Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 319 › Conversation 319-014

Nixon & Ziegler on Press Strategy and 1972 Presidential Campaign

Monday, February 7, 1972 · 4:44 PM–4:49 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation319-014 on Tape 319 (tape position 01:14:08–01:17:58)StartMonday, February 7, 1972 at 4:44 PMEndMonday, February 7, 1972 at 4:49 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 319-014 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417185827 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler to establish a media strategy regarding the 1972 presidential campaign. Nixon instructed Ziegler to adopt a policy of refusing to comment on statements made by other political candidates to avoid entanglement in campaign rhetoric. Additionally, the pair briefly discussed personnel and personal associations to ensure the administration maintained a clear public record regarding outside influences.

Audio

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NARA Description

On February 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:44 pm to 4:49 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 319-014 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 319-14

Date: February 7, 1972
Time: 4:44 pm - 4:49 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See also Conversation No. 20-50]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 40% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Uh, hi, Rob.
How did your afternoon briefing go?
Oh, just waiting.
Oh, Henry's, uh, oh, Henry's, uh, he was, uh, on the, on the concrete on the...
Oh, I see.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, that's good.
That's good.
All right.
All right.
How does your morning stuff look?
Good.
Some of your stuff about the facts and so forth.
No, no, I would say that I just don't get it.
I put it this way, I'm just not going to comment on it.
on the various statements of the presidential candidates.
I want you to say that.
I'm just not going to comment on the various statements of the presidential candidates.
And that will sort of get you off the musky window that you've been doing.
So unless there's a, unless there's a, unless there was a musky window.
Unless there is a statement back, this is the point of view, and you're not going to comment on the point of view.
If there's a statement back, you'll keep the record clear, and that's all.
Fine, fine, fine.
Sure thing.
Thank you.
Where she got her eyes all minded, I... Never called.
Absolutely, absolutely nobody ever called me.
No, no, no, no.
I was the person, just the person going.
No.
I don't know who the hell it is.
As a matter of fact, as I told you, what concerns me is that I've got a few friends.
A few of my friends are cold.
It's true.
I didn't pick Joe Kraft, Carno, and all those people.
No.
No.
That's right.
Yeah.
He left it to me.
He left it to me.
The decision is mine.
The president approved it.
And he said that without regard to their position, without regard to the president, they fit the criteria.
You could say, for example, now if you read this list, you will find that a considerable number of people
Why don't you make the point that we're not considered to be the president's strongest supporters?
Yeah, I'd say it publicly.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
And that I, well, I didn't tell him.
Good God, I didn't tell anybody.
We weren't doing that.
And a matter of fact, I knew we couldn't get a bug in anyway.
OK.

Also recorded on February 7, 1972

  • 319-012 4:40 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:40 pm to 4:43 pm.
  • 319-013 4:43 PM · 3 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 4:43 pm and 4:44 pm.
  • 020-050 4:44 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 4:44 pm to 4:49 pm.
  • 020-051 4:49 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:49 pm and 4:52 pm.
  • 319-015 4:49 PM · 43 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 4:49 pm and 4:52 pm.
  • 319-016 4:49 PM · 3 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 4:49 pm and 4:52 pm.
  • 319-017 4:49 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:49 pm and 4:52 pm.
  • 319-018 4:52 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:52 pm to 4:53 pm.

All 49 conversations from February 7, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 319-014, February 7, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417185827). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/319-014 (accessed November 15, 2026).