Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 332 › Conversation 332-008

Nixon & Colson on ITT and Vietnam War

Tuesday, April 18, 1972 · 8:25 PM–8:45 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation332-008 on Tape 332 (tape position 00:08:08–00:16:58)StartTuesday, April 18, 1972 at 8:25 PMEndTuesday, April 18, 1972 at 8:45 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 332-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss political strategy regarding Senate hearings on ITT and the broader Vietnam War discourse. Nixon expresses a desire to frame the opposition's stance on the war as supporting the enemy, aiming to pressure political rivals. They also review economic messaging, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the effectiveness of the President's economic council.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 111.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 111.8 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 00:08:08 into the tape and ends around 00:16:58.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
8:13Well, how did it come out today down there at the Senate?
8:22I met on the ITT.
8:22I had Vietnam on about two of them.
8:24The one?
8:24Yeah.
8:24Well, what is the situation tomorrow with the system?
8:37I don't see the system.
8:46Good.
8:46Then the other should break up the hearings at that time.
9:01Good.
9:20Let's let it run for a while.
9:25That's a good line.
9:34Well, the hell with the papers.
9:35The TP won't do it.
9:39All right.
9:43All right.
9:53The weather did well today.
9:54Nevertheless, that's all right.
10:02Right.
10:02Oh, getting riders out is more important than that.
10:12Plus, the Hofstra public is tomorrow morning.
10:26Well, it's good for them to vote it down.
10:32That's right.
10:42Let's go with the editor.
10:48That's all right.
10:57That's all right.
10:57It's a mixed blessing anyway.
10:59You know, just let him sit there a while.
11:05Well, I don't think he will.
11:07I don't think he wants to put them all in that much of a spot.
11:14Yeah.
11:14Yeah.
11:16Yeah, but more important than that, which is a political statement, is that people are going to come out and say, we've got a job.
11:22I don't want my party to be, you know, for treason.
11:29How about our friend Fitz?
11:30Yeah.
11:30Say something.
11:36He's a big man, and he should say something.
11:40You know, representative of labor.
11:41That'll make force, meaning of it, too.
11:47I believe the same way.
11:56That's great.
12:01All right.
12:01We're out there.
12:02All those are good.
12:07I'll see you in a moment.
12:12Three o'clock.
12:14Roger did it well, and I will get through it.
12:16That will flatten it back, too.
12:20Yeah.
12:23That changes their attitude very quickly, doesn't it?
12:40Good, good.
12:40Yeah, I saw that about the AGM evening.
12:46What is the situation on the CPI?
12:50It can't be as bad as last month.
12:56At least it will be a little better, and that's an improvement.
13:03That won't come the next month, though, will it?
13:07The CPI falls a wholesale price about a month, I think.
13:11I'm afraid.
13:12But anyway, it may, but it isn't going to be six percent.
13:16Six-tenths of a percent, I mean.
13:22On that council, like Whitman and Solomon and Stein, all three are good.
13:32We can compare the situation before we have McCracken, Stein, and who knows the other one.
13:38I think it was impossible.
13:39He was a nice fellow, but he never helped.
13:42Now we've got, we had one good one and two bad ones.
13:45Now we've got three good ones.
13:46Come on, that's the way it is.
13:52People have got to feel better about it.
13:59Right.
14:02Right.
14:04We'll have that tomorrow for the showdown on ITT, isn't it, sir?
15:13Good.
15:15Well, we'll just see how the handling's all tomorrow.
15:18Maybe our people can have a sense of the filibuster good about Brian and me and the other fellow.
15:32Start nailing them with the idea of supporting the enemy.
15:34I hope people are saying that, that you're supporting the enemy, huh?
15:38Yeah.
15:45Right.
15:46That's the issue.
15:47Handle it well.
15:50The town is weak, too.
15:51That's why.
15:53Good.
15:54Hammer them a bit.
15:58That's good.
15:59Right.
16:01It'll sort of be the cleanup area.
16:05Good.
16:08Good.
16:10Good.
16:11Okay, well that's good.
16:13Just keep their heels to the fire, okay?

NARA Description

On April 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:25 pm to 8:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 332-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 332-8

Date: April 18, 1972
Time: 8:25 pm - 8:45 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

     [See Conversation No. 23-30]

Also recorded on April 19, 1972

  • 023-026 8:05 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:05 pm and 8:18 pm.
  • 023-027 8:05 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:05 pm and 8:18 pm.
  • 023-028 8:18 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 8:18 pm to 8:24 pm.
  • 332-005 8:18 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:18 pm to 8:24 pm.
  • 023-029 8:24 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:24 pm and 8:25 pm.
  • 332-006 8:24 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 8:24 pm and 8:25 pm.
  • 332-007 8:24 PM · 58 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 8:24 pm and 8:25 pm.
  • 023-030 8:25 PM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:25 pm to 8:45 pm.

All 56 conversations from April 19, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 332-008, April 19, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/332-008 (accessed October 1, 2026).