Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 046-021
Date: Sunday, May 13, 1973 at 10:04 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/046-021

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello?
[0:02] Yes, sir.
[0:03] Hi, Ron, did you have any time with your wife today, I hope?
[0:07] Yes, sir.
[0:08] Mother's Day and everything, and you had to work.
[0:10] I'm so sorry.
[0:11] No problem at all, sir.
[0:12] Fine.
[0:12] A lot done today.
[0:13] Right.
[0:15] Anything new I should know about?
[0:17] No, not tonight.
[0:18] No, sir.
[0:19] Sort of a quiet Sunday for a change.
[0:22] Nothing really.
[0:23] Not what we talked about earlier.
[0:25] Yeah.
[0:26] Yeah.
[0:27] You and Haig and the rest tried to develop some plans for next week, huh?
[0:31] Yes, sir.
[0:36] Do you think we ought to do something Armed Forces Day next Saturday?
[0:39] We have some thoughts on that, yes, sir.
[0:42] Right.
[0:42] Right.
[0:43] And Al has ideas that we talked about today.
[0:47] And his feeling is, yes, it would be a good idea to do something.
[0:53] Right.
[0:54] Right.
[0:55] Is Bob going for the grand jury tomorrow, doesn't he?
[0:58] Yeah, he does.
[1:01] And let's see, we have, of course, the Ruckelshaus.
[1:04] They're trying to work his statement out today.
[1:08] Right.
[1:08] He's going to go, I believe, before tomorrow.
[1:15] Yeah.
[1:16] He's just got to lay it out straight out.
[1:18] When you handle it, you can just say, well, basically, which is the goddamn truth, which is
[1:24] things were brought over to us because... Did you ever find out when they were delivered here?
[1:31] The exact time?
[1:32] Sullivan.
[1:32] I mean, Sullivan stuff.
[1:35] Right.
[1:35] No, I don't know the exact time.
[1:36] They've got that...
[1:38] I mean, it wasn't in the last... You know, it was months ago.
[1:40] Oh, it was months ago.
[1:43] Right.
[1:44] About the time before he left, actually.
[1:46] Right.
[1:48] Okay.
[1:49] And... Let's see.
[1:52] Otherwise...
[1:54] Tell me this, Dean hasn't testified yet, has he?
[1:58] No, he hasn't.
[2:01] That's strange.
[2:02] They haven't made a deal with him yet, or they're not even trying to anymore, are they?
[2:06] What do the news accounts indicate?
[2:09] The whole immunity thing has sort of slipped into the background.
[2:15] He's such a key witness, though, Ron, to the whole thing.
[2:17] They've got to have him.
[2:18] Yeah.
[2:20] I would assume that they will this week, but he hasn't yet.
[2:25] And the committee goes on Thursday, yeah?
[2:29] Starts Thursday, yes, sir.
[2:30] But I'm sure there's not going to be much happening this week.
[2:34] Oh, well, hell, they'll put on all those, you know, people from the White House who were, you know, well, at the committee mainly, I guess.
[2:42] Right.
[2:43] Gee, they're such nice guys, you know.
[2:45] God damn it, they all work their ass off.
[2:49] It's going to be rough on them, isn't it?
[2:51] Well, they'll be able to pull it off.
[2:52] They're strong guys.
[2:53] Right.
[2:54] I think so.
[2:58] I think so.
[2:59] This week, probably, it'll just be, you know, the initial questions won't be too much.
[3:07] I really feel the main thing we need to do now—I've been saying a lot of things over the weekend—I really think that it's all a question of timing, and it isn't time yet to go on an offensive.
[3:17] But I think in terms
[3:21] presidential activity, you know, and just going on and doing the business, that that's goddamn important.
[3:27] Isn't that essential?
[3:29] Isn't that your conclusion?
[3:30] I mean, we don't know how much it'll play, but it'll play some.
[3:33] It'll play.
[3:33] Look at how the commission played.
[3:35] Yeah, the commission, incidentally, I had a good talk with Ray, and I thought that the better thing, rather than to blow it on Tuesday—
[3:41] We'd have a meeting with the leaders Tuesday and then send it up Wednesday.
[3:44] Right.
[3:45] Don't you think that's better?
[3:46] That's right.
[3:47] We get a lot of talking about it.
[3:50] But there'll be a good meeting Tuesday with that.
[3:53] Right.
[3:55] Right.
[3:57] Another activity next week.
[4:00] Right.
[4:02] Yes, sir.
[4:03] Well, keep your dauber up, old boy.
[4:05] Yes, sir.
[4:05] We're in good shape.
[4:07] Okay.
[4:07] I'll see you tomorrow.
[4:08] Bye, sir.
[4:11] Thank you.