Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 137 › Conversation 137-005

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Public Relations and FBI

Friday, August 11, 1972 · 7:33 PM–7:42 PM ET · Camp David Study Table · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation137-005 on Tape 137StartFriday, August 11, 1972 at 7:33 PMEndFriday, August 11, 1972 at 7:42 PMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 137-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discuss media strategy and public relations efforts regarding the administration’s political opposition. They evaluate recent statements by William P. Rogers, particularly his criticisms of Sargent Shriver and Ramsey Clark, while planning to have John Mitchell address the FBI-related issues to achieve greater impact than an alternative spokesperson. Additionally, the pair briefly reviews the positive performance of the stock market, which saw a significant point increase that day.

Audio

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Yes, sir.
You were at dinner, huh?
No, just haven't started yet.
Oh, really?
It's a little late.
Just about to eat.
Right.
Did you have anything?
I understand Roger's got a very good play.
Yeah, and he hit the... Hit everything, yeah, except the FBI thing, which of course...
He didn't do the FBI.
Now we're going to follow up and try and get Mitchell to do the FBI.
Not let McGregor do it, if he wants to.
Yeah, but I think Mitchell's better.
Mitchell's by far the best, but you know, if you want.
And if we can do that, I think we're much better off.
Yeah, he is the one that ought to hit it.
If we can't, we'll do the other.
And then the congressman did hit today.
Well, they did.
And they're going to, I don't, I was just checking the wires here and I haven't seen anything, but we don't have the stuff on the afternoon stuff.
They got hit over and over again before they got anything.
That's good, but the Rodgers thing, it was good that it got such a good play.
Well, it got, yeah.
and it's that i think is yeah you know darn good and he he he hit the shriver thing he did a good job on the driver pieces and he did a good job on on ripping ramsey clark hard which sort of lays the groundwork now it makes it easier for mitchell to do one as a follow-up on it right he can tie the fbi in right and then the congressman well it's rather jump on that
we got uh you know if you saw the market thing but for some reason it shot up 11 points today it did really that's it 964 or something now just yeah it's been it's been even for a week it was bound to go up a bit it's hanging right in around the 950 but now it's bounced up

NARA Description

On August 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 7:33 pm to 7:42 pm. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 137-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 137-5

Date: August 11, 1972
Time: 7:33 pm - 7:42 pm
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

[See Conversation No. 202-4]

     Haldeman's schedule

     Public relations
          -William P. Rogers
                 -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
          -John N. Mitchell
                 -FBI
                 -Compared to Clark MacGregor
          -Wire service reports
          -Rogers's remarks
                 -R. Sargent Shriver
                 -W. Ramsey Clark
          -Mitchell
                 -FBI

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 3m 20s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************

     Stock market
          -Performance

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 4m 4s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

*****************************************************************

Also recorded on August 11, 1972

  • 137-003 6:14 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 6:14 pm to 6:35 pm.
  • 137-004 6:35 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 6:35 pm and 7:33 pm.
  • 201-002 7:24 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:24 pm and 7:31 pm.
  • 201-003 7:31 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:31 pm and 7:33 pm.
  • 201-004 7:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 7:33 pm to 7:42 pm.
  • 201-005 7:42 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:42 pm and 8:30 pm.
  • 201-006 7:42 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Donald McI. Kendall, Mrs. Donald McI. Kendall, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:42 pm and 8:30 pm.
  • 201-007 7:42 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:42 pm and 8:30 pm.

All 41 conversations from August 11, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 137-005, August 11, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/137-005 (accessed October 12, 2026).