Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 261-016
Date: Thursday, June 17, 1971 at 6:17 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose Mary; Ziegler, Ronald L.; Colson, Charles W.
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/261-016

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[25:42] I took care of Lucy today.
[25:42] Good night.
[25:43] I'll see you soon.
[25:45] Okay.
[25:45] Her old name, I wish she already had one of those.
[25:50] Well, she had two.
[25:52] Her mother.
[25:55] Her old name isn't sure.
[25:57] But the president's affair.
[25:59] Not the $200.
[26:00] You can avoid that.
[26:03] We've given those to quite a few.
[26:07] We've given them cabinet blocks.
[26:10] I was a fire nurse.
[26:19] I said, you don't have to worry about any of our scientists.
[26:22] Let me take care of them.
[26:23] It's nice that Pat wanted me to do that.
[26:25] She told me, you know, I have to get her to the hospital.
[26:31] She called me and said, I don't know where you called her.
[26:34] She's not here.
[26:36] She never, she meant it.
[26:40] Well, she's never there.
[26:40] She's never been to the hospital.
[26:42] We're very worthwhile, wouldn't you think?
[26:45] Very worthwhile.
[26:46] Very worthwhile.
[26:47] There's one thing about it is that she's not very confident.
[26:50] Pat likes her very much.
[26:53] Well, she's confident because Richie's not backed up.
[26:55] And she's a lot more confident than some of the guys on the West Langer credit box.
[26:59] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[27:00] I've had folks that she cannot.
[27:01] She...
[27:03] Yes, she was.
[34:29] You probably sensed him, too.
[35:35] Anybody with you?
[35:36] Come on in.
[35:37] I'll wait.
[35:37] I'm going to take March because they think they're going to send two or three things down to be worked on.
[35:47] Yeah, good.
[35:50] Okay.
[35:50] That's good.
[35:50] Take anybody you want.
[35:51] Okay.
[35:52] on your part of the talk we can we actually have a question we have one camera in different to the the marks on the record I don't know it's a sort of mark accurately with the camera
[36:22] For example, if we would have had a camera in front of the camera, but there's one camera, you're not talking to the camera.
[36:33] Well, there are 11 of them, Mike, and there wouldn't be the blast light.
[36:38] I would make sure that wouldn't happen.
[36:41] Well, it was the consensus of the group.
[36:43] You know who sits in the group.
[36:46] This is a special group.
[36:48] Go ahead.
[36:48] That's right.
[36:49] You can move the camera quickly.
[36:50] Yes, sir.
[36:52] So I'll move this.
[36:53] I might decide at the last minute.
[36:54] I don't want to say much.
[36:56] I won't move this.
[36:57] I have your approval.
[36:58] I won't move it until the last message.
[37:00] What have we got for Saturday and Sunday release?
[37:04] Have we got any good stories going on?
[37:09] I don't know if we can do it.
[37:13] Chuck's going to be on the guitar, though.
[37:19] The only other question I had to ask you was .
[37:49] I don't want to do the present integration anymore.
[37:52] Well, I understand.
[37:52] I understand.
[37:53] We're to the point here.
[37:54] But what I'm talking about, frankly, I'm going to leave you from Rochester to Portland.
[37:59] And we've been to Rochester.
[38:01] So what do you think we're going to do at the present time?
[38:04] Do they know what we're going to do in the morning?
[38:08] Oh, yes, I guess you've got to kill him.
[38:11] He's held in the market so they can pack.
[38:12] What?
[38:12] So they can pack.
[38:12] Right in the market, yes.
[38:14] I'm going to Florida, and I'll be there, so I'll be in the market.
[38:17] You've got to worry.
[38:18] I'm going to be there, and I'll be also in the market.
[38:22] I don't know what we're going to work on.
[38:24] Oh, well, I was going to put up.
[38:25] I don't think so.
[38:27] I don't think so.
[38:30] foreign policy combination
[38:50] I think in this instance, I'd like to see if you have any control over who goes down.
[38:58] Or, you know, probably, if there's a good possibility, it would be a person in Moscow.
[39:09] That's absolutely important.
[39:10] Yes, sir.
[39:16] Now, any foreign trip of mine could never be on.
[39:23] Just cut off.
[39:24] Yeah.
[39:25] Yeah.
[39:25] What success has Rice had, if any, with Johnson?
[39:27] Now, this is terribly important.
[39:29] Johnson's got to step up to this, and he's got to step up to it on the basis of the hell a lot's going to come out of it, and a lot of other things, too.
[39:38] For the good of the country, if I step up, he's got to.
[39:42] He's got to step up to it.
[39:46] No, no, no, that's just an excuse.
[39:50] Excuse for us travelers, doesn't matter, get in the car and put all the blame on us, that's all.
[39:59] That's all.
[40:03] Peace.
