Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 282 › Conversation 282-008

Nixon & Colson on Public relations and Political strategy

Wednesday, October 20, 1971 · 2:23 PM–2:47 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 13 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation282-008 on Tape 282 (tape position 00:12:36–00:26:03)StartWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 2:23 PMEndWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 2:47 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 282-008 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417184841 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies for shaping public opinion and defending the administration against political opponents, particularly regarding the need for more aggressive advocacy from White House officials. They analyze recent polling data for Connecticut and national sentiment toward political rivals like Senator Edward Kennedy. The conversation concludes with a directive for Colson to coordinate with Pat Buchanan to draft a strong public statement condemning their opponents' tactics as "dirty gutter politics."

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:23 pm to 2:47 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 282-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 282-8

Date: October 20, 1971
Time: 2:23 pm - 2:47 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 11-163]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 7% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Well, how's your battle today, Daniel?
Yeah, pretty good.
They don't cover that.
Oh, yeah, I saw that one.
That was unconscionable.
I just figured anywhere people had the guts to take them on, that would be a smear if we used it.
Or on every page in the nation.
Nobody did.
Not one goddamn country made it.
Oh, terrible.
Now, he just, he's saying we're a bunch of, frankly, radical ruckus.
That's right.
You see, the Burke Society is both anti-Semitic and anti-black, you know.
It is both.
Everybody knows it.
Yeah.
That's right.
Yeah.
Other than me.
It won't unless somebody takes them on.
See, you don't, it doesn't backfire if everybody sits by and says, hey, Ray Ray, isn't that great?
Why doesn't the cabinet officer take them on, for Christ's sake?
Yeah.
But I mean, what's the Christ's matter with Ron and both of you and all those clowns when they say something?
They ought to defend the president and defend the fellow cabinet officer on their last day.
You know what I mean?
That's what I do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's right, I know he's a great soldier, but you know, he doesn't make any news.
He attacks Kennedy, he might make some news.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a good idea.
Great.
Yeah.
One that seems so strange and quiet isn't he speaking?
I don't know what the hell I'm having to enjoy.
Is that right?
Applebill!
I don't know.
That's what I understood.
We've got to do some bulk buying just to cover our list, Chuck.
Now, that list must be covered immediately.
Now, is that being done?
I want to be sure that they've got to start people talking about it.
Oh, see you doing something.
Be there for me, Nicker.
Good.
Good.
That's good.
Come on, Nicker.
Okay.
I know, I know.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
Do you think we have, we think we have had some effect on that?
Have we raved all about him?
Oh, good.
Yeah.
I don't know if that's true.
Another one, huh?
What?
Another hand-in-hand receipt.
Will this be published?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That is very true.
Are they going to print it?
Well, I don't know.
Six to go.
What if Gallup might come up with it?
No, don't press it.
Just
I don't, I don't, we don't want to press, let them, let them tell us what they do.
I don't, I don't, Gallup's got to show something.
If the others take this, let's suppose the damn thing is 25% off.
It's still, in Connecticut, to run better than even is a landslide for the country, you know.
Really, that's true.
Always, every year, we did it in 60, we lost by 40,000.
75 and 80,000.
Well, not much more than that.
It runs 40 to 60,000 every year.
How many other coals are up there?
Well, I guess they all show some increase.
Gallop, because Gallop, my children, despite all their protestations,
Security is all the closer it can be dropped.
We've always felt that it's just a hunch.
Now, if Harris comes up with this, it has very, it has relatively high unemployment.
No, not like, not as bad as the jury.
The way it works, and what the hell, this must be totally foreign policy.
Yeah.
They're there.
That's the one on the candidate.
That's unbelievable.
Okay.
Well, Connecticut's a candidate state.
And also a suburban, so it must be a little better there.
Yeah, I see.
It is a poor candidate state.
They have some poor candidates around.
Bridgeport, not many.
It's more than, it's more basically the middle and upper middle classes.
That's the kind of thing about the morale of the governor.
We ought to let them know this issue.
This is unbelievable, this kind of a goal.
Two to one.
Then what is it?
I'm just wondering where Kennedy picks up his strength from the other national foes.
Here he runs behind him.
But now we have Kennedy and both of us galloping.
Well, Harris, he runs about the same.
Yeah, no, he runs a little behind.
Yes, but not a very little, 1%.
Gallup still hasn't run it to a degree, but what in the hell is this?
Where did Kennedy fix up all this?
This is a heck of a question.
Space it, but the trouble is nobody except Goldwater is taking him off.
Am I right or not?
Well, that may do him up.
You just never know what taking on does.
That's what I heard.
Well, we'll see.
I'll tell you this, boy, I can build a grand country in that school.
I don't need to build.
They'll go out and pray and work like nothing.
As he over a period of time, she was behind the genetic.
Well, that's that's.
Better.
We may be able to.
That's right.
We may be better mechanics than we meant to be.
After all, they all know about that.
I always meant better than anything.
Nice and close.
Order coming.
All right, let's go.
Well, if you can.
Well, let me say that I gave somebody on that job a comment.
God damn, what's the hell of a thing to say?
Virtue?
Jesus Christ.
Really.
I mean, I discovered somebody on that.
He's been great.
I'm just telling you what the president is.
He's just been great.
We don't want him to carry everything, but that's the only thing I'm saying.
Somebody ought to defend on this thing, and we'll have good appointments to the court.
Scott knows that.
This is what they've got to do, though, is try to get Buchanan to write the statement.
I don't think our statements are strong enough to do it.
Smear the hill of him back.
I'm trying to get him to just say that this is dirty gutter politics.
I just say dirty gutters politics is going to smear in the worst, you know, get terrible at you.
Okay?
Okay.
Okay.

Also recorded on October 20, 1971

  • 011-163 2:23 PM · 23 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 2:23 pm to 2:47 pm.
  • 282-009 2:47 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:47 pm to 2:51 pm.
  • 012-001 2:51 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 2:51 pm to 3:00 pm.
  • 282-010 2:51 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:51 pm to 3:00 pm.
  • 012-002 3:00 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:06 pm.
  • 282-011 3:00 PM · 7 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 3:00 pm and 3:06 pm.
  • 012-003 3:06 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld talked on the telephone from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm.
  • 282-012 3:06 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm.

All 81 conversations from October 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 282-008, October 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417184841). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/282-008 (accessed November 12, 2026).