Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 169 › Conversation 169-016

Nixon phone call with Haig on Watergate and Spiro Agnew

Wednesday, June 20, 1973 · 9:38 AM–9:42 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation169-016 on Tape 169StartWednesday, June 20, 1973 at 9:38 AMEndWednesday, June 20, 1973 at 9:42 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 169-016 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig reviewed several pressing political and administrative issues, including a potential SEC inquiry involving Melvin Laird and ongoing concerns regarding the Watergate investigation. The two discussed the nervous state of Vice President Spiro Agnew regarding a Maryland investigation and directed J. Fred Buzhardt to contact Attorney General Elliot Richardson regarding reports of witness intimidation. Additionally, they addressed damaging leaks from John Dean to the Ervin Committee and confirmed the strategic rationale behind past White House discussions regarding IRS investigations of political opponents.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Morning, Mr. President.
Hi, Al.
Yes, sir.
How are things going down there?
Oh, just fine, sir.
Good.
All right.
Well, we were up here to use an up gut, so we got to give us a bit.
We don't have to be together too much.
It's going to be a long day.
Yes.
Yes, it will be, Al.
I talked to Mel Lair this morning.
It was a wire piece out.
SEC investigators in New York wanted to talk to him about a man named Ball.
Allegedly, he had intervened.
The inference was he had intervened on behalf of this fellow in the Security Exchange Commission.
Defense is going to handle this thing.
It was a very innocent...
Luncheon meeting with this guy and a number of other business people that Laird had periodically.
Oh, well, that's one thing I'm sure of.
Laird is just... Oh, yes, it's all right, but, you know, they're just trying to run something.
I don't think Laird ought to take it on because... No.
Hypo's a... No, no, no, no, no, no.
Absolutely, absolutely.
It's amazing, isn't it?
By golly, the way they start to go after everybody, don't they?
Yeah, they're after everybody, and the vice president's been very nervous.
He called me.
I know.
I know.
And you decided to have Harlow try to put you in here.
He was in here, so I did it to George Bush on the first run.
That's good.
That's good.
And Senator Bell wasn't as responsive as he might have been, although he's damn upset about it.
So Buzard is just going to talk about the report of intimidating actions to Elliot today.
Just drop a tag, you know, just sort of say we ought to be sure of this.
Talk to Elliot about what they think, that everybody's even being employed in Monagno.
Yes, that are really inappropriate, and he ought to just look into it and be sure that it is right.
The Attorney General of the United States should look into something that is there intimidating the Vice Presidents.
of fact.
Don't you think so?
You're goddamn right, yes, sir.
As a matter of fact, the Attorney General ought to be a little bit more concerned about the President, too.
He has been.
There ain't no doubt about that.
Of course, I know that.
He knows that.
I know.
I know.
Good.
But, uh, that's about, uh, all that's really new.
Right.
We've got a lot of the Dean crap.
Uh, I think we're on his way down.
He has all the, uh, the latest, uh, more stuff, uh,
More stuff, more of the old stuff.
The stuff on Dean, of course, is riding very heavily.
But the Dean is infuriated at the committee and has refused to talk to them because of the leaks about his situation.
Cox has moved to close.
Now, he shouldn't take any comfort from Cox's action.
Oh, God, no.
Because that...
He's probably trying to build a case for immunity for him.
Immunity, you mean?
Yes.
Well, we know what Cox is after, so on the surface it looks good, but it isn't.
Well, I'll talk to Ron about the Iraq area.
But as far as the crap is concerned, I trust there's nothing new, no bombshells?
No, no bombshells.
There was a reference to the IRS business today that the dean allegedly told the committee that you had said that the Democrats used the IRS effectively.
It's time we did or something.
I did.
That's true.
That's true.
That's totally true, Al.
They did use it.
And we talked about it.
We talked about getting something out.
Well, they're going to be very ginger about that.
I talked to Fred yesterday.
He made it very clear to the committee that, yes, there was an investigation of Larry O'Brien.
That's right.
This is what the meeting was about.
That's right.
So they don't want to even talk about that.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, well, we can expect some more of this.
Let's just get it over with.
That's right.
And don't be concerned about it.
Oh, no.

NARA Description

On June 20, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:38 am to 9:42 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 169-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 169-16

Date: June 20, 1973
Time: 9:38 am - 9:42 am
Location: Camp David Study Table

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     Greetings

     Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit
          -Schedule
                 -Duration of meetings

     Melvin R. Laird
          -Conversation with Haig
                -Wire service story concerning Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]
                 investigation in New York
                      -[First name unknown] Ball
                             -Intervention
                             -Defense Department [?]
                             -Lunch meeting
                      -Ronald L. Ziegler’s possible response

     Spiro T. Agnew
           -Maryland investigation
                -Telephone calls to Haig
                -Bryce N. Harlow
                -Haig’s conversation with George H. W. Bush
                -Glenn J. Beall, Jr.’s response
                -J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.’s conversation with Elliot L. Richardson
                       -Report of intimidating actions
                             -Agnew
                       -Role of Attorney General
                             -Watergate investigation
                                            -12-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                            Conversation No. 169-16 (cont’d)

     Watergate
          -John W. Dean, III
                -Stories concerning Ervin Committee
                      -Ziegler
                      -Leaks
                -Possible immunity
                      -Archibald Cox
                -Ziegler
                -President’s use of Internal Revenue Service [IRS], Democrats’ use
          -IRS investigation of Larry O’Brien
                -Buzhardt

Also recorded on June 20, 1973

  • 169-011 9:22 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:22 am and 9:27 am.
  • 169-012 9:22 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:22 am and 9:27 am.
  • 169-013 9:27 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:27 am to 9:30 am.
  • 169-014 9:30 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:30 am and 9:38 am.
  • 169-015 9:30 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:30 am and 9:38 am.
  • 169-017 9:42 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:42 am and 11:21 am.
  • 169-018 9:42 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:42 am and 11:21 am.
  • 169-019 11:21 AM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:21 am and 11:24 am.

All 31 conversations from June 20, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 169-016, June 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/169-016 (accessed October 9, 2026).