Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 153 › Conversation 153-057
Nixon phone call with Camp David Operator on Ronald Ziegler and Camp David
Saturday, November 18, 1972 · 7:45 AM–9:39 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 14 sec
A 14-second recording. What it contains is described by the archivists' log below; no AI summary is shown for recordings this short.
Audio
NARA Description
On November 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 153-057 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 153-57
Date: November 18, 1972
Time: Unknown between 7:45 am and 9:39 am
Location: Camp David Study Table
The President talked with the Camp David operator.
[See Conversation No. 226-30]
Request for a call to Ronald L. Ziegler
[This is the original beginning of conversation No. 153-058, which has been merged with
-61-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 153-56 (cont’d)
conversation 153-057.]
The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.
[See Conversation No. 226-31]
Ziegler’s recent telephone call to the President
-Cancellation
-Purpose
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Sunday newspapers
Ziegler’s forthcoming press conference
-The President’s schedule
-Reorganization of plans
-Dictation
-Budget cuts
-Return to Washington, DC
-Timing
-Return to Camp David
-Timing
-Reason
-Clothing
-Dinner for family
-Return to Camp David
-TimingShow the rest of the log (175 more lines)
-Camp David
-Schedule of appointments
-Meeting with Henry A. Kissinger
-Completion
-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT] II
-The President’s instructions
-Vietnam negotiations
-The President’s instructions
-Paris
-Communications with Kissinger
-Cable
-Timing
-Telephone
-Paperwork
-62-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 153-58 (cont’d)
-SALT II
-Trip to Washington, DC
-Purpose
-Gathering materials
-White House staff matters
-Dinner with family
-Clothes
-SALT II
-Vietnam negotiations
-Location
-Executive Office Building [EOB]
-White House
-Lincoln Sitting Room
-Vietnam negotiations
-Paris
-SALT II negotiations
-November 21, 1972
-Camp David
-White House staff members
-Return to Camp David
-SALT II
-The President’s interest
-Vietnam negotiations
-The President’s interest
-Importance
-The President’s work
-Meetings
-Scheduling
-Published meetings
-Kissinger
-Contacts with the President
-White House staff
-Vietnam negotiations
-Substantive differences
-Technical details
-Importance
-The President’s role
-SALT II
-Meetings
-Scheduling
-63-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 153-58 (cont’d)
-Published meetings
-Kissinger
-Contacts with the President
-White House staff
-Vietnam negotiations
-Substantive difference
-Technical details
-Importance
-The President’s role
-Settlement agreement
-The President’s role
-Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to Paris
Second term reorganization
-Press relations
-November 17, 1972
-Ziegler’s forthcoming press conference
-William P. Rogers’s tenure as Secretary of State
-Ziegler’s conversations
-Haldeman
-Melvin R. Laird
-Resignation
-Changes in staff
-Timing
-Procedures
-The President’s schedule
-Camp David
-Press relations
-Reaction to the President’s actions
-[Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon’s, Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s, Tricia Nixon
Cox’s concern
-1972 election
-[Washington, DC]
-Bureaucracy
-Public
-Bureaucracy
-Washington Post, Washington Star
-Public
-The President’s November 17, 1972 meetings
-Cabinet
-64-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 153-58 (cont’d)
-Ziegler’s press conference
-Reorganization plan
-Departments
-Congressional guidelines
-Personnel
-The President’s areas of concentration
-Personnel
-Structure
-Departures
-Charles W. Colson’s tenure
-Colson’s concern
-Herbert G. Klein
-Robert H. Finch
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-Appearance of firing
-Public impact
-White House staff
-Individual considerations
-Announcements
-Timing
-Press relations
-Ziegler’s briefings
-Reaction to the President’s actions
-White House staff
-Reenergizing administration
-The President’s November 17, 1972 meetings
-Order of meetings
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-John B. Connally
-Rogers
-Cabinet
-Announcements
-Timing
-Monday schedule
-Meeting with Cabinet
-Order
-Treasury, Defense Departments
-Availability
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-George W. Romney
-65-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 153-58 (cont’d)
-John A. Volpe
-Kleindienst
-Press relations
-The President’s November 17, 1972 meetings
-Retentions
-Impressions
Ziegler’s location
Press relations
-Trailer at Camp David
-The President’s role
-The President’s trip to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1972
-Function
-Briefing room
-Reaction
-StoryTranscript (AI-generated)
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Yes, please.
Two seconds, please.
Thank you.
Also recorded on November 18, 1972
- 226-024 7:45 AM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am.
- 226-025 7:45 AM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am.
- 226-026 7:45 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am.
- 226-027 7:45 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am.
- 226-028 7:45 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am.
- 226-029 7:45 AM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am.
- 226-030 7:45 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:45 am and 9:39 am.
- 153-058 9:39 AM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:39 am to 9:57 am.
Related conversations
- Nixon phone call with Kissinger on US-Soviet relations November 14, 1972 · 4 min
- Nixon & Woods on Ronald Ziegler and 1972 Presidential Campaign September 25, 1972 · 2 min
- Nixon & Ziegler on Public relations and Camp David November 24, 1972 · 6 min
Cite this conversation
Conversation 153-057, November 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417175709). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/153-057 (accessed November 2, 2026).