the Departments of State and Defense and a lack of support from Republican members. To address these deficiencies, they plan to bolster William E. Timmons's congressional relations team and refine their legislative strategy. Additionally, they discuss managing Henry Kissinger’s concerns regarding John B. Connally’s role, while noting positive press reactions following recent Cabinet changes.
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Hello?
Yes, Mr. President.
Back in your office?
Yes, sir.
Oh, yes.
I talked to Jimmins and heard about the vote and so forth, and I said, for Christ's sake, let's not let it be billed up as being, you know, at the end of everything, because it really isn't.
Oh, it's far from it, but these bastards are going to play it a little heavily as a first turn in the House.
But Bill's over there now.
I left him there to try to get this damage limited.
Well, he'll try, but it seems to me we have to take a hard look at our congressional relations thing to see whether it's really strong enough.
And also, you can't really put the responsibility so much on Bill.
You know, basically state and defense had a major responsibility here.
They should have been working their asses off.
They had a major responsibility.
That's the purpose of this meeting over there.
I've got a list of specifics now that Jerry and...
and Scott put together.
And we're not just talking generality on a number of things.
So we've got some concrete things now to get working on and improve our effectiveness over there.
Right.
Well, don't let this discourage you.
No, sir.
I'm not worried about it.
It really is the psychology of it and not the reality.
And that's more of the damage that we're doing in Hanoi with those bastards up there.
reading this as a turn.
And that's bad.
Sure it is.
Goddamn right it is.
That's the reason we tried to, you know.
But it isn't all that bad and it's not that important a vote.
We're talking about two or three months.
But we don't want to have it happen again and we've got to get geared right now for prevention of this kind of thing.
You know, the worst part of it is, sir, that the goddamn logic of the case is overwhelming.
And I don't think any of these people understood it up there.
Well, whose fault is that?
Ours?
That we didn't give the cross to them?
I'm not sure.
I have a feeling that defense didn't get it done properly.
You know, the vote should never come up in the first place.
It was the way the damn bill was packaged.
Yes, I know.
I'm raising hell about that.
That's just inexcusable.
Yes, I know.
And there again, that's just sloppy work.
Over in defense in the comptroller's shop.
In our own OMB people should have caught it.
Yes.
But the thing to do now is we're just going to not make a big deal out of this.
We can let it be a big deal for a while, but then fight on for the next battle, you know.
We've lost to some before, you know, even in the how.
That's right.
And basically the point is we can continue our operations and we must not allow
That's our problem, really, isn't it?
Yes, and it may do some bleeding that will be helpful.
It may bleed a situation.
It may bleed a situation in the House that will be helpful.
Actually, it was the damn Republicans that did it to us.
It was 50, about 50 defected on us.
And that's not good.
We've really got to do some work to shore up some of these people.
It's mostly nervousness and...
and a little goaltending that we can do with them.
And that is just as fragile as a human being is.
They'll leave you at the first turn, but they'll leave us at the first turn any time there's rough sledding.
But, yeah, we've just got to do a little better job of keeping them with us.
Well, yes, we can't expect the Democrats to pull us through on these damn things.
The Republicans, if we'd even gotten 170 of them, we would have carried the goddamn thing.
That's right.
That's right.
But we've got to take a hard look at the Timmon shop to see whether it's really up to the job.
He needs help, and we're trying to get three guys right away, and we've got three prospects who would be a great assistant, especially this fellow Saunders over in defense.
Right, right.
Actually, we could have kept him over there, but he'd be even more effective here.
Yes, sir.
He's a good man and well-regarded.
Right.
Right.
And we'll get some feed out from Bazzard on this, too, because he's been infuriated about this thing.
Right.
He'll help us on this.
Right.
Okay.
All right, sir.
We're all set to have Henry alone in the morning and then the follow-up at eleven.
Right.
And have Henry about nine o'clock or so.
Yes, sir.
