Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 190 › Conversation 190-010

Nixon phone call with Colson on Political strategy and Media relations

Wednesday, May 17, 1972 · 7:49 PM–8:20 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 10 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation190-010 on Tape 190 (tape position 00:34:49–00:44:56)StartWednesday, May 17, 1972 at 7:49 PMEndWednesday, May 17, 1972 at 8:20 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 190-010 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 648452956 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies for managing public and political opposition following a recent administration announcement. The pair focuses on pressuring Democratic critics and media network owners, concluding that the administration must aggressively confront its political opponents. Nixon emphasizes the need for continued, combative engagement to ensure the opposition remains out of step with the public.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:34:49 – 00:44:56

35:08

190a.mp3

NARA Description

On May 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:49 pm and 8:20 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 190-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 190-10

Date: May 17, 1972

Time: Between 7:49 and 8:20 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

Charles W. Colson talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 131-19; three items have been withdrawn from this conversation]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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If I can have a quiet day.
Alright.
Alright.
Alright.
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, yeah, yeah, that's the, uh, this is where all that.
I'm sorry to speak to you on the side door, too, now.
I'm sorry.
Who will write the letter that's from my book?
I'm sorry.

— 1 min 2 s with no transcribed speech —

I must say the whole bunch here on the left because of the way they went off the event after he announced it on Monday.
Really, they did go off there.
I told you, you know, he finds a lot of these things.
There you go, all right.
Right.
He'll kill him.
They didn't, they thought it was men, they thought it was, they bet they were wrong.
That's what they tell me.
I think even having somebody hit the top people, you know, the same, you know, the owners of the network sign off on those bastards.
They don't want to be way out there, out of step with the factory.
You know, the interesting thing is, I think the Democratic critics, they do point out that they're a little wary of this, aren't they?
They're not there as loud as they were about three days ago.
There's nobody better than he is, isn't that true?
Kill her.
We just gotta fight him now.
We gotta fight these two, you know.
They're gonna kill me, they're gonna fight me back.
That's too bad.
That's right, and then if they want to vote it down the partisan way, it's fine.
They don't ever let them.
They don't ever let them have it.
I think you're very right.
Right?
I think they ought to start hitting the dance floor.
Just hard as hell.
And just because Mike is a nice guy, God damn it.
He's not for what we're trying to do.
We still get it.
Hell no.
That's right.
I'm circuiting them right now about being able to mark them.
Run against them, run against them.
Well, anyway, it's a lot different from what it was in the days of AT&T.
I mean, this is our issue, but not better than it can be.
Our issue, and I don't get on this stuff because they're crap.
No, they're rats.
That's right.
And they don't care about water pollution and all that crap.
That doesn't matter.
It's not fun.
That's it.
We're evidence-bearing.
We'll alter everyone.
Oh.
I don't know.
There's nothing coming out of that.
But even if you take drugs, what the hell can we do that we haven't done?

Also recorded on May 17, 1972

  • 131-016 7:33 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 7:33 pm.
  • 131-017 7:33 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:33 pm and 7:44 pm.
  • 190-007 7:33 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 7:33 pm.
  • 190-008 7:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 7:33 pm and 7:44 pm.
  • 131-018 7:44 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 7:44 pm.
  • 190-009 7:44 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 7:44 pm.
  • 131-019 7:49 PM · 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 7:49 pm to 8:20 pm.
  • 131-020 8:20 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:20 pm and 8:35 pm.

All 65 conversations from May 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 190-010, May 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 648452956). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/190-010 (accessed November 2, 2026).