Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 251 › Conversation 251-024

Nixon & Haldeman on Paris peace talks and Public relations

Thursday, April 29, 1971 · 9:50 AM–10:24 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation251-024 on Tape 251 (tape position 02:22:30–02:28:01)StartThursday, April 29, 1971 at 9:50 AMEndThursday, April 29, 1971 at 10:24 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 251-024 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to coordinate administration messaging and logistics, specifically focusing on the Paris peace talks, public relations regarding refugee statements, and the President's upcoming appearance at Camp Pendleton. Nixon expressed frustration with the lack of organization among his staff and emphasized the need for strict adherence to official messaging, particularly regarding foreign policy rhetoric involving the USSR and China. The discussion concluded with tactical decisions on staffing assignments and instructions for Clark MacGregor to handle sensitive political outreach.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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He's still up there.
I'll...
I'll get him on the phone and have him give the call, will you please?
I see there's something on that Bruce is going to do on refugees in Paris today.
Now, have you done anything to tell Scali about this so that you'll try to get it arrived to?
Not yet.
It's the 29th.
I don't hear anything on the radio about it yet.
So I just want to be sure that our people know that this is not just to be popped in there for nothing.
Scali is in charge.
He has responsibility, right?
See, he can try to see how he can get this stuff in the road, like a ride.
He's a coward, man.
He's a coward.
Well, I know he's a comedian.
He's a character, you know.
Well, he's a little bit like a crazy son of a bitch.
You know what I'm saying?
He's all crazy.
You know what I'm saying?
And he pulls it, right?
You don't have any thought that I should do that to you?
Fine.
Let me just understand whether you, Scali, or anybody else have any idea I should do that.
If they expect to make the speech, then I've got to start preparing one.
In my view, I walk in the division and I have to do it in five minutes or less.
You understand?
In there in the sun, it's going to be hotter than hell.
I don't have any other following.
The point is, it's outside.
Or am I wrong?
Isn't it an outside affair of they're all standing at attention?
As you, I'm studying for a restaurant off of Harrison.
You know?
Or is that still standing there?
I'll work that out in the morning.
That would be good.
You've got to hold it back and off of those people.
Sorry.
They're going to come up and go out with you.
They're out there.
I think anything else in terms of your .
I said, go, tell me about that, because I want him to be aware about it.
I said, Eric, that's pretty good description of common, isn't it?
Never uncertain.
But, you know, how we train him, he is.
You said most of our people sit around, they're, well, they can't be uncertain, but they sound uncertain because they're so goddamn unorganized.
You know, those that don't speak up.
I said, Eric,
You know what I mean?
Right.
Right.
On and on.
Just say nothing.
They often say, God damn it, I covered it, the editor's saying, the president covered it, and that's it.
But that's what I want you to tell Bill, that I'm going to say the same thing, and I'm going to be very tough on that.
I covered this situation, and that's all we're going to say right now.
It may hurt his soul, or maybe it may hurt his disaster, his assassination.
And not the law, but sharpening it.
Not just because of the talking.
Not because of what we do.
They all respect what we do.
But the dividend should not have been said.
It's a bad word.
It lends itself to that interpretation, though.
Using the word dividend means we would welcome it.
We don't want to say it.
That's not our intent.
We want the relations of both.
We want them to have good relations with each other, period.
Everything else he said was just from his mind.
I guess I could put it more in terms of trying to get others to follow exactly what I say and lay off for a while.
Regarding that, regarding the demonstrators and so forth, there's nothing further on that that I need to know.
That's it.
What else do we have?
We never know what's going on, where we've been hit.
We went right out of sight.
It's not helpful.
We can't call the police.
Our policy is to call the police.
Maybe let McGregor call them.
Maybe McGregor needs to call them.
That's better.
That's better.
That's better.
That's better.
That's better.
That's better.

NARA Description

On April 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 10:24 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 251-024 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 251-24

Date: April 29, 1971
Time: Unknown between 9:50 am and 10:24 am
Location: Executive Office Building

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

     Unknown man’s location

     Paris peace talks
           -Dr. David K. E. Bruce
                 -Statement on refugees
           -John A. Scali
     News story
           -Television
           -Charles W. Colson
           -Raymond K. Price, Jr.

     Preparation for President’s forthcoming visit to US Marines at Camp Pendleton, California,
          April 30, 1971
          -Unknown man and Scali
          -Location

     President’s schedule
          -Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
          -Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis

     News
         -John B. Connally
              -Internal Revenue Service [appointment for commissioner]

     Connally

     Staff

     Foreign relations
          -Charles W. Bray, III statement
          -President’s meeting with editors [American Society of Newspaper Editors]
          -Instructions for William P. Rogers
          -Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
                -Use of word “dividend”
                -People’s Republic of China [PRC] relations
          -PRC initiative

[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under court order from
December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access [SA] 8, Ronald V. Dellums, et al. v.
James M. Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records Administration
produced this transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[End of transcript]
     Instructions for Haldeman to have Clark MacGregor call unknown person [George D.
           Aiken]

Also recorded on April 29, 1971

  • 042-077 9:29 AM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 9:29 am to 9:31 am.
  • 251-019 9:29 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:29 am to 9:31 am.
  • 251-020 9:31 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:31 am and 9:48 am.
  • 251-021 9:31 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:31 am and 9:48 am.
  • 251-022 9:48 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:48 am to 9:50 am.
  • 251-023 9:50 AM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 10:24 am.
  • 251-025 9:50 AM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 10:24 am.
  • 251-026 9:50 AM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:50 am and 10:24 am.

All 64 conversations from April 29, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 251-024, April 29, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/251-024 (accessed October 3, 2026).