On June 9, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 5:27 pm to 5:36 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 192-016 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
They welcome the conquering hero.
Oh, I remembered so many years ago, yes.
That's when I, that's when, yeah, yeah, yeah.
As a matter of fact, that was the time, you know, Walter Annenberg had never been for me before that appearance.
And he was there that day, and he was, he and his wife were kind of taking the whole thing.
And that was before 56.
And after that, Anna Bird became one of my strongest supporters.
That was, you know, sure you wonder why you do these things, and that was really worth it because ever since then.
That's right.
It's true.
If you don't, you're a damn fool.
Yeah.
Well, I was telling Mitchell this morning, I mean, Andrew, I was...
What really surprised me was the good picture they finally used.
One of you eventually said, isn't that great?
It was good, whether it was good in the Times, too.
Times and the Post.
Don't think it's going to last, though.
Don't think it's going to last.
But you must work on it.
Yeah, I know.
And don't get soft on it.
That's what I hope John got to give you my message, John, eventually.
Because Connolly, Connolly, he left, he said, now listen, he's a great fighter.
He said, well, he just jumped right in.
He said, it's because he had a hard fight.
He had to get softer.
And he's absolutely right.
Oh, boy, I'll tell you, he's a stand-up guy.
Yeah, and he's pretty helpful at another time, too.
But the...
On this, your deputy thing, when we were up here today, I talked to him, he had a great length, and I'd like to talk some more with him, but we got a problem on it for a reason, it's solely political.
I'm going to have to probably lead to it in Dan Lee-Waterfield, because it costs five billion more than we asked for, you know, and the money thing is a problem.
that bill and then booing Ruckelshausen at the same time, while I don't think much of the environmental issue, it could, I think, present a very serious problem.
So I'll talk to him about it and see what we can work out.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I've done the magic of depending on, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So I know that.
But why don't, yeah, why don't you, why don't you, I have decided, I just told John to talk to you about the problems and see if there were any other candidates that could be, that difficulty is, Ruckelshaus is an excellent man for any position, you know what I mean?
He's a man that is of cabinet stature, as we both know, and he's also
Yeah, or he could also be a damn good senator from Indiana, which would be the right guy.
Yeah, yeah.
I know.
I know.
He could do anything.
The problem is that this stinking environmental issue is one where we just can't give them money if they want.
I don't know.
Anyway, talk a little about it and see if you've got any other names.
We're going to have a square.
Oh, it is open.
It is open.
I haven't presented all the arguments, and I just, they feel very strongly about the environmental issue.
My mind is open.
See what the options are.
Without swearing in Monday, I think we're going to do, we're going to have you and Schultz and Weimer together.
Three of you in one bag.
I figured that's the only way we, the only way we can fill the, the only way we can fill the East Room is after we get it together.
No one of you has got that many friends, have you?
You know, I was thinking, you know, 19 votes was a pretty shoddy showing for those bastards after all that.
Got it.
Well, of course, they were all, except for Bob Byrd, Liberal Democrat, and he did it for a reason that we're well aware.
They were against you on busing and they had to be against you on, uh, slaughter.
And so, how do you, how do you like that burger court now, boy?
They've been doing well, don't you think?
Those, those, that five and four, that last one.
One more man.
Yeah, who you gonna shoot?
Yeah.
Boy, nothing.
Nothing else is, nothing else is.
I think they've tried everything on him, haven't they?
Nothing works.
Well, I imagine there are many that would be willing to make the sacrifice.
Let's do it.
Anyway.
No, this is actually being called from Camp David.
We're on a radio telephone, so we're broadcasting it to all the papers.
and he's listening yeah yeah we were we we we're not going to run for many fights after after what we've uh the next week and we were right you know we just had to stick through it and uh and uh and we there for a while the crunch looked awful awful tight but uh
I think that strategy was good, too, to get those handkerchiefs closed off, and we did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, no.
I agree.
Yeah.
I agree that it was right to have the hearing and then get that 11-4 vote with our 9-4, whatever it was.
11-4.
That, you see, was the critical thing.