Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 279 › Conversation 279-035

Nixon & Haldeman on Public Relations and Media Strategy

Wednesday, September 22, 1971 · 6:00 PM–6:06 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation279-035 on Tape 279 (tape position 03:17:01–03:22:45)StartWednesday, September 22, 1971 at 6:00 PMEndWednesday, September 22, 1971 at 6:06 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 279-035 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss strategy for managing public appearances and media coverage, specifically addressing concerns about the President's fatigue. They decide to prohibit the use of cameras during a upcoming event while opting for a Q&A format to maintain control over the presentation. Additionally, the President expresses firm directives regarding administrative access, declining to see certain parties and suggesting a strategic focus on church-related entities to avoid scrutiny of sensitive records.

Audio

Download MP3 · 13.2 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Yeah.

Any late reports or...

Just so they understand, I mean, please stop.

I will not see them.

Therefore, they've been told I'm not going to see them.

You know, you were talking about the drug sale.

I will not make an issue of it coming back.

You remember we talked about that.

The only part I've had is that he's got to be there.

He's got to be in the market.

Go back and see if I can make a long ride.

I'm not going to put it in.

I'm not going to put it back.

I'm going to show it.

All right.

They ought to go after the church.

They can't go after the records there.

All right.

That's better.

All right.

And other than that, I don't want any announcement made of doing that for me.

Because if I get out there and I do look tired, or in fact, when I was in the movies, I just made sure I knew what I was going to do.

I don't...

We're going to have a Q&A.

I'd say, I think you've got a point.

It's Sunday coming up.

It's Saturday night.

It's going to be too late to get to the East.

I think some of the rest of us are all quite tired enough to leave.

We'll be doing that.

Don't forget, don't use the camera.

This is one place where I just wouldn't have it.

Exactly.

Exactly, but then I could still do it with a Q&A, and then it just doesn't, they'll, they'll, they'll, they can cover it when I stand up, and then, there's a lot of reading when I'm recording, which is not a, that's not, that's right, don't have the camera.

That's excellent.

That's an excellent idea that I do have working on, right, please.

That's good.

Well, since we're there so late, too, we're there, but you missed the east, and you won't make the west either at all.

Yeah.

So never mind.

So don't hang on.

And they are lying on us.

There's just no reason for that power.

That's right.

Okay.

All right.

NARA Description

On September 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:00 pm to 6:06 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 279-035 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 279-35

Date: September 22, 1971
Time: 6:00 pm - 6:06 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

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

[See Conversation No. 9-127]

Also recorded on September 22, 1971

009-125 5:38 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:38 pm and 5:41 pm.
279-032 5:38 PM · 6 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 5:38 pm and 5:41 pm.
009-126 5:41 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 5:41 pm to 5:58 pm.
279-034 5:41 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:41 pm to 5:58 pm.
279-036 5:50 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Walter R. Tkach, and Dr. W. Kenneth Riland met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:50 pm to 6:25 pm.
009-127 6:00 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 6:00 pm to 6:06 pm.
009-128 6:06 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:06 pm and 6:31 pm.
009-129 6:06 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:06 pm and 6:31 pm.

All 84 conversations from September 22, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 279-035, September 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/279-035 (accessed October 12, 2026).