Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 232 › Conversation 232-007

Nixon phone call with Colson on Personnel appointments

Wednesday, November 29, 1972 · 10:10 AM–1:47 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation232-007 on Tape 232StartWednesday, November 29, 1972 at 10:10 AMEndWednesday, November 29, 1972 at 1:47 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 232-007 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson met at Camp David to discuss staffing and administrative strategy following the 1972 election. They reviewed personnel decisions regarding various appointments, including the retention of Erwin Griswold and the strategic selection of individuals based on demographics such as religion, geography, and gender. Nixon directed Colson to coordinate with colleagues on building political capital in the House and establishing the framework for the administration's future organizational and foundation goals.

Audio

Download MP3 · 10.3 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 14% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Yeah.
Oh.
Uh, Donald, you got Brandon lost, right?
I mean, you, but the main thing is you made the necessary calls to me.
I mean, it shows to me that you called the restaurant.
You covered yourself for me.
I wasn't able to get a fan story.
Well, I guess that's all right.
And signal.
Oh, good, good.
Good.
Well, they seem as pleased.
Right, right, right, right, right, right.
Now, we're on at 12, middle of the marble, all over the middle of it.
And I want you and him and
I'm going to be very busy there because I've got shows all morning on economics, and I've got Connelly, and I've got Henry Saturday.
But I want you and, if you and Hurley, and you and Hull, and Hurley and Hurley, to a large extent, it would be suggestive to sit down and work out some of the game plans with regard to the, not only the outside operation, but also the political cloud in the house, and the way how it's like people are going to do, what kind of a facility we're going to have.
You've got the time, haven't you?
What I mean, there isn't really anything we have to do right now.
Now the brand has launched.
Yeah, well, they'll discuss that.
I don't understand how that affects them.
They're so busy with each other.
That's where they're on the track, you know.
Oh, listen.
I'm telling you.
Mary was a hell of a time client.
Do you want to keep Griswold?
Yes, isn't Griswold 70?
Get that letter to Erwin, please.
I tried to get that thing to him.
It just showed you exactly what he's up to.
I'm keeping him for a reason.
He has an issue with hearing.
When they come out on the count, have we ever got the final count yet?
Yeah, we've had so many.
When they certify, now does this include the absentee?
You see, some of these people, okay.
You can throw down all that, I know.
61.1, but we don't know whether it's 61.101 or 61.008.
What we want to do is shade it a little bit.
Why is it going to be done?
No stories have been written about it.
I think that's one hell of a big boost in the end.
Don't you agree?
All right.
I'm getting bored, right?
I wanted to get some of the positive with that, but I guess you got the negative first.
Good, that's fine, that's fine with me.
I'm not reading file before.
Frankly, I'm not reading into the summary because I've got to concentrate on more important things.
Right.
Well, if you get on the plane and then, as I said, I won't see any of you, as a matter of fact, but I want you to get down there
I want you to work up the list of people to stay the hell out.
I want you to get up what we're going to do in the foundation.
I want you to work on the business about who we keep in.
I want you to get down to these people.
You know what I mean?
You know the things to do.
Fine.
Because everybody is all quick and long now.
Now that we got past the big ones.
I took Brenninger today.
Brenninger is good because we just had to have somebody to
I hope he's agreed to take it away.
So that takes care of that.
But Greiniger is an Irish Catholic from California.
Hell yes.
Hell yes.
Yeah.
An Irish Catholic from California.
That's right.
Yeah.
And so, Megan, this is one that we just can't talk about because of goals.
But with Scalia, do you have
You've got three.
You've got two Democrats and three Catholics.
No, four of them.
Good.
Well, I didn't want you to because I want you both to all do under that and I'm out of it.
But remember, be sure the South gets in there.
Be sure women get in there.
There's one...
Feel good about going on.
Good.
This feels good.
Hall.
Hall.
Good.
I gave yesterday.
I said, no, Jerry, he's close to Hall.
You can work it out with all of us in terms
Okay, bye.

NARA Description

On November 29, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 232-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 232-7

Date: November 29, 1972
Time: Unknown between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 156-14]

Also recorded on November 29, 1972

  • 156-012 10:10 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 156-013 10:10 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 156-014 10:10 AM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 156-015 10:10 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 156-016 10:10 AM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George H. W. Bush talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 156-017 10:10 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 156-018 10:10 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.
  • 156-020 10:10 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 1:47 pm.

All 33 conversations from November 29, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 232-007, November 29, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/232-007 (accessed October 10, 2026).