Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 188 › Conversation 188-011

Nixon phone call with Colson on Lobbying tactics and Congressional relations

Thursday, May 18, 1972 · 5:56 PM–8:22 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation188-011 on Tape 188 (tape position 00:39:48–00:41:56)StartThursday, May 18, 1972 at 5:56 PMEndThursday, May 18, 1972 at 8:22 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 188-011 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directed Charles Colson to reorganize administration lobbying efforts to better mirror the aggressive, direct-action tactics used by anti-war radicals. Nixon argued that congressional members were increasingly susceptible to pressure and instructed Colson to coordinate with Clark MacGregor to deploy proactive delegations to secure legislative commitments. The President emphasized that this shift from traditional mail and phone campaigns to face-to-face, intensive lobbying was essential to influence members of Congress effectively.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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the way we work on members of the Senate and how it may not be as effective as it can be, period.
It is quite clear that the opposition, the fiendics, the radicals, et cetera, primarily concentrate not on mail, telephone calls, but on sending delegations and who insist on seeing
and then proceed to work him over and get a commitment from him, period.
Having been in this spot myself on many occasions, I now know how hard it is to turn one of these groups off without saying something that is favorable to their cause, period.
I think you ought to have a discussion in your own shop and also with McGregor.
Okay.
we can get delegations to the system calling on senators and congressmen so that they can hammer home what we want and get commitments from them.
Period.
You have to remember that there are many, there are very, very few people with any backbone in the Senator House anymore and that they are really patsies for a group that comes in and
What we need are some strong, vigorous people who will act just as effectively as our opponents do in going office to office in groups and trying to get commitments from our point of view.

NARA Description

On May 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 188-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 188-011

Date: May 18, 1972
Time: Unknown between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President dictated a memorandum to Charles W. Colson.

     Congress
         -Administration lobbying of Senate and House
              -The President’s view
         -Radicals' and peaceniks' lobbying
              -Methods
                     -Mail
                     -Telephone calls
                     -Delegations

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

                            -President's experience
           -Administration lobbying
                -Colson's office
                -Clark MacGregor's office
                -Delegations to Senators and Congressmen
                      -Purposes
           -The President’s view
           -Reaction to delegations
           -Administration lobbying
                -Methods

Also recorded on May 18, 1972

  • 130-006 5:55 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 5:55 pm to 5:56 pm.
  • 130-007 5:56 PM · 2 min — Unknown person(s) and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972.
  • 130-008 5:56 PM · 1 min — Unknown person(s), Camp David operator, Kenneth T. McLenden, and Robert Mahaffey talked on the telephone at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972.
  • 188-009 5:56 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm.
  • 188-010 5:56 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm.
  • 188-012 5:56 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:22 pm.
  • 188-013 5:56 PM · 40 sec — Unknown person(s) met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972.
  • 188-014 5:56 PM · 20 min — Unknown person(s), Camp David operator, and Kenneth T. McLenden met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David on an unknown date, sometime between 5:56 pm on May 18, 1972 and 11:59 pm on May 19, 1972.

All 90 conversations from May 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 188-011, May 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/188-011 (accessed October 10, 2026).