Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 261-035
Date: Thursday, July 1, 1971 at 3:55 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Butterfield, Alexander P.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); [Unknown person(s)]; Ehrlichman, John D.
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/261-035

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[2:20:01] Ah, we certainly have it all confused, Mr. President.
[2:20:04] You hear what Manfield said?
[2:20:05] No.
[2:20:07] He said that the new world freedom is also supposed to resolve the secret initiative taken by President Nixon.
[2:20:18] And I told him, I said, this amendment had nothing to do with it.
[2:20:26] He's bleeding.
[2:20:26] He's good.
[2:20:27] You see, I told him, I said, I might make her hurt, but I wasn't going to try to get my hand on her.
[2:20:36] I said, this may hurt her a little, but I'm going to have to say so.
[2:20:41] If it doesn't, I hope it doesn't.
[2:20:43] You see, just as well, as you were talking about, the only problem we'll have is that Roger's going to stop spending.
[2:20:49] And really, the next 10 days are going to be hell anyway.
[2:20:50] Do you think he's going to hear anything about this?
[2:20:54] Yeah.
[2:20:55] We just had to move outside because I saw that P King, that little item about P King, David Grasso, for example, he saw it all over my stand saying, don't worry.
[2:21:10] If it weren't for that, I have no memory of dreaming.
[2:21:11] Well, your staff said to me, saying, my God, they must be referring to what the president said in his press conference, but they got the wrong line.
[2:21:19] My staff said, the instructions I gave is to say, these are leads by the department who want to get me away as far as possible, like we're moving in.
[2:21:28] Very well, it sounded like a good question.
[2:21:30] I'm trying to write advice, I'm trying to speak here.
[2:21:39] Please fasten up.
[2:21:39] We're cutting down the opening statement.
[2:21:41] We're cutting it out.
[2:21:42] In Taiwan, I just say three paragraphs.
[2:21:45] Let's see what they are saying.
[2:21:49] It's really filthy thick.
[2:21:55] I've thrown my dispenser today.
[2:21:56] You see, there's all these breastplate relations.
[2:22:00] Now, if somebody asked me, it would be very difficult to see them.
[2:22:05] As he went through panels and he said of course if I ask for it, he'd be glad to take it.
[2:22:12] So I thought that he was going to say that I'm not going to ask for it.
[2:22:19] But I think it helps us when Gregor is dancing around.
[2:22:23] No, no, no.
[2:22:24] But he's dancing around because he says all the people in town are going to dance around.
[2:22:31] Well, it is important.
[2:22:32] I was going to call you, and I figured that you were interested in it, and that your situation must have been right.
[2:22:39] My first question was, where you said the way it played is that it was something, but that it wasn't enough.
[2:22:52] In other words, that you all understood it so much, but that after all the cancer, this or that, this or that,
[2:23:01] I think we should be enigmatic about it.
[2:23:02] That's quite right.
[2:23:05] Exactly.
[2:23:05] And tell them, what I told Siegfried to say is to say it should be discussed and established for them.
[2:23:11] The press will think it's patis, but I've told them not that well.
[2:23:21] Actually, what they thought of it publicly is a little less than what they thought of it to us.
[2:23:28] For example, they offered us gladly that they would release the prisoners.
[2:23:34] In another I've seen the text of what they wrote, they said that after we began destroying, we could agree on modalities for releasing because of the prisoners.
[2:23:46] The prisoners agree on modalities, but that's just a straight line, it's a straight line.
[2:23:55] uh, modalities, you know, um, they did not say that it was actually the decent, but now everybody is rushing to jump on the period.
[2:24:02] It's a very great notion.
[2:24:08] Um, and I'm in the Congress, and nobody's saying these stupid bastards, you know, I haven't faced them in a, I don't know, my director tells me they're concealed.
[2:24:18] He might say,
[2:24:20] what he did, and be better than what he said he was going to do.
[2:24:24] I don't know what he was going to do.
[2:24:27] Didn't he tell it to me first?
