On October 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 1:03 pm to 1:10 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 217-026 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 Do not cite this transcript as authoritative.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.
Well, the radio is an easy way to do it.
I was saying to Alex and Chuck, we might do a few more, the point being that
It's a very easy way.
It's a way to cover substance.
All these assholes are saying we're not talking about anything.
We're all negative.
Just put it out.
Who can squeal?
It's hard for a little bit better coordination and preparation so I don't get four drafts, but it's all right.
It worked out.
But the whole thing is a...
If you do it in a quiet way, you can make the points and be in the papers.
Well, there were things wrong, but that's why I worked on it all day.
We changed it.
That's early.
That's very good.
Excellent.
Think about it incidentally.
Get them busy immediately on a good farm speech with a particular emphasis on farm exports.
That's the way to do it.
And I should do that in Chicago if not there, if not earlier.
See?
Because the farm speech
The way to handle these special interest groups is to make speeches on radio.
They make a difference whether, you know, you can make a farm speech or you can make one of the two-eyed chimpanzees and nobody gets to death.
You know, one should be, I think, on, I think we ought to also hit the age of private schools in a radio speech.
What do you do with that?
Just hit it.
That would be an enormous impact on the people that you need.
And, uh,
But you see, I know that the, and I agree with, I agree with you should to an extent that race, oh, failing is mainly the sort of the high level, our goals for the future, our dreams for America and all that.
That's fine.
One, maybe at most two on that.
But as far as votes, that's good for the, for the intellectuals.
As far as votes, it's the thing that hits them.
That's why I wrote in this stuff on welfare on the 16th.
Make the will for a point of count.
Huh?
And that's why I wrote in the thing about their $100 billion budget.
People have forgotten that.
So, yeah, there's an argument.
I'm just simply stating the fact.
Now they'll answer.
Otherwise, it would have been too bland, Bob, that's my point.
For me just to go on radio and talk about a $250 million season when the survey collection is too bland.
We had to have a couple of needles in there to make it, you know, to raise it to the level where it's newsworthy.
And no, at no, I mean, you know, the four-year commitment, you know, taxes, that commitment to the property taxes, that's all, we've said it all before, we repeat it.
But anyway, I think that the idea of they get the speech team there,
Get hunting.
You can do one up here, you know.
That would drive them right up the wall, too, to just ease out trying to make these speeches to audiences.
So I just radio the goddamn thing.
Mm-hmm.
The beauty of this thing is that we can get the substance and radio is not an instrument.
Nobody can say we aren't discussing the issues.
But I'd crack one again before we go to a wedding.
If we could get Ray going on one, I don't want to go on an actual offense because, well, maybe we should because that's going to be the big issue when I'm trying to get closer to the rest of it.
He told, he said that you, that the, that the, the VR guys can't get a Vietnam ad ready, you know, or anything on Amnesty or anything, despite their, their approach to that.
I guess that you may well find that the way campaigns go is a big issue for the next two weeks, maybe Vietnam.
And there really ought to be an ad about he wants to turn Vietnam over to the communists.
There ought to be one on Amnesty.
But if we can't get it, we can't do it.
Thank you.
Yeah.
And also, if he talks about this subject, he's going to find it's damn hard to talk about it.
They're just the main thing they'll screw about what we did in the war in four years.
Then our people can come back hard and bash and everything he's done wrong.
Are those the news yet?
run them heavily heavily heavily this week must do it I think it's very important because if they're going to have a program that deals with this you know that it's going to be healed and cured by as many as we think our commercials could go in there don't you think so?
because those are positive so good good that's good okay good