Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 291 › Conversation 291-012

Nixon & Ehrlichman on J. Edgar Hoover and Resignation

Monday, October 18, 1971 · 5:00 PM–5:15 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation291-012 on Tape 291 (tape position 01:39:55–01:44:02)StartMonday, October 18, 1971 at 5:00 PMEndMonday, October 18, 1971 at 5:15 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 291-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman discussed the potential forced resignation of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the administrative details surrounding his potential departure. The pair also addressed damaging allegations in Newsday regarding Bebe Rebozo’s financial dealings, specifically concerning Fisher Island stock transactions. They weighed the strategic benefits of filing a lawsuit against Newsday to force a retraction and generate positive publicity to counter the reports.

Audio

Download MP3 · 8.2 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Mitchell is going to work up a little scenario for me on Uber.
But he says that you are going to work up the business about what's going on together.
So how soon can all that be together?
I don't know.
Hurry.
I just think it's going to be .
But I've got the, and we decided that I was overruled.
He's not, he doesn't need it.
I mean, we made it.
We decided to do it.
The point is, he's going to work up the kind of things he gets over needs in terms of support and all the rest, and the title holders and consultants and the car and the shoulder and so forth and all that.
and also what he thinks I might say to him.
And you could put any word up there.
I need the strongest possible case of all the horrible things you heard.
Exactly.
And I don't know what else you could get on that.
Right.
right our budget meeting tomorrow you had a good meeting incidentally and after hearing it it really isn't pretty raw and uh wasn't i right about that stock there weren't those preemptive rights and all that sort of and didn't they have a and a contract and they and they paid a penalty i was wrong it wasn't seven a three hundred thousand dollar penalty
Well, Jesus Christ, I mean, that's something, that's more than a transaction, isn't it?
Right.
On that score, though, just thinking about it, the question is whether or not a bailiff to file a lawsuit will help for her to
And the very filing of it, of course, does indicate that there's a doubt about the whole damn story.
And also, the filing of it, of course, gives an opportunity for retraction, which might also have been unknown.
It's a very big Chicago in Minneapolis, Los Angeles.
I don't know what it may be.
And of course, there's the...
Yeah, in other words, it's a positive story.
All right, we'll wait right here.

NARA Description

On October 18, 1971, 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 5:00 pm and 5:15 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 291-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 291-12

Date: October 18, 1971
Time: Unknown between 5:00 pm and 5:15 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with John D. Ehrlichman.

     John N. Mitchell's activities
          -J. Edgar Hoover
                -Resignation
                -The President's schedule
                -Future position with government

     Budget meeting

     Newsday articles
         -Ehrlichman’s previous meeting with Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
               -Fisher Island
                      -Stock
                           -Pre-emptive rights
                           -The President’s view
                      -Strong accuracy
                            -Lawsuit
                            -The President’s view
           -Possible response
                -Retraction

Also recorded on October 18, 1971

  • 011-112 4:56 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 4:56 pm to 4:57 pm.
  • 011-113 4:57 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at 4:57 pm.
  • 011-114 4:57 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:57 pm and 5:19 pm.
  • 291-013 5:00 PM · 8 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 5:00 pm and 5:15 pm.
  • 291-014 5:15 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Chet Holifield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:15 pm to 5:20 pm.
  • 011-115 5:19 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Chet Holifield talked on the telephone from 5:19 pm to 5:21 pm.
  • 011-116 5:21 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:21 pm and 5:24 pm.
  • 291-015 5:21 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:21 pm and 5:24 pm.

All 46 conversations from October 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 291-012, October 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/291-012 (accessed September 28, 2026).