[2:24:29] I'm used to that even though I don't know what he was going to do.
[2:24:33] I don't know what he was going to do.
[2:24:37] And we're working on this.
[2:24:46] The world would be much better.
[2:24:49] I have no intention of going down.
[2:24:51] Why not?
[2:24:52] I don't know.
[2:24:52] I know that when he would be effective on this, he won't go today.
[2:24:55] He's a journalist.
[2:24:56] If we're not just close, you know what he's going to say.
[2:25:02] Well, my God, I'm going to be honest with you.
[2:25:07] They'll all be away, and that's what we're going to do.
[2:25:15] The happy fact is that I think because of the Haley Center Supplement, they're all interpreting this on their parents' behalf, and it isn't as much as we voted to cut to the function of the bill.
[2:25:40] Oh, yeah.
[2:25:41] That's right.
[2:25:42] That'll be Captain Satterfield.
[2:25:44] And they didn't tell you?
[2:25:47] They said we had to stop supporting it.
[2:25:54] I put out a code book, which did it.
[2:25:55] And also later in your conversations, we offered ceasefire.
[2:26:07] No, but in this proposal, they offer the ceasefire and to the bank, that's right, and to the top of the office.
[2:26:18] But in this one, they offer the ceasefire.
[2:26:20] This one is more propaganda.
[2:26:21] In this one, they offer us a ceasefire and to be withdrawn, but not to the office.
[2:26:27] In the other one, they offer a complete ceasefire once the bank is accepted.
[2:26:34] None of the nine points are better than the seven.
[2:26:56] Let me ask you a question.
[2:27:21] So I lied.
[2:27:21] So I'm still visiting people's lives.
[2:27:24] It's very boring to talk about that.
[2:27:28] It's a bit of a traditional country.
[2:27:33] I don't think I've experienced that.
[2:27:36] I saw that tour guide in China.
[2:27:37] Huh?
[2:27:38] I saw that tour guide in China.
[2:27:40] Yeah.
[2:27:40] Wow, what can you do?
[2:27:43] What was the answer?
[2:27:47] I'm not going to speak on today.
[2:27:51] I told him 6 o'clock.
[2:27:52] You say there is a de-classification?
[2:28:17] We don't want to see it until it's .
[2:28:23] Who's the ?
[2:28:28] Who's the ?
[2:28:29] He's got it confused .
[2:28:51] What is this situation?
[2:28:51] I didn't know they were setting a meeting at 4.
[2:28:53] I thought they were having one at 6.
[2:28:54] Is there another meeting?
[2:28:58] Yeah.
[2:28:59] Well, what am I supposed to say to that?
[2:29:02] I thought that was going to be done after I had a man to put over.
[2:29:05] I'm not going to let that little shit-ass president chairman run into him again.
[2:29:12] These are just clerks, Bob.
[2:29:13] Ren Quist, people like that.
[2:29:16] So I just got to say, I don't want, I really didn't want to meet the vendor.
[2:29:20] We had somebody to put in charge.
[2:29:22] What am I supposed to tell them?
[2:29:25] I don't remember what the deal was.
[2:29:28] All right, I'll tell you what to do.
[2:29:30] You get a hold of John.
[2:29:32] I got to be free from controlling it.
[2:29:34] I don't want to give them any, I don't want to give them a charter at this point because I intend to either abolish it or put, I'm not going to abolish it.
[2:29:42] I got to put somebody over and call me back later.
[2:29:46] I'll wait outside and I'll let you know.
[2:29:59] Did it ever occur to you that there is one hell of a lot of...
[2:30:01] Very bright, well-enclosed, but just...
[2:30:12] You can't do everything.
[2:30:16] You just know whenever you put in anything.
[2:30:18] I'm not taking for reference.
[2:30:20] I don't know how long I've been here.
[2:30:23] Not this long ago.
[2:30:24] But one of those guys had a transmission disorder.
[2:30:38] I don't want it.
[2:30:38] I don't want it.
[2:30:39] I don't need it.
[2:30:39] I don't need it.
