On December 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 1:04 pm to 1:16 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 238-020 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 Do not cite this transcript as authoritative.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.
Hello.
Well, I, uh, any further reports on here?
I know.
Well, of course, they're all up to Paul James and so forth.
That's it.
All right.
Try it.
Okay, close.
Well, five's all right.
I mean, it didn't make a difference to me because they can't get it in the magazine this week anyway.
Yeah.
So what do we do if they don't give us, they're taking their own, that we can write down on the wire and suppose they don't give us, we quit.
We quit, we surrender.
And the star editorial, that's great, and they have a full event.
Yeah.
Oh, I know that.
There's got to be some people in Ohio.
If you'll make that up, people in Ohio are just up and saying it.
As I said to Skellig and Collin, the Columbus Dispatch,
And we really ought to put the police right on him.
And I don't think somebody should just call him some reporter.
I don't think anybody should say, what's your comment now?
I see.
I know.
I know.
Right.
No interesting thing, Henry.
I do want to place my call to a state of mind to say that it was funny enough that when he talked to Howard Smith, Howard said, you know, he was very pleased, of course, but he said, you know, he was coming home Thursday.
He told in his broadcast, which we had told him about, and he said that when he had made the broadcast, he was heading to the bomb shelters.
He said he received over 1,500 wires.
of which 98% supported him.
Right.
He said that he couldn't hardly find anything different.
He said this.
So, but now, of course, this is Smith's audience, so they're probably more hawkish, but nevertheless, it's not to be, you know, at least that Smith had a hell
You see, basically, the same group, of course, the star, it's not, it's predictable, and they give us this point, too, because they're a little soft, but, uh, I don't know, all that kind of crap, but, uh, they're just reflecting, like, uh, the softness of the country, but you would, you would think that after the election,
Sometimes we'll have problems with this tomorrow.
They'll say, well, it wasn't necessary.
It was proved that it wasn't necessary.
They'll take me off the line.
What?
Oh, there'd be two for half of us.
Oh, what the hell?
You know, they have battery themselves.
It's not going to be the people, too.
So what the hell?
He has no understanding of how the press is going to play every little bit of months.
That's why he falls into errors.
John had to look very well.
Well, we don't plan to.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I know he would be pleased if it's all over.
Yeah.
Well.
All right.
Cut.
I, uh, this was late, though.
We don't worry about the various press things, and don't worry about the nuances in the TV.
They'll all recover from this and start shining again.
They always do.
But the main point is, I do think that Operation Saxony must not be an excuse.
And I think the tribe in several different ways, but there ought to be some important person in Ohio who may say, I will not support this because of this.
I told you to track this outrageous statement.
Okay.
Yeah.
Good.