The main thing is don't let him come in discouraged.
No, you beat him up a bit.
No, I'm going to have breakfast with him.
You tell him, look here, Henry, God damn it, this is the time to shape up and, you know, fight like hell for— Well, he's going to be goosey about Connolly, and I want to be sure he understands how— Well, there's no problem on Connolly.
Connolly's not even going to be in the foreign policy field, as you know.
That's right, and he's boxed the way this arrangement is, for you to do as much or as little as you want.
And that's good, because he would have been very goosey about that.
And I think the cabinet was—I thought I sensed a little relief, a sigh of relief in there today.
He got the best of both worlds.
He put an upbeat into that meeting, and you've got them working for but not conflicting with any of them.
Is he going to be here tomorrow, Cunley, or is he gone, or what's happened, do you know?
I have to check with Larry.
I told him to find out.
Did you want to see him tomorrow at all?
No, not necessarily.
I need to know whether, you know, so I don't want him to feel that he's just come in and not done anything, you know what I mean?
I want to be sure that he's touched up properly.
Yes, sir.
Right.
I'll check right away.
All right.
Well, as a matter of fact, it might be good to have Henry fill him in a little, too.
Yes, I think so.
That would be very helpful.
It would be.
All right.
Fine, Al.
Good, sir.
Fine.
The other things have got to work out now, though.
Believe me.
We're on the way.
We're on the way.
And the press senses it.
You think so?
Yes, sir.
I've talked to three this afternoon just on a background basis to make myself known to them, and they sense it.
They're feeling that we're on the move.
How do you talk to good guys?
Oh, yes.
I did not go up.
Well, they saw the cabinet this morning.
The Connelly thing is a big help.
The two new appointments, I think they're very pleased with them.
I think what they see in there is solid quality, and they like that.
Right.
Right.
Okay.
Well,
fight the battle again tomorrow, okay?
Good, Mr. President.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On May 10, 1973, Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 6:40 pm to 6:48 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 045-217 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 45-217
Date: May 10, 1973
Time: 6:40 pm - 6:48 pm
Location: White House Telephone
Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked with the President.
Congressional relations
-President’s telephone call to William E. Timmons
-Legislation in House of Representatives
-Effect of vote
-Damage limitation
-Timmons’s role
-Timmons
-State Department, Defense Department
-Responsibility
-Haig’s meeting with Hugh Scott and Gerald R. Ford
-Effect of legislative setback
-North Vietnam
-Hanoi
-Repetition
-Defense Department
-Drafting of legislation
-Comptroller
-Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
-140-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 45-217 (cont’d)
-House Republicans
-Votes
-Defections
-Democrats
-Timmons’s office
-Assistance
-[First name unknown] Saunders
-Defense Department
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
President’s schedule
-Henry A. Kissinger
Kissinger’s forthcoming meeting with Haig
-Work with John B. Connally
-Foreign Policy
Cabinet meeting, May 10, 1973
-Tone
Connally’s schedule
-Lawrence M. Higby [?]
-Work for White House
-Kissinger briefing
President’s situation
-Press reaction
-Haig’s meeting with press
-Cabinet meeting
-Appointments of Dr. James R. Schlesinger and William E. ColbyAlso recorded on May 10, 1973
- 045-209 5:17 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 5:17 pm to 5:20 pm.
- 045-210 5:20 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:20 pm and 5:23 pm.
- 045-211 5:23 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 5:23 pm to 5:26 pm.
- 045-214 6:00 PM · 23 sec — White House operator and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:00 pm and 6:10 pm.
- 045-212 6:01 PM · 5 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 6:01 pm to 6:06 pm.
- 045-213 6:06 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:06 pm and 6:10 pm.
- 045-215 6:10 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone from 6:10 pm to 6:13 pm.
- 045-216 6:13 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:13 pm and 6:40 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 045-217, May 10, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/045-217 (accessed October 5, 2026).