[2:30:41] You listen, people.
[2:30:43] That's what I'm doing.
[2:30:45] Thanks for that.
[2:30:49] Anyway...
[2:31:17] This kind of thing doesn't strike me exactly.
[2:31:28] They keep talking about goals of Americans and vice versa.
[2:31:30] To many Americans, the goal is to get all the good care from the handicapped, those in the doors of education, the job training, the clothes, the gas, the delivery, the clothing, the radio equipment.
[2:31:41] To many American Americans, these specific goals represent a forward flight.
[2:31:45] But I would suggest that even after you achieve all these goals, after you clean the flight, there will still be a hunger.
[2:31:53] The next patient, after you clean the flight,
[2:31:59] and his husband, but it is also another phrase that gives you a little confidence that it's precious.
[2:32:08] It's precious.
[2:32:10] It's very precious, yeah.
[2:32:14] The reason that I'm working on this is almost a total
[2:32:28] total annihilation of Jefferson.
[2:32:33] Jefferson, you know, did some writing and stuff like that.
[2:32:41] He was a part of the goddamn, you know, the French Revolutionary regime.
[2:32:46] I'm frank, I had much more admiration for Hamlet than I had for Jefferson.
[2:32:49] I said, I have a favorite Hamlet book.
[2:32:52] He did a lot.
[2:32:54] He left a legacy for Jefferson.
[2:33:17] I wanted to make sure that I had a balanced trade on this item.
[2:33:22] If we don't hear from the Russians, then I'll go for a summit this year.
[2:33:32] Then you don't want anything between my trip and your summit.
[2:33:39] Not a deal this year.
[2:33:41] The only advantage, I'm just putting the case .
[2:33:45] is so that it doesn't look quite so precipitated.
[2:33:49] But it depends a bit on how much of this we get done.
[2:33:58] .
[2:34:18] Yeah.
[2:34:26] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[2:34:35] Yeah.
[2:34:36] No, I can't.
[2:34:37] I just see it here, and he wants me to say, to discuss with him, how can we cut down on unnecessary classification?
[2:34:43] How can we speed up declassification?
[2:34:44] I don't want to meet with this group.
[2:34:47] That should be discussed with somebody else.
[2:34:49] I'm just not going to do it.
[2:34:52] Yeah.
[2:34:56] i know but i thought we were i misunderstood i was going to use this group as the group to carry out but only when i wanted to meet with them when i had somebody to put charge of
[2:35:31] Yeah.
[2:35:31] Well, let him tell them that.
[2:35:32] I work with Henry.
[2:35:33] I don't want to spend any time on it.
[2:35:36] Yeah, hello.
[2:35:37] John, I'm so tied up with this thing with Henry right now, so could you tell Mr.
[2:35:42] Bunch?
[2:35:42] I'll sit with him for a couple of minutes, bring him over here if you want, and I'll step out.
[2:35:47] But I don't want to have to figure out what to tell him.
[2:35:50] You know what I mean?
[2:35:53] Well, I suppose if you want us to slow them down and all that sort of thing, why not?
[2:35:56] Yeah.
[2:35:58] Yeah.
[2:35:59] All right.
[2:35:59] Fine.
[2:36:00] I see.
[2:36:01] Fine.
[2:36:07] Yeah, I know.
[2:36:09] I know.
[2:36:10] Yeah.
[2:36:13] Yeah.
[2:36:13] Yeah.
[2:36:22] Right.
[2:36:25] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[2:36:29] And then you will then control them.
[2:36:31] Fine.
[2:36:31] All right.
[2:36:32] You bring them, if you would, bring them over.
[2:36:34] I can only step out for 10 minutes because we're working on the final draft of these special papers, very special ones, you know.
[2:36:44] But bring them over and bring them to this little outside room.
[2:36:47] We've got a nice table and everything.
[2:36:48] And then when you're there, you come in, get me, I'll come out.
[2:36:52] And that'll be that.
[2:36:53] Fair enough?
[2:36:55] He just does what you say.
