Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 147 › Conversation 147-011
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Radio broadcasts
Saturday, October 7, 1972 · 1:03 PM–1:10 PM ET · Camp David Study Table · 7 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discussed the strategic use of radio speeches to communicate directly with voters and counter criticism that the administration was avoiding policy substance. Nixon expressed satisfaction with the success of a recent radio address and directed his staff to prepare additional speeches on topics such as agricultural policy, welfare, and private school aid to contrast with George McGovern's campaign style. Additionally, they reviewed plans for television advertising, with Nixon authorizing the aggressive use of campaign spots highlighting McGovern’s positions on Vietnam and amnesty.
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Mr. President.
Mr. President.
Mr. President.
Yes, Mr. Haldeman for you now.
Okay.
Go ahead, please.
Well, the radio is an easy way to do it.
Well, I think it's a damn good way, too.
I was saying to...
I was just talking to Alex and a couple... and to Chuck...
We might do a few more.
The point being that it's a very easy way.
It's a way to cover substance.
All these assholes are saying we're not talking about it.
We're all negative and the rest.
Just put it out.
Who can squeal?
Very hard to.
It's hard for... We need a little bit better coordination and preparation so I don't get poor drafts, but it's all right.
It worked out.
But the whole thing is...
Well, you do it.
You do it in a quiet way.
You can make the points and be in the papers.
It's so infinitely better when you sit in a room and listen to a radio and listen.
And it was, well, I know you felt there were things wrong with that.
The simplistic...
The draft?
Yeah.
Well, there were things wrong, but that's why I worked on it all day.
But where you came out and the changes were...
drastically for the better, but the sort of civics lecture basics in it were awfully good.
About the Congress, that's right.
That's Ehrlichman.
That was very good.
Excellent.
And the explanation was pure FDR, you know, that this is like your family, everybody running out and spending money with what the other people are doing.
And it
That was as close to an FDR fireside chat as it was.
Right.
The thing about it, incidentally, get them busy immediately on a good farm speech with particular emphasis on farm exports and freedom and the rest.
That's what they do, and I should do that in Chicago when I'm there, if not earlier.
See?
Because the farm speech, the way to handle these special interest groups is to make speeches on radio that make a difference, whether you can make a farm speech or you can make one of the
two-eyed chimpanzees, and nobody gives a damn.
And then get it out to them.
Get it out to them.
One should be, I think, we ought to also hit the aid to private schools in a radio speech.
You don't need to do a letter.
Just hit it.
And that will have an enormous impact among the people that we need.
But, you see, I know that, and I agree with Schitt to an extent that
Ray's feeling is mainly to sort of at the high level, our goals for the future, our dreams for America and all that.
That's fine.
One, maybe at most two on that.
But as far as votes, that's good for the intellectuals.
As far as votes, it's the thing that hits them.
That's why I wrote in the stuff on welfare on that, see?
Yep.
Make the welfare point again.
That paragraph was great, too.
That was marvelous, because I got your...
And that's why I wrote in the thing about their $100 billion budget.
People have forgotten that.
So hit them again on that.
It isn't arguing with them.
It's simply stating a fact.
Now they'll answer.
Otherwise, it would have been too bland, Bob.
That's my point.
For me just to go on radio and talk about a $250 billion ceiling with a civic flexure is too bland.
We had to have a couple of needles in there to raise it to the level where it's newsworthy.
And the four-year commitment for no taxes, a commitment to the property tax relief.
That's all in there.
We've said it all before, but it'll be repeated.
But in any event, I think that the idea, if we can get the speech team to get humping, I mean, you can do one up here.
That'll drive McGovern right up the wall, too, because he's out trying to make these speeches to audiences.
Yep.
So I'll just radio the goddamn thing.
And that's just a terrible thing to have to do in front of the audience.
That must drive him just as nuts as it does you.
That's right.
You're torn between that.
The live audience.
Whether you go to the audience and try to get them to respond or whether you go to the subject.
But you see, the beauty of this thing is that we can hit the substance.
We can hit it.
And radio is not an insignificant audience.