[40:05] He's been, he's been condemned in the public press right now.
[40:08] He is a villain.
[40:09] If he doesn't defend himself, he'll be put down in history.
[40:13] And by God, I quit defending him.
[40:15] If he doesn't get this message across, if he doesn't defend himself, I can no longer defend him.
[40:21] Now that I want to, he's not.
[40:23] He got that down.
[40:24] He must be told that I cannot defend him.
[40:25] Because tomorrow in Rochester, I've got to defend him.
[40:28] But I can't do it if he won't defend himself.
[40:32] I'll tell Rice to call him tonight.
[40:33] He's got to call him tonight.
[40:34] He's got to get ready.
[40:35] He's got to say, look, the President's going to Russia tomorrow.
[40:37] He's going to speak out on his name.
[40:39] But the President cannot defend you unless you lament yourself.
[40:42] You need to make a declaration tomorrow before you say anything.
[40:48] It's all right that I talk to him, and I think he's got to defend himself.
[40:52] I'm going to defend him, and he's got to defend himself, or I can't do it.
[40:56] I can't sit up here and take the brunt of all this without his defending himself.
[41:00] Nobody else is speaking to him.
[41:02] Clifford isn't speaking to him.
[41:03] McNamara isn't speaking to him.
[41:05] Bundy is cracking him.
[41:07] Humphrey is slaughtering him.
[41:12] Muskie is killing him.
[41:14] What is Teddy saying?
[41:17] Well, the New York Times will suppress the title on Bob, on Teddy, that was hurting, and on his brother.
[41:22] Son of a bitch.
[41:24] We're going to get out some papers.
[41:29] I'd rather it back to Henry.
[41:29] He's going to get out the stuff on the murder of Deanna, and we're going to put it out.
[41:33] He doesn't have anything to do with it.
[41:36] He won't put it out.
[41:40] He's embarrassed.
[41:43] Good job.
[41:46] Let them know that, you know, in a confidential way that nothing will be more appreciated.
[42:00] There is nothing that could be more effective than to stop these bastards.
[42:04] Let them know that the folks are not on their side.
[42:09] How do you get Johnson to go on the press conference?
[42:14] I can't continue to defend him.
[42:16] I'm defending him.
[42:17] Connolly said in his NSU days, he says, they aren't blaming Johnson.
[42:19] He's not the president.
[42:20] They're blaming the president.
[42:21] They don't know who the hell is the president.
[42:25] And this thing has not gotten across.
[42:26] As I said in verse 7, I wrote up that nobody's gotten across that it all happened to Johnson.
[42:31] This is not us.
[42:35] When he got to defend the bar, put it this way for Johnson, either he defends himself or I have no choice but to take another, but to let the chips fall where they may, just use those terms.
[42:53] I have no choice.
[42:54] He's got to defend himself.
[42:57] Because I cannot do it.
[42:58] I cannot carry this load unless he will do it.
[43:00] So he's got to defend himself.
[43:02] I don't want to blame him for the war.
[43:03] I don't want to blame him for these decisions.
[43:06] But if he doesn't, I have no choice but to go in the other direction and put it that way now.
[43:14] The President wants to defend you.
[43:17] I defended him with regard to getting him to work.
[43:20] I defend the fact that whatever he knew, that he wasn't lying.
[43:24] I don't think he lied.
[43:25] I think this is just a contingency plan.
[43:29] But if he will not defend himself, I will have no choice
[43:32] but also to refuse to defend him, and I don't want to do that.
[43:35] But he's got to step up and defend himself Saturday, and I've got to know before I hear the press on Friday afternoon.
[43:42] Now, I've got to know by tonight.
[43:44] I need to come right to the office and ask to do this now.
[43:55] Okay.
[43:55] Okay.
[43:57] I understand.
[43:59] They're not to be, I understand.
[44:01] We don't find room for them on the plane.
[44:04] Just like Aguilera.
[44:05] From now on, they aren't to be on anything.
[44:10] The only thing they're to be in is on your briefings and the press conference.
[44:15] And it's not until Bobby Semple, the Senate of Alaska, he ain't going to be recognized.
[44:21] I will never recognize the New York Times.
[44:24] That paper ceases to exist in my mind.
[44:26] Is that clear to you?
[44:27] Yes, sir.
[44:28] All right.
[44:29] That's what it's going to be.
[44:30] You don't need to tell me.
[44:31] I just don't come to it.
[44:32] We can probably introduce some other people.
[44:38] They're down there.
[44:39] They don't have to be all...
[44:42] While I'm there, we'll invite everybody over without them.
[44:43] If I have anybody they haven't come anymore, I'm not going to have them in New York Times.
[44:50] I want all of us all in every direction.
[44:53] We cannot have this anymore.
[44:54] We've got to fight.
[44:56] Okay.