Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 354 › Conversation 354-010

Nixon & Colson on George McGovern and Campaign strategy

Monday, October 2, 1972 · 2:40 PM–3:05 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation354-010 on Tape 354StartMonday, October 2, 1972 at 2:40 PMEndMonday, October 2, 1972 at 3:05 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 354-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson reviewed campaign strategy and addressed aggressive corruption allegations leveled against the administration by Democratic opponent George McGovern in a recent speech to UPI editors. The discussion included potential responses to McGovern's criticisms, specifically concerning the Vietnam War and the administration's treatment of the press. Additionally, the two reviewed pending domestic legislative priorities, including concerns regarding the federal water bill and the fiscal impact of proposed Social Security tax increases.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 62% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I don't know where it's going to be at before I go up to secret meeting.
Well, not a great day when this person's things continue to go very well.
We have a pretty wild candidate on the other side.
This is breaking out very, very strange.
My God.
The speech at the UPI yesterday was just...
Are you there?
No, I didn't tell you.
I had a report.
One officer said it could have been a lie.
A lie?
Uh, no, the judge was fine.
He sent one over here.
He kind of called us up and said it was really pretty rough stuff.
I've opened, moving on the wire, it's very, you know, just the most corrupt administration in the nation's history.
It's a corrupted American.
Immoral war, immoral acts.
official corruption, intimidation of the press, deliberate campaigning, discrediting statements, broke in.
The hell do you mean?
Yeah.
The first time I asked you, you seemed to have got an attempt to prevent them to punish the publication of critical data files.
All right.
What did we do there?
What did we do?
Well, the Vice President is speaking here, and the government wants you to refer him to a doctor.
How did he?
How did he?
I don't think he was the chair.
Oh, the chair.
Oh, of course, of course, of course.
Well, thank God we did that.
That's right.
But this, I don't know how to listen to it.
Of course, I'm television.
I, I, this screen, you see, is just an instrument.
And I, this one here.
Well, you've got the right kind of disability.
I'm seeing it right now.
The salt agreement is good.
The Saturday agreement is good.
The salt agreement will be another good one.
The American agreement will be another good one.
The people will be able to do whatever they want to do.
We're going to go to the ships and we're going to meet.
When it was too long, we were going to have to go to the ship.
Congress is going to give us a couple of hours.
The water bill, I'm not worried about.
I don't know how we can get it out of here, but that is the most unbelievable and irresponsible thing I ever saw.
I think I was in front of it, and I still believe quite the word.
I mean, I believe on almost anything about that.
Detailing it, because you want to hold the line against the text, is, you know, I don't think it was, I really don't mean it on social security.
And I can work people to scream, but this was, you know, nothing to do with it.
We've already given 20% of the entities, for Christ's sakes.
Why lower those?
At age 55, they're all happy to do it.
Go ahead and secure it.

NARA Description

On October 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:40 pm to 3:05 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 354-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 354-10

Date: October 2, 1972
Time: 2:40 pm - 3:05 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Charles W. Colson.

        The President's schedule
            -Andrei A. Gromyko's forthcoming meeting with the President

        Campaign charges
           -George S. McGovern
               -Speech to United Press International [UPI] editors
                   -Herbert G. Klein
                       -Unknown assistant
                   -The President's administration
                       -Corruption charges
                       -Vietnam War
                       -Actions against the press
                   -Response

                      -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
                  -Actions regarding the press
                      -Pentagon Papers case
                  -Television

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 2m 56s     ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************

          Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty [SALT]

          Domestic matters
             -Maritime agreement
             -Revenue sharing
             -Legislation
                 -Water bill
                 -Social Security
             -Social Security
                 -Possible veto
                      -Taxes

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 18m 15s    ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

*****************************************************************

Colson left at 3:05 pm.

Also recorded on October 2, 1972

  • 354-006 1:40 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 354-007 1:40 PM · 13 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 1:40 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 354-008 1:40 PM · 13 sec — 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 1:40 pm and 2:37 pm.
  • 030-041 2:37 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:37 pm.
  • 354-009 2:37 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 2:37 pm.
  • 145-010 4:03 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 4:03 pm and 4:06 pm.
  • 145-011 4:06 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 4:06 pm and 4:59 pm.
  • 214-021 4:06 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 4:06 pm and 4:59 pm.

All 44 conversations from October 2, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 354-010, October 2, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/354-010 (accessed October 1, 2026).