Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 344 › Conversation 344-024
Nixon & Ziegler on SALT and Press Conference
Thursday, June 22, 1972 · 1:35 PM–1:45 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building
AI Summary
President Nixon and Ronald Ziegler met to strategize on how to address questions regarding the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and the necessity of upgrading U.S. offensive weapons during an upcoming press conference. They discussed the importance of framing the push for offensive systems as a national security requirement rather than linking them explicitly to the SALT negotiations. Nixon instructed Ziegler to maintain this distinction, emphasizing that the administration should advocate for defense upgrades based on national need while remaining confident in congressional support for national security initiatives.
- SALT
- Press Conference
- National Defense
- Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
- Arms Control
- Legislative Strategy
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 33.4 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 03:01:29 into the tape and ends around 03:12:44.
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
3:01:29And in order to build another one, we must have an on-board drill.
3:01:29And also another reason we've got to have those layers is that if we don't have an on-board drill, the United States will be the focus of the period.
3:01:39So I think I'll stay out of this again.
3:01:44All right.
3:01:44All right.
3:01:46All right.
3:01:49All right.
3:01:52They all were there about, uh, right after we, uh...
3:01:59I actually, I think about 40, but you see some people are about to go next week, uh, they'll go 30, 30, they aren't, they're still, I'm trying to, I'd rather go 40, I, I don't know, 30, maybe 35.
3:02:09Um, um, um, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
3:02:49Thank you.
3:04:15I don't think you should volunteer it, but if you're asking about it, I think you should take that particular question.
3:04:28I think Al's dealing with this too.
3:04:37If you're asking questions.
3:04:39Well, no, no, the matter of the offensive, being for offensive systems, the matter we just talked about, what your view was possibly to make that exception and volunteer it.
3:04:51If the guy comes with a question saying it's a legislative matter, perhaps could fall on the domestic side, if that comes, perhaps you should make the points that you made.
3:05:03Thank you.
3:05:12in order to get enough river on it.
3:05:14Well, that's one point to make.
3:05:16Al's inclination, of course, is that we should say we need it just because the country needs it.
3:05:21In other words, Al's view is that we should not link it to the salt thing necessarily, but also in looking ahead, he feels that obviously we need this strong defense in order to make progress in the second phase, but the key point, according to
3:05:39that we meet them just because the company needs to go ahead and take them.
3:05:48I just wanted to say that.
3:05:55The way, after talking also to Saxby's story, we're on the same subject, aren't we, all this?
3:06:03And Saxby said, the person next
3:06:08stand against this whole agreement, unless U.S. forces are upgraded.
3:06:12Saxby had moved over to the Armed Services Committee.
3:06:15He said, I don't think the President would plan to say that we don't get these things, the treaties, off.
3:06:23He added that this is going to be a guarantee that the President should say so.
3:06:28Well, the point is who's Saxby?
3:06:29I don't think Saxby's never played with this.
3:06:31But this sort of flagged in my mind the fact that this debate's getting a little off course.
3:06:36It's moving to a point where it's turning into
3:06:39to the SALT agreement is off if we don't get into the offensive.
3:06:43The debate should really be, we need a vote, we want a vote, with heading in the other direction, heading in the positive direction.
3:06:52Now, yesterday, I suppose, the letter of testimony is running forward.
3:06:56And the line I took here, which was basically the line we talked about,
3:07:03But within that statement I made here yesterday, I said, well, the Secretary of America, of course, the Secretary of Defense has stated a strong personal view, which I sort of, how do we get out of this?
3:07:16How did he take that?
3:07:17We took it quite strongly.
3:07:20And I've talked to him this morning, and he recognizes what I said and how I had to say it in full context.
3:07:31But that, as I mentioned on the phone, that's the difficult question that has to be dealt with.
3:07:39However, the other side of that is we don't want this debate to get into something that's not.
3:07:47See, we don't want the debate to get into something that's not.
3:07:52Because people may then decide, well,
3:07:57Well, both of us all agree with it, but we really don't want the offense.
3:08:02Perhaps a statement, a comment on what you said on the phone.
3:08:08I'm not going to get into the semantics, not voluntarily.
3:08:13Well, that's what I think.
3:08:18If I got a question.
3:08:19If you got a question.
3:08:19I could probably get a question.
3:08:32Would you mind clearing up?
3:08:35Well, you can definitely say it.
3:08:55So I was just listening to how the president will respond to it.
3:08:57But I said, there's a lot of interest in trying that way.
3:08:58I don't know whether you're going for it or not.
3:09:00The Japanese are going to be on this side of the problem.
3:09:01The president is going to be on this side of the problem.
3:09:22We've been able to get by with it the last three days.
3:09:31Excuse me, the last, actually, ten days.
3:09:33Where I said there's really, you know, it's a matter of semantics and so forth, basically saying the same thing.
3:09:41I've been telling you the position.
3:09:47And we wouldn't be able to negotiate the other thing if we were in a position where we didn't have something to negotiate.
3:10:18And perhaps in that, I don't know if this is a good slide or not, but just to make a house point, which I feel like we've already done before.
3:10:28I think two points.
3:10:29First of all, we need the offensive argument is number one, because we do have a country that needs it.
3:10:34Number two, as we move into the second phase of the self-taught community strongly, that's approaching the revival of security.
3:10:42And as the president, you are confident that the Congress will continue to provide adequate
3:11:20I'll have it ordered on that basis then.
3:11:25See, the other thing this has to do too is get another thing out of this.
3:11:34Which falls over all the crap.
3:11:44I'll do that in order.
3:11:45Good.
NARA Description
On June 22, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:35 pm to 1:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 344-024 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 344-24
Date: June 22, 1972
Time: 1:35-1:45 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building
The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.
The President’s forthcoming press conference
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-Arms control question
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.'s advice
-Ziegler's view
-Haig
-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]
-Defense posture
-SALT
-Melvin R. Laird
-Henry A. Kissinger
-William B. Saxbe
-Statement
-Debate
-Ziegler’s view
-Laird
-Response by Ziegler
-Laird’s reaction
-SALT debate
-Offensive agreement
-Strategy
-Question
-Arms limitation agreement
-Supporters
-Offensive arms agreement
-President's position
-Offensive weapons
Ziegler left at 1:45 pm.Also recorded on June 22, 1972
- 025-122 12:15 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:15 pm and 12:56 pm.
- 344-020 12:15 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:15 pm and 12:56 pm.
- 344-021 12:15 PM · 16 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 12:15 pm and 12:56 pm.
- 025-123 12:56 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 12:56 pm to 1:08 pm.
- 344-022 12:56 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:56 pm to 1:08 pm.
- 344-023 1:08 PM · 1 min — 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 1:08 pm and 1:35 pm.
- 344-025 1:45 PM · 12 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 1:45 pm and 2:58 pm.
- 344-026 1:45 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:45 pm and 2:58 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 344-024, June 22, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/344-024 (accessed September 30, 2026).