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

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Colson, Charles W.Conversation190-010 onTape 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 ↗

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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This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 00:34:49 into the tape and ends around 00:44:56.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) ·JSON data · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.

35:56Yeah.
35:57Like, yeah, yeah, that's the, uh, this is where we're at right now, and all that.
37:47I must say, the whole bunch here on the left, because of the way they went off the event after he announced it on Monday.
37:58Really, they did go off there.
37:59I told you, you know, he finds a lot of these things.
38:05There we go.
38:09Right.
38:16He'll kill them.
38:23They bet they were wrong.
38:25It's really tough.
38:34Having somebody hit the top people, you know, the same, you know, the owners of the networks are also affected.
38:53They don't want to be way out there, out of step with the factory.
38:56Keep at it, that's right.
39:04That's right, just so people will find their way around here.
39:11You know, the interesting thing is that I think the Democratic critics, they do find out that they're a little leery that aren't they there.
39:22They're not there as loud as they were about three days ago.
39:25There's nobody better than he is, isn't that true?
40:20Kill her.
40:20We just gotta fight him now.
40:32We gotta fight these two, you know.
40:36I'm scared to kill him.
40:41I'm scared to do that.
40:45That's too bad.
40:50That's right, and then if they want to vote it down in a partisan way, it's fine.
41:07I think they're very right.
41:15Right?
41:22I think they ought to start hitting the dance floor.
41:27Just hard as hell.
41:28And just because Mike is a nice guy, goddammit, he's not for what we're trying to do.
41:32We still get it.
41:35Hell no.
41:37That's right.
41:51I'm circuiting them right now about the painful tomorrow.
41:58Run against them.
41:59Run against them.
42:02Well, anyway, it's a lot different from what it was in the days of AT&T.
42:07Makes us sorry, but not better than we can be.
42:13Sorry, but I don't get on this stuff.
42:14It's their crap.
42:15No, they're at school.
42:17That's right.
42:23They don't care about water pollution and all that crap.
42:26That doesn't matter.
42:26It's not fun.
42:28Revenants are there.
42:29We'll alter everyone.
42:30Oh.
42:31There's nothing coming out of that.

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

                                        (rev. Oct-06)

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]

Also recorded on May 17, 1972

  • 190-006 6:40 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Beverly J. Kaye, and unknown person(s) met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 6:40 pm and 7:33 pm.
  • 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 · 34 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.

All 63 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. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/190-010 (accessed September 18, 2026).