Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 205 › Conversation 205-020

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Howard Hughes and Tax investigations

Saturday, August 19, 1972 · 4:22 PM–4:32 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation205-020 on Tape 205StartSaturday, August 19, 1972 at 4:22 PMEndSaturday, August 19, 1972 at 4:32 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 205-020 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman coordinate scheduling for upcoming meetings with Henry Kissinger and Secretary of State William Rogers. The discussion shifts to managing ongoing investigations, specifically involving Howard Hughes and the scrutiny of financial transactions and potential tax implications. They assess the legal and public relations strategy to ensure the administration remains insulated from these investigative matters.

Audio

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NARA Description

On August 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 4:22 pm to 4:32 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 205-020 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 205-20

Date: August 19, 1972
Time: 4:22 pm - 4:32 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

[See Conversation No. 176-10; one item has been withdrawn]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

So, the hemorrhoid will be here at six now.
That can't be it.
Yeah, okay.
Five.
Five.
No.
Yes.
Then on the Rogers thing, shouldn't it make it... Oh, you moved it up a half hour already.
Fine.
Yeah, Rogers at 7 is fine.
Well, it's good that...
I mean, just a little sooner than 7.30, that way this... We'll all be... Well, Henry's going to be tired.
Get that kid done.
It's good for me to get...
I'm still waiting to get back to the...
Sure, I'd like postponing the 1701.
At least we've got a guy working on it like Barnes.
I'm not going to give it a cursory examination.
They're going through his, also, public relations law and the policy, right?
Perfectly, perfectly good cover.
The accused name was independent of any politics.
I'm here to say that we're all for the election.
That's all we have to do.
He may figure he's clean, you know, and so forth.
The guy, you know, he's clean.
Well, also, he just doesn't know what...
He may have something there that...
He may think we know something we don't, too.
He overlooks something.
Yeah.
How are you going to do your best to avoid taxes?
This is your perfect right.
And he comes out and says, no, this is a beautiful thing.
And he starts to blurb about it.
Oh, no, this is with regard to the investigation of Hughes.
Who paid him?
Who paid him?
Who paid him?
And it's because it paid him.
It paid him $190,000.
See, he busts that right over his head.
Right?
He's, you know, paid him.
That paid his son so much for both.
What do you think?
Got you.

Also recorded on August 19, 1972

  • 140-043 3:03 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 3:03 pm.
  • 140-045 3:23 PM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 3:23 pm to 3:36 pm.
  • 205-017 3:23 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 3:23 pm to 3:26 pm.
  • 176-009 3:26 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 3:26 pm and 4:22 pm.
  • 205-018 3:26 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 3:26 pm and 4:22 pm.
  • 205-019 3:26 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 3:26 pm and 4:22 pm.
  • 176-010 4:22 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 4:22 pm to 4:32 pm.
  • 205-021 4:32 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 4:32 pm and 5:59 pm.

All 36 conversations from August 19, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 205-020, August 19, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/205-020 (accessed November 2, 2026).