Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 194 › Conversation 194-020
Nixon phone call with Colson on 1972 Presidential Election and George McGovern
Saturday, June 24, 1972 · 7:12 PM–7:34 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 13 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies to undermine George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention. They focus on exploiting perceived political vulnerabilities, specifically McGovern's stances on Cuba, Chile, and the Vietnam War. Nixon emphasizes the importance of framing McGovern as an agent of the intellectual elite whose policies potentially sabotage peace negotiations by encouraging the North Vietnamese to wait for his election.
- 1972 Presidential Election
- George McGovern
- Vietnam War
- Political strategy
- Democratic National Convention
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 7% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.
Hello.
I guess talking to Bob earlier this afternoon, I was very interested that Humphrey was a rough on the cover today.
Did you see that by any chance?
It's the hardest he's hit because, you know, he really laid it on the line on welfare, on defense.
Yeah.
He said, don't turn around.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
He said that we'd get labor if we worked on it.
All right, he's hurting most people.
To visit the Bay up, I was glad to do it.
I didn't feel that any publicity, but I really have to
Well, you know, they wanted me to announce it and have...
If I had done that, I'd have had 150 press people and television cameras that would have talked to me about it.
I don't know how it played, but it was a nice thing, really, a very nice, warm story.
What we did, by just flying over it and not stopping, you know, I just went and talked to the folks a little.
I don't think I played it.
Over and over, people said, we didn't know anybody cared.
And there was a marvelous little picture of a little Negro child about 10 years old who held my hand all for 20 minutes as we walked around.
She was scared to death.
By the way, yeah, what else is new?
But I really think though that this Democratic thing there
platform and the rest is getting very, very interesting.
What do you think?
Or do you think that whatever they've done, they've got it completely under control?
Now, can they keep everybody from raising hell?
Platform thing.
That's probably the algorithm
Why the hell do you think Kennedy said that?
I'm just curious.
What?
Kennedy can't believe that.
Why did he say it?
You don't make sense.
Incidentally, I thought McGregor made a classical error in coming out for normalization of relations with Cuba and Chile.
What do you think?
Did you see that?
I hope that gets down.
I trust that gets down to the Miami people.
They should really get excited now, you know.
Is it, will it get down there?
Because it was a small story that pressed deliberately to help inflate it down.
It's a hell of a statement.
Good.
What'd they say?
They've got to substitute the word McGovern now for a few of these.
Those poor Gibbons who were illegally in the United States will be sent back to the slaughterhouse.
Are they in the bench now?
All right.
Oh, boy, good, good.
That's a good place to have them.
They read everything.
Hey, what's going on?
He won the primaries and everybody said he couldn't.
Now he may think this is the country, you know, people can be convinced of that.
And he doesn't think McGovern will move to the remote center then, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, what do you say?
And I think, incidentally, I'm just hoping that he puts Mills on the ticket, don't you?
That's what it's going to be, I think, don't you?
Really?
Is Gilligan Catholic?
Let's go.
We got to help him.
But McGregor will come out for this.
Has he been against it?
Good.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Right.
Yeah, speaking of it, in L.A., the use of the television thing that I'm here at the moment, that 55-second spot I did on the bus, it played on, it was carried on all three networks.
It was carried otherwise, or they cut out the part that's helpful.
with regard to the Constitution.
That's a cross-check, right?
That's true.
I agree.
Well, it certainly does for us, but we've got to continue to hit the damn thing, so we've got to keep repeating.
I thought it would hurt us.
Yeah, they're all for it.
They're for busting the meat.
The reason, basically, is what we call Middle America, which McEverett's not with, he's not for, and I am.
He's for the Eastern intellectual elite.
Very well, last night, when he was there, he said the only thing that is delaying peace in Vietnam is McEverett.
He said, if it weren't for McGovern, we'd have a negotiation right away.
See, because McGovern has said it.
The day is inaugurated, and he brings it right home.
Well, what the hell?
If you were in North Vietnamese, what would you do?
You'd wait.
That's what I mean.
I mean, Henry and others shouldn't say it at this point, but I hope that some of the other people, the columnists, will start saying it.
The government is sabotaging peace.
This is not a bad thing.
Let me tell you, they're not being any sort of fail in the battlefield.
They're failing at attacking.
They're crumbling up north.
Now what the hell is going to keep them alive?
Just the hope they get a president in who will bug out.
Oh, did he?
That's good.
Absolutely.
That's right.
Particularly with these black pockets she's got.
It begins when the test, which is what, two weeks?
Their platform that begins must begin next week.
Well, I didn't.
I didn't.
I'm just doing what the platform told me to.
Well, then try, okay?
Okay.
We'll see you.
NARA Description
On June 24, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 7:12 pm to 7:34 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 194-020 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 194-20 Date: June 24, 1972 Time: 7:12-7:34 pm Location: Camp David Hard Wire The President talked with Charles W. Colson. ***************************************************************** [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/20/2019. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [194-020-w001] [Duration: 50s] [See also Conversation No. 134-015-w001] ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/20/2019. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [194-020-w002] [Duration: 6m 11s] [See also Conversation No. 134-015-w002] ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/20/2019. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [194-020-w003] [Duration: 3m 25s] [See also Conversation No. 134-015-w003] [End of telephone conversation] *****************************************************************
Also recorded on June 24, 1972
- 134-012 5:50 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 5:50 pm.
- 194-016 5:50 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 5:50 pm.
- 194-017 5:50 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:50 pm and 5:56 pm.
- 134-013 5:56 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 5:56 pm.
- 134-014 5:56 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 7:12 pm.
- 194-018 5:56 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at 5:56 pm.
- 194-019 5:56 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 7:12 pm.
- 134-015 7:12 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 7:12 pm to 7:34 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 194-020, June 24, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/194-020 (accessed October 12, 2026).