Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 329 › Conversation 329-044

Nixon & Haldeman on Foreign Policy and Public Relations

Saturday, April 15, 1972 · 2:04 PM–2:12 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation329-044 on Tape 329 (tape position 04:53:59–04:59:48)StartSaturday, April 15, 1972 at 2:04 PMEndSaturday, April 15, 1972 at 2:12 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 329-044 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417186285 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss the need to project strength and publicize a more assertive stance regarding ongoing negotiations and foreign policy. Nixon expresses frustration with the perceived passivity of his administration's supporters in Congress and directs Haldeman to mobilize key allies and spokespeople to counter the political opposition. The conversation concludes with an action item for Haldeman to coordinate a more aggressive public relations strategy.

Audio

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NARA Description

On April 15, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:04 pm to 2:12 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 329-044 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 329-44

Date: April 15, 1972
Time: 2:04 pm - 2:12 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

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

[See Conversation No. 22-129]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 57% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, any developments that you're working on?
As we're going to talk, 36 hours, 48 hours.
You're able to get Colson and Frank up.
I talked to him, and he wanted to do that.
We're just going to create a conversation and work it out.
We'll see what we can do.
We're working on it.
We're working on it.
We're working on it.
We're working on it.
We're working on it.
We're working on it.
But one day out of that battle, you just got to show some strength at this point.
I told Henry, you've got to do it.
You've got to do it well with public support.
I don't know how much support there is, but you've got to do it.
I don't mean that the other things aren't important, but you see what I mean?
Right now, this is the seventh day until, uh, that's when we were at, uh,
It means very much to them, but it doesn't mean very much to us.
It did no harm.
It probably had people thinking that.
Well, that's the point.
Well, of course, here we've been in this three weeks, Bob.
And at least Larry stepped up and said a couple of things.
His bill has been like a mouse.
He hasn't said anything to a congressman or a senator or anybody else, you know, that he's carrying the thing.
And God damn it, that's the reason I've not seen it.
I'm just not going to see it at all.
He said he wants to go down and say, well, this is what she's going to do.
And also, I don't believe the American people will appreciate that.
Do you agree or not?
Whether they do or not is my call to action.
The sound is that we're ready to negotiate, give anything away, and all that sort of thing.
Well, we'll negotiate the real thing.
Just watch.
Just watch.
Take somebody on.
Our problem there is we just have a foe.
I mean, it's not his fault.
He just loves to get along with people.
He does the right job for them.
Don't you agree?
my own view is once you start i don't think it makes a whole lot of difference where you go do you have you
.
.
.
.
and they stopped killing Americans.
Is anything at all underway yet?
I mean, as I mentioned to you, they, you know, they've got the telephone, the hand-on information, the ads, everything.
I think we've really got to crank it up and have it in mind.
In other words, let's anticipate the attack of the opposition and have some strong right-wing stuff come in here.
and get all the speakers on and get the low-waters and towers and the boards and the rest of it to crack out a bit, you know.
That's what it is.
I'll get the breaker in.

Also recorded on April 15, 1972

  • 022-128 2:00 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:00 pm and 2:04 pm.
  • 329-043 2:00 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 2:00 pm and 2:04 pm.
  • 022-129 2:04 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 2:04 pm to 2:12 pm.
  • 329-045 2:12 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:12 pm and 5:35 pm.
  • 329-046 2:12 PM · 31 sec — 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 2:12 pm and 5:35 pm.
  • 329-047 2:12 PM · 24 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 2:12 pm and 5:35 pm.
  • 329-048 2:12 PM · 18 sec — 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 2:12 pm and 5:35 pm.
  • 329-049 2:12 PM · 5 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 2:12 pm and 5:35 pm.

All 27 conversations from April 15, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 329-044, April 15, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417186285). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/329-044 (accessed November 15, 2026).