Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 311 › Conversation 311-048

Nixon & Haldeman on Media Relations and Public Relations Strategy

Sunday, January 2, 1972 · 3:58 PM–4:07 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation311-048 on Tape 311 (tape position 02:33:21–02:39:35)StartSunday, January 2, 1972 at 3:58 PMEndSunday, January 2, 1972 at 4:07 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 311-048 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss administrative communication protocols and the President's strategy for managing media narratives. Nixon establishes boundaries for his availability, requesting that he be shielded from routine calls after hours. They further deliberate on the need for a more disciplined approach to responding to press reports, with the President calling for a curated, weekly assessment of news to ensure balanced public relations.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 61.7 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 02:33:21 into the tape and ends around 02:39:35.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
2:33:21But what I mean is that both are very bad in terms of that.
2:33:47I had fun.
2:33:47So I would do a lot of things with my own business.
2:33:54Every time I get there, I should just deal with it.
2:33:59If they didn't have enough to like come on in, I would just go in and do it.
2:34:07Because that's what you have to do.
2:34:10You see yourself so much, you're driving like a wall.
2:34:14And you don't want to have to be attacked
2:34:49Ok, bye Henry.
2:34:50Bye bye.
2:34:52See you later.
2:35:41I'll tell you what, the night after 10.30, I will be unavailable by phone.
2:35:45And if you have any calls, come up to me.
2:35:46Unless there's one from, uh, maybe Patricia or Julie, I can see you there.
2:35:51If you have any other calls, there will be an important call.
2:35:57Okay.
2:35:58Thank you for watching.
2:36:14Yeah.
2:36:16Yeah, okay.
2:36:19Hello.
2:36:21I can't fire.
2:36:28Do you think I can do that?
2:36:29I can, you know.
2:36:31Well, Roger's in the house.
2:36:35Well, he likes it there.
2:36:40He'll probably have those helicopters around.
2:36:48Good.
2:36:54Yeah.
2:36:57Yeah.
2:36:57I had the same feeling, you know.
2:36:58I mean, I talked to Connelly on Christmas.
2:37:04On Christmas, and he was in good shape.
2:37:06And I, uh...
2:37:07But I, uh... And he should.
2:37:08God damn it, he looks good.
2:37:10But, uh...
2:37:14I didn't call him.
2:37:16And I went and having that dinner is what I did, too, because that gives me a chance to see each other.
2:37:22You want to put the rest, one of these damn things, you can put the rest of them all back.
2:37:29It's like a...
2:37:30It's just a piece of... You guys were saying the reaction to the bomb, you know, in the southern, you know, that one with George Mayon, Eddie, I don't know, I don't know.
2:37:40I don't know.
2:37:40I don't know.
2:37:41I don't know.
2:37:43I don't know.
2:37:44I don't know.
2:37:44I don't know.
2:37:44I don't know.
2:37:45Yeah.
2:38:51Yeah, yeah.
2:38:51You've got to watch Cosen on that, because he said to read the wires, you know.
2:38:56And then he says, well, we've got to get an answer for that.
2:38:58God damn it, nobody should read the wires.
2:38:59We've got to wait.
2:39:03Yeah.
2:39:04Yeah, because they have to get it out in such a hurry.
2:39:07And then to do it with a balanced report.
2:39:10I'm utterly convinced that the...
2:39:12I like to have maybe every day the one story that we really ought to respond to.
2:39:20And then I like to have about once a week, well, here's the news of the week for us.
2:39:26You see what I mean?
2:39:27I think you really need balancing of that.
2:39:30You just say, here's the main color of the story.

NARA Description

On January 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:58 pm to 4:07 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 311-048 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 311-48

Date: January 2, 1972
Time: 3:58 pm - 4:07 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

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

[See Conversation No. 17-148]

Also recorded on January 2, 1972

  • 017-147 3:50 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:50 pm and 3:58 pm.
  • 311-047 3:50 PM · 33 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 3:50 pm and 3:58 pm.
  • 017-148 3:58 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 3:58 pm to 4:07 pm.
  • 017-149 4:07 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-049 4:07 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-050 4:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-051 4:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.
  • 311-052 4:07 PM · 29 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 4:07 pm and 6:35 pm.

All 39 conversations from January 2, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 311-048, January 2, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/311-048 (accessed October 25, 2026).