Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 193-008 Date: Wednesday, June 7, 1972 at 9:22 AM Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W. Recording device: Camp David Hard Wire Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/193-008 This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (google/gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference. Verify against the audio before citing. [57:14] COLSON: [unintelligible] Hello, Chuck. Put some of the wood out [58:25] NIXON: Chuck, I think the biggest thrill in the world for those White House secretaries to get to see this house. [58:33] COLSON: Oh, sir, especially to have dinner with you, sir. That's [58:36] NIXON: Well, but they they see me around, but to see this place they go for more of them This place only the [58:48] COLSON: That's right. It's just a very few people. That's right. [58:55] UNKNOWN: Would you like this lit off now? [58:58] NIXON: No, no, I'm going to get up, sit at the desk. I'll save the fire. [1:03:29] NIXON: Colson, please. [1:03:37] COLSON: He's been sitting with, he was with [unintelligible] this morning for three hours [unintelligible]- [1:03:41] NIXON: The Democrats could do the party system an immense service by, by letting him walk off the cliff. [1:03:48] COLSON: That's right. [1:03:49] NIXON: It'd be very hard to recover from it, mind you, but I don't see how they can live with him. [1:03:56] COLSON: They can't. [1:03:57] NIXON: Because he will tear up, tear down that party. You see, with Goldwater, Goldwater came from the mainstream of the conservative party- [1:04:08] COLSON: Sure. [1:04:09] NIXON: -wing. But this fellow does not- [1:04:11] COLSON: No, this is- [1:04:12] NIXON: He's from the radical movement- [1:04:14] COLSON: -it's the SDS movement- [1:04:17] NIXON: -which is- [1:04:18] COLSON: -it's the, it's the draft dodgers, it's- [1:04:21] NIXON: Yeah. [1:04:22] COLSON: -it's everything that people can't stand. [1:04:25] NIXON: And it's a movement that, too- [1:04:27] COLSON: Pot smokers. [1:04:28] NIXON: -it's a movement, too, that rejects traditional Democratic- [1:04:33] COLSON: That's right. [1:04:34] NIXON: -principles. Liberal, but responsible. You know, labor, the, [unintelligible] the church, foreign policy. [1:04:43] COLSON: Yeah. [1:04:44] NIXON: God, Harry Truman, think of him. [1:04:47] COLSON: Oh, they, God, John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt. I mean, my God, Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't be caught dead in the same room with McGovern. He'd put him in jail. [1:04:55] NIXON: That's right. [1:04:56] COLSON: Put him in a concentration camp. [1:04:59] NIXON: He sure as hell would. [1:05:01] COLSON: [chuckles] He would. [1:05:02] NIXON: Roosevelt threw the communists in jail [unintelligible] World War II. Roosevelt threw, uh, had them picked up. And the, uh, Roosevelt had the, uh, you know, the Bundists. [1:05:15] COLSON: Sure. [1:05:16] NIXON: And [unintelligible] they were [unintelligible]. [1:05:17] COLSON: And he put, and he put the, uh, Japanese in camps. [1:05:20] NIXON: Roosevelt took people and, who were basically un-American and had them locked up. [1:05:28] COLSON: Locked up. That's right. [1:05:29] NIXON: He wasn't, he didn't coddle them. [1:05:31] COLSON: No, sir. [1:05:32] NIXON: [unintelligible] [1:05:33] COLSON: No, they did- [1:05:35] NIXON: Civil liberties? Shit, no. [1:05:37] COLSON: Civil liberties didn't mean anything when you were messing with Roosevelt. No, sir. [1:05:42] NIXON: So here, McGovern is, uh, McGovern's an SDS candidate, isn't he? [1:05:48] COLSON: That's what he is. [1:05:49] NIXON: It's very good. [1:05:50] COLSON: It's the radical left fringe. What has happened to him is that, well, you know how he got started, he was the guy the peace movement gathered around. [1:06:00] NIXON: That's right. [1:06:01] COLSON: Then in 1968, they didn't know, they didn't have anywhere to go when Bobby Kennedy was killed, they went with McGovern. He became chairman of the Commission to reform the party. [1:06:12] NIXON: Reform the party. [1:06:14] COLSON: So all of the SDS guys, people like, uh, Fred Dutton, and [chuckles] those other [unintelligible] intellectuals. [1:06:23] NIXON: Gary Hart. [1:06:24] COLSON: Gary Hart. Yeah. They captured the, the mechanism. Now they've captured, for that crowd, a guy who's like a puppet for them, they've captured the, the nomination. [1:06:35] NIXON: Yeah. [1:06:36] COLSON: And, uh, nobody in the country's going to stand for it. [1:06:39] NIXON: Well, the point is this, Charles, that, uh, having won California, what happens there? All the California fat cats take off their, throw in their, pick up their, go on home? [1:06:54] COLSON: They won't, none of them will work for McGovern. I know them, none of them will work for him. Some of them will work for you. Most of them will sit on their hands. [1:07:02] NIXON: Well, they don't, but the main thing is, we've got to be sure they don't finance him. He's broke, you know? [1:07:09] COLSON: He's badly broke. [1:07:11] NIXON: They lost a lot of, he must have spent a lot of money in California. [1:07:15] COLSON: Oh, they, oh, the people had to go out and borrow for him, yeah. [1:07:18] NIXON: And they, who's going to, Humphrey's people aren't going to raise any money for him. [1:07:24] COLSON: Humphrey's got a four-million-dollar deficit from '68, and God knows what this one's cost him. [1:07:30] NIXON: Humphrey's through. [1:07:31] COLSON: Humphrey's finished, and the fat cats have had him up to here, so Humphrey can't get any more money. [1:07:37] NIXON: No. [1:07:38] COLSON: And Humphrey's fat cats despise McGovern anyway. They wouldn't touch McGovern. [1:07:43] NIXON: Who were the guys backing Humphrey, do you know? [1:07:45] COLSON: Uh, a lot of the, the big Jewish money out there, which really dislikes McGovern. [1:07:50] NIXON: [unintelligible] like, uh- [1:07:52] COLSON: Gene Wyman. [1:07:55] NIXON: Wyman. [1:07:56] COLSON: Gene Wyman is- and, in fact, Wyman has, you know, passed the word to us that if McGovern is the nominee, he'll work for us. He did that two months ago. Said he wouldn't touch McGovern with a 10-foot pole. And the rest of the, the, you know, the big- [1:08:11] NIXON: Is Paul Ziffren with him? [1:08:12] COLSON: Ziffren has been with him. Mark Boyar, you know, our friend Mark Boyar is, uh, very close to [unintelligible]. He's raised a lot of money. Mark's coming with us. He told, and his father. [1:08:22] NIXON: Louis Boyar. [1:08:26] COLSON: Louis Boyar is already with us. He gave us 50,000 before April 7th. [1:08:29] NIXON: Did he, really? [1:08:31] COLSON: And promised he would do everything he could for us, and he was the, you know, he was the guy- [1:08:35] NIXON: Did I ever drop him a note? [1:08:37] COLSON: Uh, I don't know that you did. [1:08:39] NIXON: Get an excuse for me to write him. [1:08:41] COLSON: I will. [1:08:43] NIXON: Drop him a note. Mark Boyar? [1:08:44] COLSON: Louis Boyar. Mark's the son, Mark's with Humphrey. He's been the money man for Humphrey. [1:08:49] NIXON: Yeah. [1:08:50] COLSON: Louis is the father, Louis has made all the money. [1:08:52] NIXON: Yeah. [1:08:53] COLSON: And, uh, Louis was Harry Truman's major contributor in 1948. In fact, he's the guy who put Truman back on the train when he ran out of money. [1:09:00] NIXON: Yeah, that's right. [1:09:01] COLSON: And they're, uh- and Lou Boyar's really with us. [1:09:05] NIXON: Well, the point is, I just think McGovern's- that everybody should let him, don't, you know, we don't, we can't endorse him, but McGovern is the guy, we, that we, we have the better case against. [1:09:18] COLSON: Oh, infinitely. [1:09:19] NIXON: Infinitely. [1:09:20] COLSON: A 100 times better, we, you know, you can't compare. [1:09:24] NIXON: And, uh- [1:09:26] COLSON: You know, in Texas, it means that John Connally and the Democrats who want to deliver Texas for us can really deliver it. McGovern won't get 30% of the vote in Texas. [1:09:35] NIXON: No. [1:09:37] COLSON: And down south, we sweep the South, there's no question about it. And we win all the big blue-collar states. [1:09:44] NIXON: Well, we'll see, you know, we, I, I've got to see, Chuck. These elections don't, they don't, in other words, the big blue-collar states are very, uh- [1:09:55] COLSON: Tough. [1:09:56] NIXON: -labor bosses are very, very tough.