Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 165 › Conversation 165-023
Nixon phone call with Haig on Watergate scandal and Public relations
Saturday, May 12, 1973 · 2:04 PM–2:10 PM ET · Camp David Study Table · 6 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Alexander Haig discussed administrative strategies for responding to the escalating Watergate scandal, specifically focusing on efforts to manage public perception and counter negative media coverage. The two reviewed press briefings given by Ronald Ziegler and strategized on how to engage political allies like John Stennis to influence legislative and public opinion. Additionally, the conversation addressed the importance of preventing the release of names linked to previous administration wiretaps, with the President asserting that such disclosures would be disastrous for innocent parties.
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Hello?
Yes, Mr. President.
Hello, Al.
Any developments?
Yes, sir.
Al is held up and won't be in now until Monday, I see.
We've been going over a game plan here, which involves getting some good coverage on the issue of the McCarthyism issue and
but a kind of a new window that's going out.
Now Ron hit very hard bridging off the Florida.
And he had his breeding already?
Yes, he's done it, and it's just about right.
So I think we've got some backdrop against the dribbling that's come out today on Gray.
On the other hand, what we do have to do is... You haven't gone Gray yet?
No.
We've got a message with the girl, the woman in his house, for him to call.
And he has not called.
His lawyer has just disappeared.
We can't find him anywhere.
Now, I think we have to go to get this sort of a backfire responsibility bill in a more careful, delicate way.
And we've got a very good game plan for that.
We use a
over in defense.
We've got excellent contacts, as you know.
Yes.
Stennis is working covertly all through the Hill now.
He's active doing that.
Right.
We're going to get with the legal profession, and that's going to be done very carefully.
Jack Kilpatrick, we have a good way to get him.
Yeah.
And then we will have, of course, some key pressure points countrywide.
Uh, outside of Washington, all of the focus is right here.
Right.
So, uh, I think it's important to get this kind of thing built.
Yeah.
You see, what we have here, sir, is a, a very, a weird need of keeping this thing, uh, impressed for, for moderation.
Insanity.
Right.
But tell me about, about Ron.
Did Ron hit hard on the fact of, goddammit, that President did not, uh,
Oh, yeah.
He said, get the hell off and get your ass off into the work or whatever.
I don't know.
No, no.
He hit very hard.
He reiterated the same points made Miami, or to keep his game explicitly as hard.
All right.
Yeah.
No, he didn't.
You know, we did not because this is not playing that heavily.
Actually, it doesn't.
It's a great story.
Yeah, it's not.
And as a matter of fact, the post played it in a very interesting way.
How did they play it?
So we got the wire service, the Daily News, and... What do you say the post played in an interesting way?
Well, you see what happened here.
There are two forms, the committee and the jury.
Right.
And there is an obvious difference in the interpretation of the two audiences or the sources from those audiences.
And the post just laid it out, one being quite good.
They read a jury later in the day, which made it very clear that you were not warned.
Well, I was warned.
Well, they said it was not a warning, it was a... Information.
Yes, and that they're going on with this.
The point is, did Ron hit hard on the one plight that is in the only good plight, that whole gaggle of stuff that investigates the facts?
Exactly.
Did he hit that or not?
Yes.
Yes, he hit that very hard.
Good.
Good.
Well, that's good.
So, what's the plan for the rest of the day?
Still trying to get Gray and hope he makes a statement.
Yes, we're going to continue on that.
And maybe bug him one more time, that girl up there, the woman.
He knows.
He knows.
We're trying to get him working, but that's where he is.
We haven't gotten him from positive.
Yes.
Now, we've worked over Ruckelhaus a little bit on his statement for Monday.
He did.
It was our idea to shake him up on that.
get that thing out the right way.
I'll be sure we're going to all the things that were done before we got here.
That's right.
The details on past administrations.
Right.
Right.
Necessary for national security.
That's right.
Now, Ruckelhaus had some in-house pressure over there to release the names of the newsmen.
Let me say this.
I thought about that
The release of anybody who was investigated is out.
It's a disaster.
That's right.
No, it will not release the names of anybody because that would impinge upon the rights of innocent people.
That's right.
That's right.
And then we go to Dan first.
No, sir.
No, sir.
It says it will not release any names.
Under any kind of pressure, can he resist that?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, he's convinced it's the wrong thing to do now, but the czar needed about 30 minutes of logic with him before he understood this.
All right.
It's dangerous, isn't it?
Well, it's just dangerous, but it's wrong.
Good God, I mean, like Henry Brandon should be, maybe not a goddamn thing.
That's right.
And then they have no alternative but to fight you.
They have a remedy.
That's right.
That's right.
I think we may have just gotten gray on the phone.
No, but could you call me right back then?
Yes, sir.
All right.
Hello?
Yes, sir.
I'll call you right back.
Yeah, okay.
Good.
NARA Description
On May 12, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at Camp David from 2:04 pm to 2:10 pm. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 165-023 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 165-23
Date: May 12, 1973
Time: 2:04pm - 2:10 pm
Location: Camp David Study Table
The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Watergate
-Richard M. Helms
-Schedule
-White House response
-“McCarthyism”
-Ronald L. Ziegler’s previous press conference
-News reports on L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Gray
-Location
-Lawyer
-White House response
-[William?] Beecher
-John C. Stennis
-James J. Kilpatrick
-Ziegler’s previous press conference
-Gray
-Press coverage
-Washington Post
-Ervin Committee contrasted with Grand Jury
-Ziegler’s previous press briefing
-Attempts to locate
-William D. Ruckelshaus’s forthcoming statement
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
-Wiretaps
-Compared with previous administrations
-Possible release of names
-Henry Brandon
-Gray
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 165-42 (cont’d)Also recorded on May 12, 1973
- 165-021 12:59 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:59 pm to 1:03 pm.
- 165-022 1:03 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 1:03 pm and 2:04 pm.
- 165-024 2:10 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 2:10 pm and 2:11 pm.
- 165-025 2:11 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at Camp David from 2:11 pm to 2:13 pm.
- 165-026 2:13 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 2:13 pm and 2:17 pm.
- 165-027 2:17 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at Camp David from 2:17 pm to 2:21 pm.
- 165-028 2:21 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 2:21 pm and 2:27 pm.
- 165-029 2:27 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at Camp David from 2:27 pm to 2:35 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 165-023, May 12, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/165-023 (accessed October 12, 2026).