Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 326 › Conversation 326-017
Nixon & Haldeman on Section 315 and Equal time rule
Friday, March 24, 1972 · 1:12 PM–1:16 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building
AI Summary
President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discuss political maneuvering surrounding legislative efforts to address Section 315 equal-time requirements for television broadcasts. Nixon expresses concern that Democrats are manipulating these regulations to force candidate debates and gain free airtime while exploiting minority party candidates. The conversation also touches on broader strategies to attack the Democratic opposition regarding their stance on controversial social issues, including school racial balancing.
- Section 315
- Equal time rule
- Television debates
- Democratic Party
- Racial balancing
- Political strategy
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 61.1 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 02:14:11 into the tape and ends around 02:16:34.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
NARA Description
On March 24, 1972, 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 1:12 pm and 1:16 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 326-017 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 326-17
Date: March 24, 1972
Time: Unknown between 1:12 pm and 1:16 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Pending legislation
-Section 315 on equal time
-The President’s previous call to Charles W. Colson
-Democrats
-Possible candidate debates
-Television
-Minor candidates
-The President’s view
Peter M. Flanigan
-John D. EhrlichmanAlso recorded on March 24, 1972
- 022-013 12:54 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 12:54 pm to 1:12 pm.
- 326-016 12:54 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:54 pm to 1:12 pm.
- 022-014 1:12 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:12 pm and 1:16 pm.
- 022-015 1:16 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 1:16 pm to 1:17 pm.
- 326-018 1:16 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:16 pm to 1:17 pm.
- 326-019 1:24 PM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:24 pm to 2:00 pm.
- 022-016 1:28 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 1:28 pm to 1:29 pm.
- 022-017 1:29 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:29 pm and 2:05 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 326-017, March 24, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/326-017 (accessed October 1, 2026).