Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 348 › Conversation 348-013

Nixon & Colson on Campaign Strategy and Public Relations

Wednesday, July 19, 1972 · 9:03 PM–9:26 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 10 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation348-013 on Tape 348StartWednesday, July 19, 1972 at 9:03 PMEndWednesday, July 19, 1972 at 9:26 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 348-013 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss campaign strategy, focusing on the shifting positions of their political opponents and the media's coverage of these developments. They evaluate the potential impact of middle-income tax proposals on the election and coordinate the release of daily promotional or campaign material. The conversation concludes with an emphasis on maintaining a consistent and aggressive public relations narrative.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 12.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 1.3 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 7 minutes of this recording (about 71% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Hello.
Well, anything new?
Are you watching me now?
What do you think it cost you?
Yeah.
I thought about either, Ken, huh?
Hold on.
That's all right.
Don't worry about that.
Don't push him.
All right.
I see.
Donation.
I figured he didn't like it too well.
But that one I see him liking.
I think Harris thinks so too.
The main point is that I think they're coming up with a down trend.
It could be not a necessarily a plus.
Thank you.
What the hell?
Being a star is a very interesting story, but I think it's called a very long story.
I don't know how he changed this type of performance.
What do you think of that?
He raised middle income.
He raised middle income and filled out the company income of all men.
In other words, instead of 14% through 70%, it's going to be around 30 to 50%.
That's going to come another note.
But it says when the kid's going to make that up, the tax credit's going to come out on the note.
I just don't think you can just let it.
I'm sure we won't get off on the note.
It's an old proposal.
I'm sure they are.
Right.
Right there.
Right.
It's beginning to get a little bit, of course it gets off to a good end when the guy gets nominated and then starts changing his positions.
There you go.
They can hardly change.
political, uh, political, uh, uh, shame, and all that stuff.
Yeah.
It's all the same.
It's all the same.
It's all the same.
It's all the same.
It's all the same.
It's all the same.
Well, that's all right.
That's all right.
.
.
.
Good.
That's enough.
That's enough.
Good.
That's enough.
That's enough.
What did CPS use in those clips?
Did they use any?
Did they use the clip material?
They did.
That's enough.
That's enough.
That's enough.
That's enough.
Okay.
Well, tomorrow, you know, we've got to have something every day.
Yeah.
Okay.
Good day.
Bye.

NARA Description

On July 19, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:03 pm to 9:26 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 348-013 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 348-13

Date: July 19, 1972
Time: 9:03 pm - 9:26 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 27-15]

Also recorded on July 20, 1972

  • 027-014 9:00 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:00 pm and 9:03 pm.
  • 348-011 9:00 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:00 pm and 9:03 pm.
  • 348-012 9:00 PM · 7 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 9:00 pm and 9:03 pm.
  • 027-015 9:03 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:03 pm to 9:26 pm.
  • 348-014 9:26 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:26 pm and 9:45 pm.
  • 348-015 9:45 PM · 56 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:45 pm to 10:30 pm.
  • 348-016 10:30 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:30 pm and 10:58 pm.
  • 748-001 9:33 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 9:33 am.

All 50 conversations from July 20, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 348-013, July 20, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/348-013 (accessed October 2, 2026).