Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 278 › Conversation 278-059

Nixon & Haldeman on Press relations and White House staff management

Thursday, September 16, 1971 · 11:50 AM–1:45 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation278-059 on Tape 278 (tape position 02:59:20–03:06:04)StartThursday, September 16, 1971 at 11:50 AMEndThursday, September 16, 1971 at 1:45 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 278-059 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss the management of White House staff interactions with the press and the logistical preparations for an upcoming meeting with state and local officials. Nixon expresses frustration over staff members spending excessive time with journalists and mandates a more disciplined communications strategy, specifically regarding speculation on sensitive policy issues. They further review the roles of key advisors, including Henry Kissinger and Clark MacGregor, emphasizing the need for a unified, cautious stance on administration initiatives.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yeah.
Are you able to do any preparing for that meeting?
What time can you set it up?
Now, who's going to run the show?
I mean, I don't want any goddamn public paper that I have to do anything on the same phone.
He will call on the various people who are the briefers.
And he has the briefing paper and all that.
You see what I mean, Father?
They expect me to come in and take over and start, you know, talking, but I'm not going to have time to study it prior to the time I walk in.
I'm going to walk directly to the president and he's going to have me come on.
So you can have everybody on the side of the road.
Okay.
Yeah, I'm on.
They should have already done it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it, Bob.
They don't got it.
Forget it already.
Thank you.
Hello?
I don't want to
I don't want to .
I don't want this to improve.
I don't .
And what he said was, I don't know what he said.
And to back off of what you said, the question was, is it possible that the president might announce that?
And I said, yes, it's possible that he might.
It's possible.
That's right.
As you know, Henry, it's a piece sold.
You'll pick everybody else's pieces.
That's real.
I don't know the reason you said this, but it's true sometimes.
but you just, the whole fight is by the strong leaders.
Can we get people to quit doing this for them, or not?
When has it done us any good?
Probably when.
When?
When has it done us any good?
I'm just respectfully suggesting.
When has Steven Evans and no one else done us any good?
And we saw Evans again yesterday.
Now the next one.
But I think the rest of our staff can be controlled.
My only view is that these meetings with John Erickson, there's a lot of issues.
They're sitting for hours talking to these assholes in the press.
I'm just not sure that it would be... Well, I guess maybe they're...
I guess probably their reasoning is that it would be worse.
Is that the point that we are excited about?
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
Very good.
Don't talk for a while.
That's a big one.
What do you mean?
I don't see the press when they're going to see this already.
Yeah.
I agree with you on that.
I agree with you on that.
I agree with you on that.
I mean, nobody else knows anything about it.
Just say we have confidence in the president.
You know, talk about the positive, and there's been confidence in the president.
We've talked about it on the board.
We've left the president down.
We've offered everything, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
I'm not going to speculate about the position.
I don't think anybody should go further than that.
Anybody.
Not the greater, not Dan, and Bill, and, you know, any of these people.
Because they don't do the job.
on the other hand, I don't want Henry to, he is an heir to his country, you know, he's one of those, he's one of those men.
than everybody else, or that's never gonna happen anyway, you know what I mean?
Well, if Rocky had done this, Dale had done this,
and about something that he himself is involved in.
And it's a very romantic situation.
It's a very romantic situation as well, to think that.
And we're out here glaring at them like they are.
And you know what I mean?
It's an act or a reaction.
But I don't mind it, perhaps, if you go to the other side.
I'm sure a couple of my friends stand for it.
But you're great.
Sometimes you'll have a chance to call him, or collect a phone.
It's exactly, I can see, terribly frustrating.
I don't want to let you know that everybody, including the guy that doesn't know like Craig, should do.
Craig is a good man.
I'd like to know.

NARA Description

On September 16, 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 278-059 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 278-59

Date: September 16, 1971
Time: Unknown between 11:50 am and 1:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

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

     Schedule
          -Press conference
          -Meeting with state and local officials
                -Time turnaround after press conference
                -Preparation
                     -[Vice President Spiro T. Agnew]
                           -Briefing paper
                -Clark MacGregor
                     -Statement
                           -Deadline
                     -Staff
                -Communications
                     -MacGregor
                     -Possible announcement

     White House staff press contacts

          -Henry A. Kissinger
                -United Nations [UN]
                -Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak
                -Meeting with Evans
                     -Unknown book
          -Time spent meeting with journalists
                -Godfrey Sperling, Jr.
                -Evans
                     -John D. Ehrlichman
          -Press reporters
                -Meeting with the President
          -Proposal of subject
                -Kissinger
                -Connally
          -Discussion of Vietnam as topic
          -MacGregor
          -Robert H. Finch
          -William P. Rogers
                -Knowledge of subject
          -Kissinger
          -Negotiations
          -Rogers
          -Melvin R. Laird
          -MacGregor
                -Popularity

Also recorded on September 16, 1971

  • 009-041 11:50 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.
  • 278-058 11:50 AM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.
  • 278-060 11:50 AM · 35 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.
  • 278-061 11:50 AM · 6 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.
  • 278-062 11:50 AM · 26 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.
  • 278-063 11:50 AM · 10 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.
  • 278-064 11:50 AM · 7 min — 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.
  • 278-065 11:50 AM · 12 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 11:50 am and 1:45 pm.

All 52 conversations from September 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 278-059, September 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/278-059 (accessed October 12, 2026).