Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 182 › Conversation 182-002

Nixon, Haldeman & Ehrlichman on Campaign finance and Common Cause

Sunday, October 29, 1972 · 5:22 PM–5:40 PM ET · Camp David Study Desk · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Camp David Operator; Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation182-002 on Tape 182StartSunday, October 29, 1972 at 5:22 PMEndSunday, October 29, 1972 at 5:40 PMRecording deviceCamp David Study DeskSourceNixon Library record for 182-002 ↗

AI Summary

H. R. Haldeman briefs President Nixon on a proposed settlement strategy regarding the Common Cause campaign finance litigation, which would involve disclosing five million dollars in pre-March 1972 contributions to mitigate the negative publicity of Hugh Sloan's imminent testimony. Ehrlichman, along with Maurice Stans and John Dean, argues that settling now and postponing further litigation until after the election is the best way to cut losses. Nixon expresses concern over the public relations impact but ultimately authorizes the team to proceed if they believe it is the most viable option. Additionally, Haldeman and Nixon briefly discuss the distribution of a White House white paper to the press, with the President requesting to limit the release to Vice President Agnew's statements.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Go ahead.
Hello.
Hello.
Sorry to bother you.
Sitting here with Maury Stans and Dick Moore and John Dean, and we're talking about a possible settlement of the Common Cause case.
It would involve the disclosure of about $5 million worth of gifts pre-March, or early March and before.
And contains mostly gifts that are already been printed, like the Hunstone gift, the Dick Scaife gift from the producers, Arthur Watson, people of that kind.
What do you do with the other $5 million?
Pardon?
What do you do with the other $5 or $15 million?
It's litigated later, after the election.
But how do you deal with the propaganda thing of how come you're letting out this $5?
What about the other $5?
You do it under court order.
I see.
And the whole question is one of what the PR impact is versus the PR impact of Hugh Sloan being on the stand starting tomorrow and for the next week telling everything he knows.
sort of an open-ended hemorrhage.
Do you need to decide this right now?
Yep.
They're down in chambers with the judge right now.
And our inclination, I think the consensus in this room is that we're better off to cut our losses.
Morey thinks so?
Yep.
He's actually negotiated a pretty damn good settlement.
Morey has?
Yep.
Who do you negotiate with?
A fellow named Rogovan, who's the attorney on the other side.
And this drops the whole case then?
No, no.
No, no.
What it does, it eliminates a requirement to disclose any expenditures.
It postpones until after the election the litigation of the question of whether the contributions between early March and the April cutoff date.
Should I check this with the president?
Huh?
Should I check this with the president?
Oh, I don't know if I'm in here with him.
I just like your reaction to it.
Okay.
My reaction, if you think we can ride with the...
If you can figure out how we explain why we didn't release the others is fine.
I wish that we'd done it three months ago.
Well, the way we do it is...
We have no concern about releasing it.
There are intervening parties.
Their rights have to be protected.
This is an order that would seem to protect everybody's rights and preserve the litigation to a time of less emotion after the election.
Do you think this comes off all right publicly?
It has problems, certainly.
It's not risk-free.
And we're not sure we can get the settlement.
But it seems to be... My view would be if you guys think you should, that you should.
Okay.
See, the judge has to buy it among others.
Yeah.
And he's a wildfire.
Yeah.
But I want you to know what we're talking about here.
Okay.
And you, Mike, doesn't really know about it if he has any serious objections.
Okay.
All right.
Oh, hello.
Yeah.
Oh, I guess we covered the other thing.
Just a minute.
Hold on for a second.
Okay.
Colson is on this business of dispersing this white paper again to the editors and publishers and says that this is your idea or you're approved it or something.
No, it goes beyond that.
All right, I strongly recommend it.
I want to distribute only the vice president's answers.
Let me call you back on that.
All right, thank you.

NARA Description

On October 29, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Camp David operator, and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:22 pm and 5:40 pm. The Camp David Study Desk taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 182-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 182-2

Date: October 30, 1972
Time: Unknown between 5:22 pm and 5:40 pm
Location: Camp David Study Desk

H.R. ("Bob") Haldeman conferred with the President.

[See Conversation No. 222-13C]

        Instructions

[End of conferral]

Haldeman talked with the Camp David operator at an unknown time between 5:22 pm and 5:40 pm.

        Call to John D. Ehrlichman

Haldeman talked with Ehrlichman at an unknown time between 5:22 pm and 5:40 pm.

        Campaign financing
           -Common Cause case
               -Ehrlichman's meeting with Maurice Stans, Richard A. Moore, John W. Dean, III
                    -Disclosure of five million dollars worth of pre-March 1972 contributions
                        -W. Clement Stone
                        -Richard Scaife
                        -Milk producers
                        -Arthur K. Watson
                        -Remaining amount
                             -Litigation
                        -Public relations
                        -Hugh W. Sloan's, Jr.'s testimony
                        -Tactics
                             -Ongoing court case
                        -Recommendations
                             -Stans's negotiation
                                  -Mitchell Rogovin
                        -Effect of disclosure
                             -Prior and future disclosure
                        -Rights of parties involved in litigation
                             -Moore's recommendation
                        -[Joseph C. Waddy]

        White paper
           -Charles W. Colson
                -Distribution to editors and publishers
                    -Haldeman
                    -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew

Also recorded on October 29, 1972

  • 032-086 10:20 AM · 10 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 10:55 am.
  • 377-016 10:55 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:55 am and 11:00 am.
  • 377-017 11:00 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Edward R. F. Cox, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:00 am to 11:05 am.
  • 377-018 11:06 AM · 13 sec — unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:06 am and 11:36 am.
  • 377-019 11:36 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:36 am and 12:01 pm.
  • 377-020 11:36 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:36 am and 12:01 pm.
  • 377-021 11:36 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:36 am and 12:01 pm.
  • 222-001 12:56 PM · 10 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:56 pm and 8:58 pm.

All 35 conversations from October 29, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 182-002, October 29, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/182-002 (accessed October 5, 2026).