Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 280 › Conversation 280-008

Nixon & Haldeman on Public Relations and US-Japan Relations

Thursday, September 23, 1971 · 10:38 AM–11:15 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 14 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation280-008 on Tape 280 (tape position 01:15:06–01:28:57)StartThursday, September 23, 1971 at 10:38 AMEndThursday, September 23, 1971 at 11:15 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 280-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman coordinate the President’s upcoming public schedule, specifically discussing the timing of meetings and the necessity of television coverage. They explore strategic messaging regarding US-Japan textile negotiations, including plans to leak information about George Ball and Edwin Reischauer to columnists. Additionally, the pair discusses managing the press narrative surrounding the relocation of the Washington Senators baseball team.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, what's the good news today?
Oh.
No.
No.
How about having it Monday?
No.
I can't do it Monday.
I can't do it Monday.
No.
I think Saturday morning could be a very good possibility.
It's going to be a hell of a long day.
Do you see?
All right.
See you tomorrow.
Oh, hell, I don't care.
I don't care.
Do it at 9.
Do it at 9.
What time does Tom Hanson catch up on that?
Oh, why don't we have it early in the morning?
I'll just get up early.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Why don't we just start the thing?
Let's do it.
Let's have the meeting at 9, rather than 8.30.
How's that?
They should make it 9. 9.
Well, how does that meet the WAC, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the,
Well, no, whenever the captain has to get going, that's my kind of response.
In other words, as I was saying, it's only a half hour meeting, you know, we're not going to have a long public review.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Incidentally, don't take any makeup fellow out there today.
I mean, since we're not going to be on national television, I don't want to work around with some fellow running around out there.
One thing that occurred to me, I'll give a direct remark to Colston.
Henry pointed out that George, in the initial discussion, said that George was all-perv, and that's all I can tell you.
I think we were talking about this in front of you, but anyway, it's well-known, it's not heard before.
And, uh, I think that, uh, get a picture of Goldstein and try to get that out.
He was, uh, bitching around about the, you know, the death of a decent person.
And Reichardt was married to a decent person.
I think that this is a very good way to really stick it in the ball and put the, uh, he represented, find out what the situation is, what he represents, and get it out to some columnists.
Because it's not familiar to the elements.
And as I understand it, we believe in the Saturday affair without knowledge.
If you allow me to cover it.
You're trying to get out of there and tell me you don't even have a federal report.
The Republic is good.
Maybe the Republic is true.
I wouldn't do it before.
I DON'T KNOW.
That isn't all that big of a problem.
This thing not being carried live is a hell of a lot of work.
That idea of the angels
logical, more and more, you know, and, uh, and it shouldn't be just handled as a sort of dry announcement, you know, by the press secretary.
It's your name, and I can take it.
And so we really ought to use him more, and I think he, you know, he's sort of the main reason we call him out as a sports writer for a long time, because, you know, he's my friend.
And whether they can either, whether they can arrange a game, whether they can arrange it with any one in a way, or whether they can just skip and run along with it.
But we don't care about the consequences of that.
And so, yeah, and if the final thing comes up, if you don't do it there, maybe I'm sure the game will grow.
Or maybe you don't do it at all.
But, yeah.
Yeah.
Good.
Well, I think there's a boundary.
I mean, this is a Washington story, but it's a national story, too, moving Washington and giving up the senators.
Now you've got some senators raising hell about it, which is good.
Yeah.
Okay, fine, fine.
I'll just leave the trooper around.
Yeah.
Okay.

NARA Description

On September 23, 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 10:38 am and 11:15 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 280-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 280-8

Date: September 23, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:38 am and 11:15 am
Location: Executive Office Building

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

     The President's schedule
          -Meeting
               -Dates
               -Time
               -Unknown person
                      -Testimony
               -Henry A. Kissinger
                      -John B. Connally
                      -Arthur F. Burns
          -Japanese

     -Meeting
          -Length
     -Detroit Economic Club
          -Attendance
          -The President's appearance
                -National television coverage

Negotiations between Japan and the United States
    -Charles W. Colson
    -Henry A. Kissinger
    -John N. Mitchell
    -George W. Ball
           -Representation of Japanese
                -Publicity
           -Textile negotiations
                -Edwin O. Reischauer
                      -Wife
                      -Activities
           -Colson
           -Columnist, member of Congress

The President's schedule
     -Appearance
          -Television coverage
     -Consumer representatives meeting on September 21, 1971
          -Attorney General of Arizona [Gary K. Nelson]
                 -Check on party affiliation
     -The President's appearance
          -Live coverage

Handling of press stories
    -Newspapers
          -Treatment of stories
                -Color
                       -Coordination between Ronald L. Ziegler, Richard A. Moore
                            -California Angels
                                  -Announcement
                                  -Sportswriters

The President's schedule
     -Baseball game

                 -Schedule arrangements
                      -California Angels

     Baseball
          -National story
               -Washington Senators
                     -Departure
                          -US Senators reaction

     Staff morale

Also recorded on September 23, 1971

  • 280-003 10:01 AM · 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:01 am to 10:35 am.
  • 009-138 10:35 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:35 am.
  • 009-139 10:35 AM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan talked on the telephone from 10:35 am to 10:38 am.
  • 280-004 10:35 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 10:35 am.
  • 280-005 10:35 AM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:35 am to 10:38 am.
  • 280-006 10:38 AM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:38 am and 11:15 am.
  • 280-007 10:38 AM · 17 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 10:38 am and 11:15 am.
  • 280-009 11:15 AM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:15 am to 11:16 am.

All 32 conversations from September 23, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 280-008, September 23, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/280-008 (accessed October 12, 2026).