Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 200 › Conversation 200-008

Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Washington Post and Broadcasting licenses

Wednesday, August 9, 1972 · 10:19 AM–1:47 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation200-008 on Tape 200StartWednesday, August 9, 1972 at 10:19 AMEndWednesday, August 9, 1972 at 1:47 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 200-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon dictates a series of directives to John Ehrlichman regarding post-election media strategy, administrative initiatives, and campaign platform messaging. Key action items include investigating television broadcast licenses held by Katharine Graham's Washington Post, establishing a commission on women's issues to be announced post-convention, and balancing labor platform language concerning U.S.-owned plants in Mexico. Nixon also instructs Ehrlichman to coordinate with Melvin Laird on a speech regarding the F-14 aircraft to address its performance issues.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 61% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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This is the memorandum of Erleman.
Captain Joe Alsop has told Kay Graham.
Joe Alsop says that Kay Graham's anti-IRN attitude is exacerbated by the fact that she believes we are going to deliver the DB licenses that are on some of her stations at the event.
We succeeded in the election very apparently.
Follow up on.
Who has access to the top most people?
We've heard this from looking around.
you want to lay it for your response you can find out that this administration has a impeccable record over the past three and a half years
The story came from all sides.
It is possible that you should do the same as the other people, but handle it the way you like.
Thank you for your confidential information.
I need this whole matter of licenses after the election.
I need the recommendations you have.
I need to have this handled by one of your associates.
no matter how well-intentioned they may be.
It's just kind of very discreet.
Thank you very much.
I'm not going to talk to anyone else about it.
Bert Stein told me he was going to be making a speech in San Francisco about the status of women.
He has an idea that we could set up some sort of commission with regard to it.
I would like to have you discuss this time and then go forward with it.
see that a recommendation gets to me so that I can make an announcement on it.
Perhaps the best way to do this is to hit on it in the platform and then have it as a major statement in the campaign in September, and it will have perhaps more impact than it would have in the present time.
I cannot emphasize too strongly that
You are dealing with what is the only story for the platform committee on a certain day.
Just writing such goodies into the platform gives us very little knowledge.
What we have to do is to present it in such a way that it is a separate story, and it is worth national attention to be presented by me on the state after the convention.
I also talked to Rogers, George Schultz, with regard to the labor department.
And Schultz told me that he was very close touch with you, satisfied that you were kicking ropes and some of the more hard-line people running away with an anti-labor kick.
Very good.
Bill Rogers,
how to find the epoch would be very related to the labor generally, and maybe in particular with regard to plants in Mexico, which compete with the, which are owned by American companies, compete with the plants in the United States.
Epoch's line, which would be, would not be too detrimental, that would not be too, the Mexican government would be very,
I would like to follow through on this, but having in mind the fact that if the language appeals to Mexicans in this country, and the fact that it may here be a Mexican government, it's another concern of ours.
That's your choice to try to develop any other matter in the labor field.
to our clients, which is appealing to me in any point of view.
The meeting is going to take us on a little tilt on our economic policies.
I understand you will appear before our platform committee.
You should be given a bit of hearing.
And our platform should reflect the fact that we listen to you, and we honorly listen to you.
I spoke to him out there about the F-14.
And I thought, you ought to look the ground up and make the same speech on the F-14 that he had made on the F-15.
This is a difficult one for us because of the imperfection of the plane.
And I think Laird's going into the ground could have an enormous effect.
Apparently his appearance in St. Louis was a wallbanger.

NARA Description

On August 9, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 200-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 200-8

Date: August 9, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President dictated a memorandum to John D. Ehrlichman.

     Katharine L. Graham
         -Henry A. Kissinger
         -Joseph W. Alsop's comments
               -Television licenses
                     -Washington Post
                     -Post-election plans

     Herbert Stein
         -Forthcoming speech in San Francisco
                -Women
                   -Need for a commission
                       -Possible campaign statement

     Platform committee
          -Labor platform
                -William P. Rogers
                -George P. Shultz
                     -John J. Rhodes
                 -Rogers
                     -George Meany
                     -Mexican plants owned by US companies
                         -Competition with US plants
                         -Reaction of Mexican government
          -Economic policies
                -Meany

     Melvin R. Laird
         -Possible speech at Grumman
               -F-14
         -Previous speech to McDonnell-Douglas
               -F-15
         -Previous appearance in St. Louis

Also recorded on August 9, 1972

  • 200-005 10:19 AM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 200-006 10:19 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 200-007 10:19 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 200-009 10:19 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 200-010 10:19 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 200-011 10:19 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 200-012 10:19 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 200-013 10:19 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:19 am and 1:47 pm.

All 23 conversations from August 9, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 200-008, August 9, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/200-008 (accessed October 12, 2026).