Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 278-059
Date: Thursday, September 16, 1971 at 11:50 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/278-059

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:04] Yeah.
[0:05] Are you able to do any preparing for that meeting?
[0:06] What time can you set it up?
[0:13] Now, who's going to run the show?
[0:14] I mean, I don't want any goddamn public paper that I have to do anything on the same phone.
[0:20] He will call on the various people who are the briefers.
[0:24] And he has the briefing paper and all that.
[0:28] You see what I mean, Father?
[0:29] 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.
[0:35] I'm going to walk directly to the president and he's going to have me come on.
[0:38] So you can have everybody on the side of the road.
[0:43] Okay.
[0:53] Yeah, I'm on.
[0:57] They should have already done it.
[1:05] They don't have it.
[1:05] They don't have it, Bob.
[1:06] They don't got it.
[1:08] Forget it already.
[1:19] Thank you.
[1:22] Hello?
[1:24] I don't want to
[1:52] I don't want to .
[1:52] I don't want this to improve.
[1:55] I don't .
[1:56] And what he said was, I don't know what he said.
[2:11] And to back off of what you said, the question was, is it possible that the president might announce that?
[2:18] And I said, yes, it's possible that he might.
[2:22] It's possible.
[2:24] That's right.
[2:24] As you know, Henry, it's a piece sold.
[2:26] You'll pick everybody else's pieces.
[2:28] That's real.
[2:29] I don't know the reason you said this, but it's true sometimes.
[2:35] but you just, the whole fight is by the strong leaders.
[2:38] Can we get people to quit doing this for them, or not?
[2:43] When has it done us any good?
[2:45] Probably when.
[2:46] When?
[2:47] When has it done us any good?
[2:49] I'm just respectfully suggesting.
[2:51] When has Steven Evans and no one else done us any good?
[2:55] And we saw Evans again yesterday.
[2:56] Now the next one.
[3:04] But I think the rest of our staff can be controlled.
[3:10] My only view is that these meetings with John Erickson, there's a lot of issues.
[3:21] They're sitting for hours talking to these assholes in the press.
[3:25] I'm just not sure that it would be... Well, I guess maybe they're...
[3:29] I guess probably their reasoning is that it would be worse.
[3:32] Is that the point that we are excited about?
[3:44] Yeah.
[3:44] Well, yeah.
[3:51] Very good.
[3:54] Don't talk for a while.
[3:55] That's a big one.
[4:03] What do you mean?
[4:08] I don't see the press when they're going to see this already.
[4:12] Yeah.
[4:12] I agree with you on that.
[4:14] I agree with you on that.
[4:16] I agree with you on that.
[4:37] I mean, nobody else knows anything about it.
[4:40] Just say we have confidence in the president.
[4:42] You know, talk about the positive, and there's been confidence in the president.
[4:48] We've talked about it on the board.
[4:50] We've left the president down.
[4:51] We've offered everything, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[4:53] I'm not going to speculate about the position.
[4:55] I don't think anybody should go further than that.
[5:00] Anybody.
[5:00] Not the greater, not Dan, and Bill, and, you know, any of these people.
[5:06] Because they don't do the job.
[5:09] 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.
[5:33] than everybody else, or that's never gonna happen anyway, you know what I mean?
[5:39] Well, if Rocky had done this, Dale had done this,
[5:45] and about something that he himself is involved in.
[5:47] And it's a very romantic situation.
[5:49] It's a very romantic situation as well, to think that.
[5:52] And we're out here glaring at them like they are.
[5:55] And you know what I mean?
[5:57] It's an act or a reaction.
[5:59] But I don't mind it, perhaps, if you go to the other side.
[6:03] I'm sure a couple of my friends stand for it.
[6:06] But you're great.
[6:09] Sometimes you'll have a chance to call him, or collect a phone.
[6:17] It's exactly, I can see, terribly frustrating.
[6:22] I don't want to let you know that everybody, including the guy that doesn't know like Craig, should do.
[6:29] Craig is a good man.
[6:31] I'd like to know.