Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 167 › Conversation 167-007

Nixon phone call with Haig on Watergate and Economic Policy

Sunday, May 20, 1973 · 10:47 AM–10:56 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation167-007 on Tape 167StartSunday, May 20, 1973 at 10:47 AMEndSunday, May 20, 1973 at 10:56 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 167-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig met to discuss managing the ongoing Watergate crisis, focusing on the need for a non-defensive, proactive White House response through a forthcoming White Paper. They reviewed the political and economic implications of potential new wage and price controls, with Nixon stressing the need for decisive action to restore public confidence despite resistance from his economic advisors. Additionally, the two discussed the status of a potential Vietnam ceasefire communiqué and coordinated the release timing to align with POW developments.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Good.
Would you call me?
No, I didn't, sir.
Oh, no, I wasn't calling you.
Oh, okay, sir.
Everything here is... Oh, I'll tell you what had happened.
I had called...
I'm sorry.
Somebody said, I had called Ron and just got a little run down.
He told me that about four...
I'd ask him what time he wanted to check with me about 9 in the morning.
He said about 4 o'clock.
You'd know about, perhaps, that you'd give me a call around 4 o'clock.
Right, right.
Fine.
Okay.
Fine.
How's everything?
How are you feeling?
Did you get a good night's rest?
Oh, yes.
We're in good shape.
I talked to John Connolly.
He's down in Jamaica.
Oh, he is, yeah.
Right, so... Did you hold his hand?
Oh, yes.
He's all right.
He's fine.
Is he really?
Yes, sir.
All right.
He's in good shape.
Well, we had a little talk this morning with Bob Finch, who's a little shoring, and he's all right.
He what, needs a little shoring?
Yeah, he did.
He's all right, though.
Well, if you have to shore him, my goodness.
Yeah, well, no, mostly from...
sure he's a good fellow gosh i just hate to have you have to do all these darn things like this but uh no this isn't that's right but it's a good it's a good battle and uh i rather think that we'll be begun to get sort of a plan on it now yes i do too and uh that gave us all a little lift to go to norfolk i thought boy that
and was great on the television.
Was it really?
Yeah, you were as effective as I've ever seen you in speech.
Really excellent.
Good.
And, you know, the way the shots were, it was just an absolutely solid... Ron said that as far as the papers were concerned, the Watergate stuff just dribbles on, but nothing of any major significance.
No, nothing of any major significance, sir.
is and that's the thing yeah and that's we got that thing blocked and we're we're assuming we can hit it tuesday yeah
well you know it's uh now i was just thinking this morning at uh it's rather ironic you know if it weren't for that if it weren't for what uh waller's had in his men cons about dean the signing of him wouldn't pose any particular problem to us no exactly you know what i mean that's right it's the follow-up because it looks as if that dean's stuff that this was all part of a hell of a plot to get the cia to cover the watergate
And God damn it, it was never such a damn thing.
No, that's where the difficulty is.
And I don't know how we explain it, but, well, we will.
Yes, we will.
We can.
We can.
Just hit it right on the nose.
Right.
I want Connolly to get with Schultz and Ash.
Good.
About the economy.
About the economy, yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
really focus in on that yeah i've noticed that i mean the stock market yes and uh you know we had this earlier problem with dupont and perot oh yeah and that's a very key thing and perot's getting nervous so uh oh i see we've got to take a very very hard look at the phase three in the
I know.
I know, I know.
Connolly is all for a very strong move.
The difficulty is that it can't get any of our economists to agree that it would be the right thing to do, but what the hell.
Sometimes you do things for political reasons, even though they're not good economic reasons.
That's right.
And that's what I had already told Schultz et al.
to get together for a meeting with me.
Well, I had told them to be ready.
Well, as a matter of fact, they're going to be ready Wednesday because you see that damn it, Schultz is out of the country or traveling.
These people are always taking too damn many trips, really.
But they basically think they're going to be ready Wednesday, and we've just got to sit down and knuckle down to this damn thing.
That's right.
That's right.
Connolly wants another move like Phase I, doesn't he?
Yes, yes.
And I'm not sure that we're not going to have to do this.
Under any other circumstances, never do it.
Yeah, just do it in order to get the country to feel reassured, even though it may have a bad economic impact, because you need it for political purposes.
Exactly right, and you need this.
It's a confidence problem up on the street.
That's right.
I know that.
I'm keenly aware of it, Al, keenly aware of it.
And I hit Schultz on it hard, and we've got to hit the rest.
As a matter of fact, it might be a pretty good move to make.
I think so.
On your talk, I got another minute with regard to Henry.
He said they thought they would now have a communique.
Yes, he thinks there's a very good chance, and it will
to communicate of course with it but it'll just be words i don't know what it is or does he think it will have some meaning there'll be a ceasefire arrangement and a reinstitution of the ceasefire with the south Vietnamese the green and the northeastern oh good the only fuzzy area remains cambodia yeah yeah well that would be quite an accomplishment wouldn't it yes it would it would be helpful right your view on that would be to
Yeah, I would think follow, I think rather than, I'd let Thursday be POW day.
I wouldn't have it there.
That's right.
Not before Friday.
I'd let this go about Friday.
Yes, and maybe even later.
Right.
Friday or Saturday.
Friday would look into Memorial Day.
Okay.
Good, sir.
Good.
Well, I hope you're in good pedal and ready for the battle now.
Very good, sir.
I think we're on the point now where we've got to fight like hell.
You know one thing that you've got to realize, too, in talking with Connolly, that he always talks in apocalyptic terms, you know.
And on the other hand, he is a fighter.
I mean, he isn't ready to throw in the towel, is he?
Oh, my God.
He isn't like me.
He just thinks to get going.
Now, I quite frankly didn't talk to him substantively.
I talked to Perot.
Oh, I see.
He called me.
Oh, Perot.
Oh, yes.
And...
But what the hell?
Why?
What do we do for him?
Well, in the earlier period of the DuPont problem, he put some $5 million in.
Yes.
And he's getting a run on it.
Yeah, but what's...
He's running short on cash.
But what the hell have we got to do with that?
I mean, are we to blame?
No, no.
No, no.
No.
You know what I mean?
It's a phenomenon that we cannot ignore if DuPont gets under because he pulled
have a real problem i got it sure i get it okay all right well save uh keep trying we can uh get this darned uh message thing is price going to do the major writing now he is but only with as we check him every inch along the way that's right that's right because you know the main thing about this is to not make it
It's got to be matter of fact, positive, strong, non-apologetic, non-hand-wringing.
That's right.
Just whacking it right out and non-defensive.
It cannot be defensive.
How does that, don't you agree?
I think this has got to be a smashing whack-out statement.
that to him repeatedly but we're going to have to see that it turns that way right right right okay buzzard thinks maybe according to ron that he can hold walters up to wednesday but he doesn't know maybe yeah yeah we we think so yeah that'd be a very good if he could yeah let's just finish this uh well we'll
I have to reassure them.
I actually think that when they hear me talk about the damn thing, I mean, except for Simon, they're all going to believe me on this.
Don't you think so?
Yes, I do.
And I say, for Christ's sake, I mean, our purpose was this, this, this, and this.
It was not this, this, this, and this.
And this was, you know what I mean, on that crazy, on the memorandum.
Exactly right.
Right.
Okay.
All right, Mr. Preston.