[2:36:59] I like to do what you say.
[2:37:01] I mean, he gets your advice, but then you can forget about it once he knows what you're doing.
[2:37:39] Okay.
[2:37:41] Okay.
[2:38:21] The American experience over two centuries has been far more than turning plenty of land into a land of fun.
[2:38:31] I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't getting a little nuts in my reaction.
[2:38:45] Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
[2:38:45] I just thought that you were a best friend.
[2:38:47] You were simple.
[2:38:48] This is satisfying, of course, because he's great.
[2:38:54] I don't know if he's great.
[2:38:56] He could write for, well, that would fit Lindsay.
[2:38:58] That would fit Lindsay.
[2:39:01] And frankly, I don't think it fits the occasion in our kind of deal.
[2:39:04] I don't know what you could say.
[2:39:08] The bicentennial.
[2:39:09] Oh, it's five years from now, the bicentennial.
[2:39:11] The Chief Justice speaks three minutes about the Bill of Rights.
[2:39:15] The Speaker speaks three minutes, and it's not big enough to say pretty much what's on it.
[2:39:18] And I speak about something, I don't know.
[2:39:22] No, no, it's fine.
[2:39:22] It's fine.
[2:39:23] We're in it just clever as hell.
[2:39:24] Nobody can tell.
[2:39:25] What is that number that I'm pulling?
[2:39:26] Third.
[2:39:26] Minus third.
[2:39:33] But I don't know.
[2:39:38] I've seen it.
[2:39:38] It's overly clever.
[2:39:43] It's not my vision.
[2:39:44] But coming back to this, sending Bruce over is fine.
[2:39:53] The problem, I think, I see is that if we're going to go for the marbles, if we have to, I must say, I don't know what the hell he's going to accomplish right now, except if you say, well, it doesn't appear to be so precipitous.
[2:40:12] It doesn't look so precipitous.
[2:40:13] And most of the people would be doing something else in October.
[2:40:21] that people would be watching.
[2:40:26] And then he would be, he would be the official who would get open-minded about this.
[2:40:36] Nothing's going to stop your story going on.
[2:40:39] That can't be done.
[2:40:42] Bruce?
[2:40:53] Did you have a chance to go live with him?
[2:41:02] No.
[2:41:02] Just imagine the children, how nice it was to me that I had mentioned that my daughter, my daughter and all of that.
[2:41:17] Well, they're not in humans.
[2:41:18] They aren't really affected by human actions, but they are not in humans.
[2:41:24] Mr. President, if the country had done this, they would say, well, you're just a slob.
[2:41:30] You're supposed to do it just because you're cold steel, but then when business falls, it dies.
[2:41:36] and never pretend that you're going to win him.
[2:41:39] He knew this was a spontaneous and something decent thing, and that's what it means.
[2:41:47] That's what these liberals don't understand.
[2:41:53] Well, anyway, come in front.
[2:41:58] We're all set, anytime you're ready.
[2:42:00] All right, I don't have any questions.
[2:42:03] This is the chair of the district.
[2:42:07] All right, I understand.
[2:42:08] Well, I'm just asking my other head of law.
[2:42:11] All right, give a piece to prepare for your dinner for the morning.
[2:42:17] Well, anyway, maybe you don't have time.
[2:42:22] I don't really have to be the one to do paper on that one.
[2:42:24] I think it might be all right.
[2:42:25] Now, let me tell you, it poses one problem.
[2:42:28] It should not be controlled.
[2:42:30] And that is, I think, it poses more of a problem than it does a problem in the state.
[2:42:37] It's not like that.
[2:42:37] Why the hell would Bruce find out Ryan was in there?
[2:42:42] Why not a girl?
[2:42:45] Why not a man?
[2:42:47] If such it isn't, there's actually a process built in the country who could do it.
[2:42:51] And Marshall Green?
[2:42:53] He couldn't shit.
[2:42:55] No, sir, we haven't noticed this at all.
[2:42:57] It's like I said, I know what I meant.
