Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 137 › Conversation 137-008

Nixon phone call with Colson on Sargent Shriver and Vietnamization

Saturday, August 12, 1972 · 10:35 AM–11:11 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation137-008 on Tape 137StartSaturday, August 12, 1972 at 10:35 AMEndSaturday, August 12, 1972 at 11:11 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 137-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies to undermine the credibility of Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sargent Shriver regarding his shifting position on the Vietnamization policy. The pair coordinates plans for Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to attack Shriver’s record during upcoming platform committee testimony and emphasizes highlighting the administration's success in ending the draft. Additionally, they discuss press coverage of the Watergate lawsuit, expressing a dismissive attitude toward ongoing negative reporting by the Washington press.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Good morning, sir.
Well, how are things going today?
Well, I think very well, Mr. President.
I'm just delighted with the play that Bill Rogers got last night and again this morning.
Papers gave him a spectacularly good play, and the TV was just excellent.
Bill was in great, great form.
That's fine.
I firmly believe, I'm going to talk to Mel Laird, who's testifying before the platform committee in Miami on Tuesday, and we can get a lot of coverage.
I think we ought to keep this thing alive, where Mel says, well, I briefed Shriver in 1969 on Vietnamization, and hell, he was entirely for it.
You know, he thought it was a great thing.
And just keep hitting this fellow, because it...
In other words, attack his credibility.
Exactly.
If you build him up some this way, it gets him into...
And he's got to respond.
Has he responded yet?
No, sir.
An aide said that he stood by his original statement.
That's pretty weak.
He'll have to respond on TV tomorrow.
I think he will.
But I don't know how the hell he, I don't know how, Mr. President, he gets out of that one.
We've checked the files, I think.
I told Kistney to check it, and there isn't a goddamn smidgen of a memo or anything.
John, I talked to Rogers last night, and he said everything is just the other way.
1701 story in the lawsuit, but it isn't even in the New York Times, and it is not on the wires.
The Washington press are just sopping that up, but I don't think... Oh, sure, they will continue to, and Bennett Williams is making publicity for himself.
But that's all right.
That's all right.
We'll keep right at it.
There are attack lines that Laird is going to be there Tuesday, and we'll take the Shriver thing on, and we'll take on the war issue from our standpoint.
In other words, our positive side and the government's weakness on it.
And so we can keep a...
Particularly hit, he ought to particularly hit, instead of defense expenditures, how much we've cut them, no draft.
Right.
The no draft line has not been getting it through too much.
We've got so many men out of the armed services.
We've got five in Vietnam.
We're not drafting any, no draftees in Vietnam, and the number of draftees are only so many a month, and it'll soon be zero.
And that's a tremendous accomplishment.
Yes, it is.
That's up to campaign pledge, volunteer army.
That's right.
No draft.
That's damn good with these young voters.

NARA Description

On August 12, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 10:35 am to 11:11 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 137-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 137-8

Date: August 12, 1972
Time: 10:35 am - 11:11 am
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 201-13]

     Press relations
          -William P. Rogers
                 -Newspaper and television coverage

     R. Sargent Shriver
          -Melvin R. Laird
                -Platform committee testimony
                      -Laird’s previous briefing of Shriver
                          -Vietnamization
          -Credibility
          -Statement
          -Henry A. Kissinger
          -Rogers's opinion
                -Rogers’s talk with Colson, August 11, 1972

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 7m 33s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

    Press coverage of Watergate
         -Lawsuit
               -Washington Post
               -1701 [Pennsylvania Avenue, Republican National Committee headquarters]
                        story
               -New York Times
               -Wire services
               -Washington Post
                -Edward Bennett Williams

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 24m 9s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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

    Public relations
         -Laird
                -Shriver
                -War issue
                     -George S. McGovern
         -Defense expenditures
         -Draft

                -Vietnam
                -Volunteer army
                -Young voters

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 16s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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

Also recorded on August 12, 1972

  • 137-006 8:30 PM · 17 sec — Edward R. F. Cox, Clarence D. Palmby, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:30 pm and 10:20 pm.
  • 137-007 8:50 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:50 am and 10:35 am.
  • 201-010 8:50 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:50 am and 10:35 am.
  • 201-013 10:35 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 10:35 am to 11:11 am.
  • 201-014 11:11 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:11 am and 7:10 pm.
  • 199-001 12:58 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 12:58 pm on August 12, 1972 and 9:38 am on August 13, 1972.
  • 201-015 12:58 PM · 13 sec — Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:58 pm and 7:10 pm.
  • 201-016 12:58 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:58 pm and 7:10 pm.

All 10 conversations from August 12, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 137-008, August 12, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/137-008 (accessed October 12, 2026).