NARA Description

On May 20, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at Camp David from 10:47 am to 10:56 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 167-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 167-7

Date: May 20, 1973
Time: 10:47 am - 10:56 am
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     President’s schedule
           -Ronald L. Ziegler
                                         -5-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                       Conversation No. 167-7 (cont’d)

Haig’s schedule
     -John B. Connally
           -Jamaica
     -Robert H. Finch

President’s trip to Norfolk, Virginia, May 19
      -Television [TV] coverage

Watergate
     -News reports
     -Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters’s memoranda of conversation [memcons]
           -W[illiam] Stuart Symington
           -John W. Dean, III
           -Apparent Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] cover-up

National economy
     -Connally’s possible meeting with George P. Shultz and Roy L. Ash
     -Stock market
     -Du Pont Corportion and H. Ross Perot
     -Phase III
            -Watergate impact
                  -[Wage and price freeze]
                  -”Theoretical purity’
     -Connally’s view
     -Economists’ views
     -Political motives
            -Compared with economic interests
     -President’s meeting with Shultz
     -Connally’s view
            -Wage and price freeze
                  -Phase I move
                  -Reassurance for country
                        -Political motives
                               -Compared to economic interests
                        -Confidence problem
                        -Wall Street
     -President’s view
            -Shultz
            -Ash
                                             -6-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                              Conversation No. 167-7 (cont’d)

     Vietnam settlement
          -Henry A. Kissinger
          -Communiqué
                -Cease-fire agreement
                -North Vietnam
                -South Vietnam
                -Cambodia
          -Timing of release
                -Prisoners of War [POWs]

     Watergate
          -White House response
               -Connally
                     -”Apocalyptic terms”
          -Haig’s conversation with Perot
               -Investment in Du Pont

     Watergate
          -White House response
               -Forthcoming White Paper
                     -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
                     -Requirements
          -Walters’s memcons
               -Possible release
                     -John C. Stennis’s assurances to J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
               -Symington
               -President’s motives

Also recorded on May 20, 1973

  • 167-005 10:30 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 10:30 am.
  • 167-006 10:30 AM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at Camp David from 10:30 am to 10:44 am.
  • 167-008 10:56 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:56 am and 11:00 am.
  • 167-009 11:30 AM · 14 sec — Camp David operator and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at Camp David at 11:30 am.
  • 167-010 12:26 PM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:26 pm to 12:54 pm.
  • 167-011 12:54 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:54 pm and 2:30 pm.
  • 167-012 2:30 PM · 19 sec — Camp David operator and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at Camp David at 2:30 pm.
  • 167-013 2:30 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 2:30 pm and 2:51 pm.

All 27 conversations from May 20, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 167-007, May 20, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/167-007 (accessed October 12, 2026).