[2:43:02] I'm just thinking, if it's next year, next year, this year, we couldn't concede that we just do it on the basis of my influence.
[2:43:12] But it's too small.
[2:43:13] It's important that we have a pipeline through the school.
[2:43:18] I won't push it, it's just that I don't think it would arise as a suggestion, because I think they wouldn't have gushed back into it so quickly.
[2:43:27] They're coming.
[2:43:27] I regret almost.
[2:43:28] I was hoping that they wouldn't come through.
[2:43:34] I don't think they would.
[2:43:39] I don't think they would.
[2:43:41] But it's not, it's the achievement that's left to them.
[2:43:49] If they came through, say, on the A, it'd be down to just traffic with the middle of the evening.
[2:43:55] I'll be on Chinese soil, and you'll be on the island.
[2:44:00] So I would be happy to, if we did something here, you'd have to know.
[2:44:07] And at one time in China, I don't want to have to go down.
[2:44:14] Well, the other thing I was going to say,
[2:44:19] We'll kind of keep them in the barn around here.
[2:44:22] All these daydream things.
[2:44:24] So I'm convinced that you're going to have to do a good job early in the coming week.
[2:44:29] And we've got a whole lot to do.
[2:44:31] So while we're not going to declassify this, I'm going to do that.
[2:44:40] We've got to beat these guys to the press.
[2:44:50] I know they need to be interfaced with the basketball.
[2:44:54] We've got to beat them to the press.
[2:45:00] That exists.
[2:45:01] That would be helpful.
[2:45:14] They told me that two years ago.
[2:45:19] I know there's a lot of people, I know there's, I've always, basically a people that believes very decent rights, which is what I believe is important.
[2:45:33] And a conspiracy that would break the law.
[2:45:38] That's what I heard.
[2:45:39] I know many of the people involved in these cases.
[2:45:44] And I said, I think it's more appropriate.
[2:45:46] And I just can't believe it.
[2:45:51] I could be so naive to say, well, he didn't do anything illegal.
[2:46:00] At this point, is it something he should have done?
[2:46:03] Why should he carry top-secret tables from upper-up to a man who's no longer governor?
[2:46:08] Well, he knows.
[2:46:08] He's a radical opponent of the war enemy.
[2:46:12] It's going to be quite a, quite a lesson.
[2:46:24] It's going to be hard work.
[2:46:41] I warned you, I told you, I told you the only thing I didn't tell you was why we had to know.
[2:46:46] When I told you we had to know that people get stuck right over here, that we have to do something.
[2:46:56] It's your, I could guess about it, but it doesn't, in other ways, more orderly.
[2:47:02] And it doesn't cause our problems for any other friends, so quickly.
[2:47:15] You know, Ken
[2:47:37] But I can't make a few remarks about what had happened.
[2:47:39] Because they had so much data that's different from what I had.
[2:47:41] I said I'd pay them, and they actually said, you know, I'd pay them $230,000.
[2:47:44] I don't know.
[2:47:45] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:47:47] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:47:50] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:47:52] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:47:55] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:47:57] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:47:59] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:48:02] I don't know if I can get to the basement and pay them $230,000.
[2:48:05] I don't know if I can
[2:48:08] Anyone, we just have no choice because we cook each in the house as I did, and they'll complete us with that if we don't do something.
[2:48:15] Yes, yes, yes.
[2:48:16] I agree with that.
[2:48:16] This ought to help.
[2:48:18] We don't want to get away too much in the next few weeks.
[2:48:20] But I think they'll be able to get it done.
[2:48:39] See, they're going to follow me through.
[2:48:40] I have given instructions to every member of my crew.
[2:48:46] No one talks to the press, not to give them the time of day not to be seen.
[2:48:58] The only thing I want is that they put out the schedule each day, because I want to create an impression of extreme busyness.
[2:49:08] That'll work.
[2:49:09] Well, come on.
[2:49:10] Right.
[2:49:11] There's a toggle, three toggle cables.
[2:49:12] Yeah.
[2:49:13] But nothing important is going to happen.