Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 249 › Conversation 249-021

Nixon & Buchanan on White House surveillance and Press strategy

Thursday, April 15, 1971 · 4:42 PM–4:52 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 8 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Buchanan, Patrick J.Conversation249-021 on Tape 249 (tape position 02:32:14–02:40:47)StartThursday, April 15, 1971 at 4:42 PMEndThursday, April 15, 1971 at 4:52 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 249-021 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Patrick Buchanan met to discuss media strategy for an upcoming interview with the American Society of Newspaper Editors and to address recent negative press regarding White House surveillance. The two reviewed reports from The Washington Post concerning security cameras at San Clemente and Camp David, framing the surveillance as a necessary security measure rather than an invasive practice. Additionally, they touched upon the political impact of the administration's recent People's Republic of China initiative and the role of the FBI in managing civil unrest.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I think all of this stuff about
Sometimes I'll just kick that one off.
I'm going to use the line.
Exactly, exactly the same.
Standing with parents.
I'm just going to kick it off.
The way you handle it now, three years ago, is the way it is now.
Yeah.
The mix there.
Some of it was light, some of it was deep.
Yeah.
Is that a good statement?
Well, you can't tell a question.
I think it allows the worst precedent to sit on that.
The surveillance industry exists.
The height of the ridiculousness was reached when they got out of the election post this morning and showed the picture.
There's the White House room.
And the campers have been there for years.
And Clement.
And they're also on Camp David and everybody.
So you know what they had to do?
They didn't have to go out of that camp.
They just had to have men up there shooting guns.
I don't know what they did.
But if they want somebody to come up there with a bazooka and bop lobby at the party, who the hell do they think the campers are there for?
They're spying on somebody now.
It's really, I mean, this whole idea that everybody's being watched, and there must be men, I think, in this room right now.
It's every place, honestly, where a public figure is, and there are other figures, other people around.
You know, we didn't listen to Mr. Baylor's capacity for the people who ran in when he was there.
It was a huge shock to me.
I don't think that's a...
I don't think they were able to find a way to shoot it through themselves.
They had to pass through a hundred gardens to do it.
It was like they were all fed into one.
You know, I mean, it was a little bit of a solid ground, but they had something on it that was interesting.
Yeah, they had that ready.
They had a pump and a squad.
But I think that there was something there.
I don't know what the hell they did, but you know that all of these public meetings with the FBI, they might have been tailing somebody.
I mean, it must be bad, but I can say that they always said that the FBI usually is the party in order to see the truth.
They protect the president because they're chasing around.
I think that's right.
I think that's right.
I think that's right.
Is that right?
Yeah.
And they put musketeers in Madtown as well.
It's kind of a mix-and-match.
It's kind of a mix-and-match.
You know, mix-and-match means musketeers.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
See, this was a radical mutt in Madtown.
But when they want to hear some kind of mutt, they're musketeers coming in.
Everybody's going to want to meet up in the barn.
They'll want to hear it all.
They'll do it all already.
It's a very tough shot hoover.
uh, voting, or potentially not voting, and we got, by the way, a hand-level vote by, gosh, the M.D.I.
and the, uh, the, uh, damn high public extinguisher.
Uh...
You know, I feel that the message is sort of a cheap shot at these federal agencies.
You know, they're all Catholic.
They're all Irish-born Catholics.
They're all solo Catholics.
And this is very high regard for people from the Catholic community.
It still is.
And just, if we can spend it on something like that, we ask the institution, which doesn't like even the civil rights here, you know,
Right.
Right.
Right.
See, the youth culture, they really believe, they really believe this is the police.
They really believe this.
They are, but the other people really believe it.
And so, I don't know how to answer it, but I'll say it isn't.
I'll go back to the room and see how creepy it is.
And I think I'll just put it in with the other stuff.
I've made some other stories.
And, uh...
They're probably senior guys.
I'm glad we're not so much.
I know.
It's much better.
Do you agree?
It's much better.
I overrode everybody on that.
I know everybody thinks it's such a great show.
Bullshit.
I think the thing to do is to go up there and make it their show this time.
Yeah.
Sure, that was the greatest show we've had in just about six to eight weeks.
And Rockwell was over at his famous... Well, it won't be like that this year.
Actually.
What made that show was not what we did for the Rock and Rollers.
Remember, he came down to the Rebellion.
He was Bob.
He was the director for it.
Yeah.
And then we came back from the great Q&A, everybody got a handkerchief in charge of it.
Also, the $100 came home.
But, uh, this year...
So, with God, man, it takes a long time, you know?
And this move that we've made, it comes with it.
I don't know if they're going to face you.

NARA Description

On April 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:42 pm to 4:52 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 249-021 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 249-21

Date: April 15, 1971
Time: 4:42 pm - 4:52 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Patrick J. Buchanan

     Foreign policy
          -Henry A. Kissinger
                -Schedule

     Press
          -Possible response
          -Routineness
          -Subpoenas
     Surveillance
          -Washington Post story about White House cameras
                -San Clemente and Camp David
          -Edmund S. Muskie
                -Earth Day
                      -Rennie Davis
                      -Unknown black Communist leader
          -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
          -Secret Service
                -Protection of President
          -Muskie
                -Earth Day
                      -Actions of participants
          -FBI
                -J. Edgar Hoover
                -Catholics
                -Status
                -Hoover
          -Youth culture

     Forthcoming interview at convention of American Society of Newpaper Editors, April 16,
          1971
          -Participants
                -Associated Press [AP], United Press International [UPI]
                -Emmett Dedmon
                -Eugene V. Risher
          -Strategy
          -Nelson A. Rockefeller
                -1968 interview

     People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
          -Ping-pong team
          -Effect on liberals

Buchanan left at 4:52 pm

Also recorded on April 15, 1971

  • 042-048 4:31 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan talked on the telephone from 4:31 pm to 4:34 pm.
  • 249-018 4:31 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:31 pm to 4:34 pm.
  • 042-049 4:34 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 249-019 4:34 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 042-050 4:35 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 4:35 pm to 4:36 pm.
  • 249-020 4:35 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:35 pm to 4:36 pm.
  • 249-022 5:05 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:05 pm to 5:07 pm.
  • 249-023 5:07 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:07 pm and 5:25 pm.

All 71 conversations from April 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 249-021, April 15, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/249-021 (accessed October 3, 2026).