Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 312 › Conversation 312-022

Nixon & Sanchez on George Romney and Political strategy

Tuesday, January 11, 1972 · 2:39 PM–3:32 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Sanchez, ManoloConversation312-022 on Tape 312 (tape position 03:36:39–03:38:58)StartTuesday, January 11, 1972 at 2:39 PMEndTuesday, January 11, 1972 at 3:32 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 312-022 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his personal aide, Manolo Sanchez, for a brief discussion regarding political management and public messaging. The conversation centers on the need to strategically control the administration's programming and handle political adversaries, specifically mentioning George Romney. Nixon expresses confidence in his ability to manage Romney while reviewing the validity of ongoing political criticisms.

Audio

part B, 1:34:28

Download MP3 (part 1) · 118.5 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 107.9 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the players above hold the full tape, shared with neighbouring conversations. By the archivists' log it runs from 03:36:39 to 03:38:58 into the tape; their log often drifts a minute or two from the audio, so listen for the subjects in the finding aid.

NARA Description

On January 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:39 pm and 3:32 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 312-022 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 312-22

Date: January 11, 1972
Time: Unknown between 2:39 pm and 3:43 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Manolo Sanchez.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 18s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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Sanchez left at an unknown time before 3:43 pm.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Timestamps are positions within the full tape; click one to play the tape from there.

A good part of what he said is not valid, but it's all stimulated, and it's just worth a review of that kind of thing.
I think there's one thing that we've had to really control.
I don't just think it's a program that we've got to end on.
I just think we've got to be programmed with that.
I mean, every time we've got a program, we've programmed it.
We've programmed it up.
And I mean, people are...
I'm down to the other mountain, excuse me.
But there's some others you're seeing.
I know there's this part of the mountain where you're walking through.
I'm down to the mountain, excuse me.
That's phenomenal.
I don't know.
I really think I can handle Romney.

Also recorded on January 11, 1972

  • 018-065 2:39 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:39 pm and 3:43 pm.
  • 312-023 2:39 PM · 1 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 2:39 pm and 3:32 pm.
  • 312-024 2:39 PM · 2 min — 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 2:39 pm and 3:32 pm.
  • 312-025 2:39 PM · 46 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 2:39 pm and 3:32 pm.
  • 018-066 3:43 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 3:43 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 312-026 3:43 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:43 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 018-067 3:49 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:49 pm and 4:02 pm.
  • 312-027 3:49 PM · 2 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 3:49 pm and 4:02 pm.

All 30 conversations from January 11, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 312-022, January 11, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/312-022 (accessed November 13, 2026).