Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 238 › Conversation 238-009

Nixon phone call with Colson on William Saxbe and Political strategy

Saturday, December 30, 1972 · 12:06 PM–12:15 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation238-009 on Tape 238StartSaturday, December 30, 1972 at 12:06 PMEndSaturday, December 30, 1972 at 12:15 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 238-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss a political strategy to discipline Senator William Saxbe for his public criticisms of the administration's bombing policies. Nixon directs Colson to pressure Ohio political figures, including Robert Taft and various congressmen, to force a public retraction or threaten the withdrawal of political support. The President emphasizes the need for a swift, aggressive response to marginalize dissenters and ensure party loyalty during sensitive diplomatic negotiations.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yeah.
OK. Hello?
I hope you gave Scali a little pat on the back.
No, I guess it's too dangerous.
Yeah.
Good.
Scott, does Henry think I should?
What about this week?
Maybe we're wrong.
Scott's pretty sensitive.
He's here to run.
No, we can't while negotiations are going on.
He'll raise hopes.
Go ahead.
Who else are you talking to?
All right.
Yeah, sorry.
This is all set.
to make as many as they can.
Now they're trying to make brownie points with a hell of a lot of people.
So if you would get the tenants, Carl, who was crowded, he would scallop and join in to, you know, help.
And, you know, you could use anybody you want around there.
And that just, people love to be called.
You know, they're getting the line.
Do you hate what he said?
Remember, Taft made a good statement at the beginning.
I haven't thought.
I don't know who was close to Taft.
But here's a chance for him to step up and become the last to be president.
And that's an actual thing.
Why doesn't he slap his colleagues under the wrist today?
You could say Bob.
Bob, you could say first that it's, as I think you should know, that why don't you go a little distant with the president?
And you mentioned when he came out, you know, for the month and said he's to put the president back on the National Authority.
that I recall the fact that when we had the famous Spunk controversy in 1952, the first man to speak up in my defense was his father.
And I just remembered that, and I said, nice, and there's something that Bob Taft would step up to the top of my fist and tell him that together.
And that would say, now look, that maybe he could just sort of take, you see, we cannot let the writer, at this early time, let his sex speak, get away with it.
Let him out of the census.
Now, Bob may not speak up.
Now, the other thing is, get a hold of McGregor or somebody.
You know, it's the Ohio situation.
I mean, I suppose we just don't have any political people around anymore, do we?
I mean, we're in a government.
But my point is, I would think that some of the two or three top Nixon people in Ohio, in other words, that's our state, ought to say, we will not support Saxby until he apologizes to the president.
And I'd have that said.
Somebody should call Preston Wolk of the Columbus Dispatch.
The editor out there is a great friend of ours.
And an editorial should be so written.
Maybe her client is out now to this and isn't around.
Clausen could call him and say, Carl, this is the most disgraceful thing.
This is a town in an uproar.
Here are the Democrats and we're standing by.
He said this and now that he's got to be taken to task for it.
Now, I really mean now, we've got to goodell this guy.
That's what I think we have to do.
But he should be, somebody should even call him and say, this man would say, look, regret it.
No, he'll then say, well, the bombing was unnecessary.
And then he just, all right, I'll just hang right up on him.
But I want, you understand, let's do it.
Now, Devine, I think, is the better man.
have both put into the sort of way our divine and the regularities and the leadership.
And I'd say, I will not support him.
I will not support him for the Senate unless he retracts that statement.
Just put it on cold turkey.
Now there's divine.
We got any other congressmen that might speak up for us out there?
Bud Brown.
I'd even call him and say, Bud,
And then Tad could just say a shocking thing for his colleague to say this.
If you take that as a special project, I think we ought to knock him right out of the ballpark, and hard and fast, but now, before he has a chance to crawl off.
Yeah.
People love to get calls, and they say they heard a call from us, and we consulted with everybody.
call some Democrats as well, you know, the good Democrat types.
Well, I'm going to wait a half hour.
Well, I'll wait.
I maybe don't have to call him.
I just wanted to be on his level.
He called me, but he's not pitching his
should call, you know, particularly out at the Congress Center.
You can call some of the top political types.
You know, I mean the opinion maker types.
It's good with the Howard Smith types.
Oh, what happened there?
Crosby was, or the Steyr was going to go.
Did they?
They just got it in time, didn't they?
I'm not sure.
I don't know whether they have the old, they made the black constituency, they're trying to outfit
interview and everything.
What the hell are we doing?
What's the matter with your friend Smith's Hempstone, right?
You grabbed that.
Ancestors, right?
But what if I say they're going to change
It's almost another thing, too.
We really find out that there are stand-up people here, don't we?
They all get out way at the end of the line.
We just saw that thing up, and it probably is, you know, as tough as it has been, it's probably just as well to get the sex beats and the others to hell out on their lens.
Let's find out.
And Henry Stoole found friends at Harvard.
He now realizes there are no friends at all.
Did you get mine, Anne?
Fine.
Good.
Okay.
Fine.
Fine, I'll be back.
I'll call you in 15 minutes.

NARA Description

On December 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 12:06 pm to 12:15 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 238-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 238-9

Date: December 30, 1972
Time: 12:06 pm - 12:15 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 158-47]

Also recorded on December 30, 1972

  • 158-043 11:52 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at 11:52 am.
  • 158-045 11:53 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:53 am and 11:54 am.
  • 238-007 11:53 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 11:53 am and 11:54 am.
  • 158-046 11:54 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 11:54 am to 11:56 am.
  • 238-008 11:54 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 11:54 am to 11:56 am.
  • 158-047 12:06 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 12:06 pm to 12:15 pm.
  • 158-048 12:15 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:15 pm and 12:27 pm.
  • 238-010 12:15 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 12:15 pm and 12:27 pm.

All 64 conversations from December 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 238-009, December 30, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/238-009 (accessed October 11, 2026).