Nobody can say we aren't discussing the issues.
But I'd crack one again before we go to Atlanta even.
You've probably had 5 million people who heard the speech today.
You think so?
Yeah.
Well, they built it up.
If we could get Ray going on one, we could go on next week.
I don't want to go on national defense because, well, maybe we shouldn't because that's going to be the big issue, and I'm trying to get Colson and the rest to...
He said that the...
PR guys can't get a Vietnam ad ready or anything on amnesty or anything at this point.
We're frozen.
We can't, but there's a real, we can't do anything that's going to do us any good.
Don't do it then.
We've got the points in the things we're doing.
We've got the amnesty.
The only thing is that you may well find that the way campaigns go, that the big issue for the next two weeks may be Vietnam.
and and there really ought to be an ad about he wants to turn vietnam over the communist and there ought to be one on amnesty but if we can't get it we can't get it okay we can sure make the points yeah we'll try in our speeches and everything but uh the uh we'll see let's see how it works together part of it will depend on what he comes out with on vietnam too we're we were going to try and blanket that
speech, but you can't tell.
Well, you've got a schedule ahead.
We may get caught at it.
Yeah.
I mean, we could call it the wrong thing.
That's right.
And it's better if we can handle it with the speeches.
I know.
Well, we'll see.
We'll see what he comes on.
And also, if he talks about this subject, he's going to find it's damn hard to talk about just as we do.
They'll just make anything else squeal about, well, we didn't end the war in four years.
But then our people just got to come back hard and fast and everything he's done wrong.
We're pushing very hard this stuff.
We've got some awfully good Vietnam commercials on that point.
Have we?
Yeah.
Good.
Well, use that then.
Have those been used yet?
No, not on network.
Run them heavily, heavily, heavily this week.
You must do it.
I think it's very important because if they're going to have a program that deals with this, you know, that isn't going to be heard by as many as we think, but our commercials could go in there.
Don't you think so?
Yep.
If you've got some good ones, those are the positive ones.
Good.
Good.
That's good.
Okay.
I think that was a good exercise.
Good.
NARA Description
On October 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 1:03 pm to 1:10 pm. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 147-011 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 147-11
Date: October 7, 1972
Time: 1:03 pm - 1:10 pm
Location: Camp David Study Table
The President talked with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
[See Conversation No. 217-26]
Radio speech on Federal spending, October 7, 1972
-Alexander P. Butterfield
-Charles W. Colson
-Possibility of additional speeches for radio
-Preparation
-Assessment
-Draft text
-Congress
-John D. Ehrlichman's contribution to speech
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Comparison to Fireside Chat
-Use of family analogy
-The President’s instructions
-Farm speech
-Farm exports
-Chicago
-Special interest groups
-Aid to private schools
-Impact of speech
-Raymond K. Price, Jr.
-The President's goals for the US
-Intellectuals
-Welfare
-Budget
-Taxes
-Property tax relief
-Speech team
-George S. McGovern
-Speeches to live audiences
-Radio speeches
-Compared to live audiences
-Atlanta
-Possible numbers of radio listeners
-Price
-National defense
-Importance of issue
-Colson
Republican advertisements for television
-Vietnam
-Amnesty
-Vietnam
-McGovern's proposals and strategy
-Communists, amnesty, Administration delay in ending war
-Possible response by the Administration
-Speeches
-Colson
-TimingAlso recorded on October 7, 1972
- 147-009 12:33 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:33 pm to 1:00 pm.
- 147-010 1:01 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield talked on the telephone at Camp David from 1:01 pm to 1:02 pm.
- 217-025 1:01 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 1:01 pm to 1:02 pm.
- 217-026 1:03 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 1:03 pm to 1:10 pm.
- 217-027 1:10 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 1:10 pm and 1:13 pm.
- 147-012 1:13 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at Camp David from 1:13 pm to 1:19 pm.
- 217-028 1:13 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 1:13 pm to 1:19 pm.
- 217-029 1:19 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 1:19 pm and 2:40 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 147-011, October 7, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/147-011 (accessed October 11, 2026).