Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 323 › Conversation 323-012

Nixon & Ziegler on Media relations and John Flanagan

Monday, March 13, 1972 · 6:22 PM–6:28 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation323-012 on Tape 323 (tape position 01:17:09–01:21:09)StartMonday, March 13, 1972 at 6:22 PMEndMonday, March 13, 1972 at 6:28 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 323-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler discuss media coverage and political strategy, specifically regarding allegations of conflict of interest involving John Flanagan and the firm Dillon Reed. Nixon expresses frustration over the perceived reach of these accusations and questions the motivations behind the negative press coverage. The conversation concludes with the President instructing Ziegler to monitor these narratives closely and respond firmly to any further public criticism.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 107.8 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 01:17:09 into the tape and ends around 01:21:09.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 recording.
1:17:25I don't have any contest with anybody.
1:17:35Why should I do it in Florida?
1:17:41I'm not contesting with anybody.
1:17:44It's not an issue with me.
1:18:04Right.
1:18:06I just didn't get a question.
1:18:09And as I get, I call across the night, you know, and I gave them a nice look of what really matters.
1:18:22It's a nice little story.
1:18:23Well, it's a big story.
1:18:24There aren't any of those countries that might be blue for a while.
1:18:31How about ID&T?
1:18:31Would you get on that today?
1:18:35I know that story.
1:18:36I follow the water and the stars.
1:18:38I read it, you know, Hell on the Rise.
1:18:45The way John Flanagan's terrible, they tell you to read it.
1:18:49John Flanagan was with Dillon Reed.
1:18:50So Dillon Reed's out of all the big companies.
1:18:52He left it.
1:18:53He took the right off.
1:18:55So does that make him guilty of something?
1:18:58Like if I was with a law firm, I may think about it, but they have a firm for four years.
1:19:01Does that make me guilty of something because they have a case?
1:19:05You know what I mean?
1:19:06It's really pretty, pretty, reaches pretty far.
1:19:12Well, they divest themselves, you know, why does he say that?
1:19:14Not in the first page.
1:19:15Well, they divest themselves right now.
1:19:26And here, Walker really reached there.
1:19:33I don't know.
1:20:59What are they all squealing about?
1:21:01They're saying nothing.
1:21:03If they squeal, I can be absolutely ragged until they go far enough.
1:21:12Okay.

NARA Description

On March 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:22 pm to 6:28 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 323-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 323-12

Date: March 13, 1972
Time: 6:22 pm - 6:28 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 21-60]

Also recorded on March 13, 1972

  • 021-058 6:12 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 6:12 pm to 6:17 pm.
  • 021-059 6:17 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:17 pm and 6:22 pm.
  • 323-011 6:17 PM · 11 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 6:17 pm and 6:22 pm.
  • 021-060 6:22 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 6:22 pm to 6:28 pm.
  • 021-061 6:28 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 6:28 pm.
  • 323-013 6:28 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 6:28 pm.
  • 021-062 6:29 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 6:29 pm to 6:34 pm.
  • 323-014 6:29 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:29 pm to 6:34 pm.

All 72 conversations from March 13, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 323-012, March 13, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/323-012 (accessed October 3, 2026).