Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 281 › Conversation 281-006

Nixon & Haldeman on Supreme Court appointments and American Bar Association

Thursday, October 21, 1971 · 8:30 AM–9:33 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation281-006 on Tape 281 (tape position 00:29:58–00:36:06)StartThursday, October 21, 1971 at 8:30 AMEndThursday, October 21, 1971 at 9:33 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 281-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discussed strategy regarding upcoming Supreme Court nominations, specifically focusing on managing the vetting process and the influence of the American Bar Association (ABA). The President emphasized the need for strict confidentiality, instructing staff to avoid leaks and to withhold information from the press, including directives for Ronald Ziegler to remain noncommittal regarding potential nominees. They also addressed the necessity of compiling detailed biographical data on candidates while asserting the administration's intention to proceed with appointments regardless of ABA approval.

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Position in tape: 00:29:58 – 00:36:06

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Instead of a maximum, in terms of a tight thing, he used to take responsibility for his confidentiality of 125 orders on each thing.
I think he put it back on tape and I don't want to see a wall issue.
You see what I mean?
Getting it out.
Okay.
It should not be allowed for the mid-time, correct?
Otherwise it would tip off what we're going to do with the news time.
You can sure see that.
That was basically what I had to say.
Okay.
So don't let your voice talk you into doing something else on that.
Good, good, good.
All right, all right, good.
Good, good, all right, fine.
All right.
Yeah, yeah, six to six for him.
All right, fine.
The main thing on the 11 to one is now get somebody to get out and say it was a stacked jury.
Now, maybe you don't hear me.
A stacked jury seat is 12.
There were no men on the selection board.
No men.
A stacked jury.
And somebody from the administration.
Somebody we hit hard, hard, hard.
Okay?
Yeah.
Yeah, and the idea that from the inside of the ADA it has been learned that they considered her the best qualified woman who might be available, but that she was not qualified.
Have you heard that?
Now, have you heard this?
Well, God damn it, I told you a little earlier.
Mitchell told me, the best qualified woman, they said this is the best qualified woman, and she's not qualified.
Okay.
Oh, I don't know.
Well, the bio stuff, yeah, I thought I had it with them.
By 11 o'clock, I mean, where were they in their law school class?
How many years did they practice?
What kind of practice was, you know, just the usual high-level, you know?
You know what you get.
But I need that by, man, I need it in an hour.
One hour, they can get it.
By 11 o'clock, at the latest, 11 o'clock, give it to 11 o'clock.
I mean, that's our material.
And don't run it by anybody in this office.
Yeah.
You can see that if I don't run it by anybody in this office, I don't want this to leak today, Bob.
We've got the office, so don't run it by any of our shopper dean, shopper, anything like that.
I'm going to go with these two.
Great.
Marvelous, marvelous.
Both of them totally will approve when I'm done.
So I don't know whether I would or not.
I'll make the judgment.
He can talk to you about what we put out, but I'll make the judgment of what I'm gonna say.
That's my point.
Is that what he's talking about?
That sort of thing, I don't, yeah.
No notification, you can get Colson.
That's right, that's right.
Yeah, you get a hold of Colson.
You get a hold of Colson and say, all right, now that's just, these are, and don't tell them they're surprised.
Say who they're gonna meet, this is gonna make the two, well, I don't know.
Just say, about the, flat out, now, don't ever give any of them work.
Ron doesn't know.
He doesn't know what it is.
I just said, Ron, just tell him you don't know.
So with everybody, you say you don't know, don't say, don't indicate with him, surprise him, anything, hair off the other way.
Is that clear?
Don't breathe the fact that we may be thinking of anybody else in these two.
You can say the president is gonna ignore the bomb.
That's not bad.
The president's gonna move without you proving the bomb.
Yeah.
No, not Sigler, no.
That should be legal.
Okay.
Fine, because we're not going to submit these to the bar.
They can just say the bar does not have a veto power.
Sigler can say the bar does not have a veto power.
He's asked that and that's what he should say.
The bar doesn't have a veto power to be taken into consideration for things that they don't have a veto power.
That's right.
That's right.
Put it this way, he can say, the Constitution provides for advice and consent of the Senate.
It does not provide, require, it requires advice and consent of the Senate.
It does not require consent of the boss.

NARA Description

On October 21, 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 8:30 am and 9:33 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 281-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 281-6

Date: October 21, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:30 am and 9:33 am
Location: Executive Office Building

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

     Supreme Court appointments
          -Richard A. Moore
               -Assignment
               -News conference
                      -John N. Mitchell
                      -William H. Mulligan [?]
                      -Howard H. Baker
                      -American Bar Association [ABA] vote
                            -Mildred L. Lillie
                                 -Administration's response
                                 -Mitchell
                                      -Administration response
               -Assignment
                      -Biography of nominees
                      -Timing
          -Leaks
               -John D. Ehrlichman
               -John W. Dean III
               -William L. Safire
               -Leonard Garment
          -Notification

                -Charles W. Colson
                -Ronald L. Ziegler
           -Role of ABA
                -Ziegler’s public comments
                -Constitution

Also recorded on October 21, 1971

  • 281-001 8:20 AM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:20 am to 8:30 am.
  • 281-002 8:30 AM · 34 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 8:30 am and 9:33 am.
  • 281-003 8:30 AM · 3 min — 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 8:30 am and 9:33 am.
  • 281-004 8:30 AM · 9 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 8:30 am and 9:33 am.
  • 281-005 8:30 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:30 am and 9:33 am.
  • 012-027 9:33 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:33 am.
  • 012-028 9:33 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 9:33 am to 9:39 am.
  • 281-007 9:33 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:33 am to 9:39 am.

All 107 conversations from October 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 281-006, October 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/281-006 (accessed October 12, 2026).