Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 261 › Conversation 261-004

Nixon & Colson on Pentagon Papers and New York Times

Tuesday, June 15, 1971 · 6:21 PM–6:27 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation261-004 on Tape 261 (tape position 00:03:46–00:07:29)StartTuesday, June 15, 1971 at 6:21 PMEndTuesday, June 15, 1971 at 6:27 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 261-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies to counter the publication of the Pentagon Papers by the New York Times. Nixon asserts that the newspaper's actions jeopardize national security and represent an attempt to place the press above the law. To combat the "right to know" narrative, Nixon directs Colson to mobilize congressional allies to publicly frame the leaks as a disloyal threat to the integrity of government.

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Position in tape: 00:03:46 – 00:07:29

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 was thinking on our...
The media generates some support from veterans.
I think the veterans .
So I think that on the congressional side, we really need to .
And our senators will really go out .
Now, they have a privilege of .
What they have is, of course,
Understand, I personally think that if we cast this in the right direction of each other, this could backfire over time.
They're playing for their own constituency.
Now, we've got to get across several ones.
One is the Kennedy-Johnson papers.
at least that's what we're talking about.
He has a larger responsibility to maintain the integrity of government.
And the whole integrity of government, like Robert said in his press conferences, he had the impression foreign governments today, as we look at their paper, are sitting at my spot.
And this also involves
It really, it really does involve us.
It really involves the ability of you to talk about how the hell the President or the Secretary of Defense or anybody would do anything.
How can we make a contingency plan that's going to be taken off of Trump and given to a goddamn newspaper?
All right, Bob.
All right, Bob.
Go ahead.
The newspapers produce the printing, and they subscribe.
They don't take it on.
But the papers, the newspapers, have a show of their kind.
They've got to say what they're trying to prove this time.
Also, I think the network ought to step up for this time.
You know, I think some of them should, you know, cast this, they've been listening, the main minister has returned to doing something disloyal in the country, that this risks our men, you know, just all that sort of secret things that aid comfort of the enemy, I mean, after all.
They're running the line, Chuck, a right to know.
We raise Albert Price, ask him, how do you answer?
Right to know.
That's, of course, about Vancouver.
Right to know.
The public has no right to know secret documents.
I don't want to know.
And freedom of the press is not the freedom to destroy the integrity of the government.
Right to know.
Then, in any future case, then the publisher of a paper will put himself, that was really what I was interested in, he put himself on a higher pedestal and said, well, write to your time of the millers, and he passed the information, and the New York Times was among the papers that supported him in that.
Now, the point is that here, what the Times has done is placed itself above the law.
They say the law provides this, but we consider this an immoral or a tireless responsibility.
God damn it, you can't have that in every country.
Get some congressmen.

NARA Description

On June 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:21 pm to 6:27 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 261-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 261-4

Date: June 15, 1971
Time: 6:21 pm - 6:27 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson

[See Conversation No. 5-81]

Also recorded on June 15, 1971

  • 005-081 6:21 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 6:21 pm to 6:27 pm.
  • 005-082 6:28 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 6:28 pm.
  • 261-005 6:28 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 6:28 pm.
  • 005-083 6:29 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 6:29 pm.
  • 005-084 6:29 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:29 pm and 6:34 pm.
  • 261-006 6:29 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 6:29 pm.
  • 005-085 6:34 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 6:34 pm.
  • 261-007 6:34 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 6:34 pm.

All 52 conversations from June 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 261-004, June 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/261-004 (accessed October 5, 2026).