Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 226 › Conversation 226-006

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Personnel management

Friday, November 17, 1972 · 12:40 PM–12:43 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation226-006 on Tape 226StartFriday, November 17, 1972 at 12:40 PMEndFriday, November 17, 1972 at 12:43 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 226-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to coordinate administrative staffing changes and the public messaging surrounding a planned reorganization. Nixon expressed dissatisfaction with Ron Ziegler’s handling of recent personnel announcements and asserted his intent to personally oversee the hiring process for key staff. They concluded by agreeing to establish a definitive cutoff for appointment announcements as part of a broader shift in the administration's structure.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 26% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Hello.
Did you get the announcement for Ziegler?
Yeah.
What's that?
Ziegler isn't here.
Did he drop the bill?
Yeah.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Well, he left, yeah.
Yeah.
What is the problem?
Well, he's wrong about that.
I'm going to hire each one of them myself.
That's the point.
And I don't mean it's that way.
I'm sure that I did this.
I hope he understands.
He's not going to hire them.
I'm going to call them all myself.
Well, the point is, there's a little question.
We've got to get the thing here.
We're not going to change it on and on.
Oh, that's right.
I know you can't because
Yeah, the point is.
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right.
Yeah, okay, fine, fine, fine.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah, that's right, you get the announcement done and so forth.
Exactly, exactly.
As a matter of fact, I don't know if you have to do it, do it, do it.
There must be a cut-off.
I don't know if all of us are doing it wrong.
Or you can just say, say, I understand that this is the first.
But we will say nothing about that second.
We'll have no appointment at the end of the week.
There will be a re-organization of the plan.
Okay, good.

NARA Description

On November 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 12:40 pm to 12:43 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 226-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 226-6

Date: November 17, 1972
Time: 12:40 pm - 12:43 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

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

[See Conversation No. 153-39]
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                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Also recorded on November 17, 1972

  • 153-039 12:40 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:40 pm to 12:43 pm.
  • 153-040 12:44 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:44 pm to 12:45 pm.
  • 226-007 12:44 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 12:44 pm to 12:45 pm.
  • 153-041 12:45 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:45 pm and 12:49 pm.
  • 226-008 12:45 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:45 pm and 12:49 pm.
  • 153-042 12:49 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:49 pm to 12:50 pm.
  • 226-009 12:49 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 12:49 pm to 12:50 pm.
  • 153-043 12:50 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:50 pm and 1:04 pm.

All 27 conversations from November 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 226-006, November 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/226-006 (accessed October 9, 2026).