Conversation 360-006

TapeTape 360StartFriday, September 8, 1972 at 3:01 PMEndFriday, September 8, 1972 at 3:40 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ehrlichman, John D.;  Krogh, Egil ("Bud"), Jr.;  Sanchez, ManoloRecording deviceOld Executive Office Building

On September 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:01 pm to 3:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 360-006 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 360-6

Date: September 8, 1972
Time: 3:00 pm - 3:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman and Egil G.(“Bud”)Krogh, Jr.

          Greetings

The President left at an unknown time after 3:00 pm.

          California

The President entered at an unknown time before 3:40 pm.

          Drug abuse and law enforcement
           -The President’s previous meeting with Ehrlichman
           -Richard G. Kleindienst
                   -Need for public statements
                   -Forum
                       -Judges
                   -News summary
                       -Kleindienst’s activities

                                      (rev. Oct-06)

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:00 pm.

         Refreshments

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 3:40 pm.

         Drug abuse and law enforcement
           -Kleindienst
                    -Ehrlichman’s view
                    -Justice Department
                         -Issues
                              -Civil rights
                                   -The President’s view
                              -Law and order
                              -Marijuana
                         -Meeting with Cabinet and Republican Congressional
                          leaders, October 12, 1972
                    -Presentation of administration policies
                         -The president’s view
                         -George S. McGovern
                         -Harvard University
           -Issue
        -Public perception
                         -Crime
                         -Drug pushers
                              -Sentences
           -Handling
                    -Courts
                         -Federal
                         -State and local jurisdictions
                         -Judges
                         -Warren E. Burger
                              -Possible talk with judges
           -The President's meetings
                    -Judges
                    -Law enforcement officials
           -Judges
           -The president’s policy
                    -Crime
                    -Sentences

                                         (rev. Oct-06)

           -Myles J. Ambrose
           -US attorneys

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 3:01 pm.

          Sanchez’s schedule

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 3:40 pm.

          Drug abuse and law enforcement
           -Krogh’s view
           -Burger
                    -The President’s view
                    -Judicial views
           -Mandatory sentencing requirement
           -Burger’s View
           -Presentation of administration position to the judiciary
           -Public forum for the President
                    -Mandatory sentencing
                        -The president’s view
                        -Potter Stewart
                        -Public perception
                    -Law enforcement officials
           -John B. Connally’s view
                    -Judges
                        -Busing
           -Probation
                    -Judges
                        -Criminals
                              -Welfare
           -Statement by the President
                    -Format
                        -Radio
                    -The President’s policy
                        -Leniency
                              -Judges
                              -Prosecutors
                              -Probation officers
                        -Wording of statement
                              -Patrick J. Buchanan
           -September 11, 1972 meeting

                              (rev. Oct-06)

          -International participants
               -State Department
               -David N. Parker
          -Possible statement
 -Responsibility of enforcement
          -Law enforcement officials
               -The President’s view
               -Judges and probation officers
                    -Leniency
                    -Police
                    -White House statement
                         -Judges
                    -McGovern
          -Executive and legislative branch action
               -Funding
               -Enforcement and judicial responsibility
                    -Judges and prosecutors
                         -California
 -Judges
          -The President’s view
 -Association of District Attorneys
          -Resolutions
 -Judges
          -The president’s view
          -Possible statement
               -Enforcement of laws
               -Narcotics
               -Street crime
 -Judiciary responsibility

1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany
 -National attitudes
         -Playing of US national anthem, Star Spangled Banner
               -Black athletes
                   -Reaction
                        -Audience reaction
                   -Howard Cosell
               -Olympic Committee
                   -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
               -Telegram
               -Cosell

                             (rev. Oct-06)

                   -Attitude towards blacks
                   -Background
              -Black athletes
                   -Explanation of position
                   -Revocation of medals
                   -Audience reaction
                        -Compared with 1968 Mexico City Olympics
 -Competitors
 -Track and field events
         -Winning time
 -Comparison of track and field to horse races
         -Silky Sullivan
         -Citation
 -Track and field events
         -Soviet Union athletes
         -Kenyan athletes
         -Jim Ryun
         -Kenyan runner
         -5,000 and 10,000 meter races
              -Lasse Viren
                   -The president’s recent meeting with Finland
                    ambassador
              -[Mohammad Gammoudi]
         -The President’s resolution
              -1932 Olympics
                   -Los Angeles Coliseum
                   -Lauri Lehtinen of Finland
                        -Ralph Hill of Oregon
                   -Lauri Lehtinen
                   -Thomas J. Pendergast [?]
         -Distance races

Issues for 1972 Presidential campaign
  -The President’s view
  -Social issues
  -Crime
  -Permisiveness
  -Criminals
           -Prosecution and sentencing
  -Drug abuse and other law enforcement
           -Methadone treatment

                                          (rev. Oct-06)

                   -Radio message
                   -Buchanan
                       -Background
           -Ehrlichman’s recent conversation with Herbert Stein
           -Previous meeting on drug abuse and law enforcement
                   -Participants
                       -The President’s view
                       -Attitude towards work
                            -Office of Drug Abuse and Law Enforcement
                                 -Ambrose
           -Crime
                   -Judges

Ehrlichman and Krogh left at 3:40 pm.

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
I was thinking a little after our meeting today.
I think we've got to find a way to get the money to be smuggled to us in the right forms.
I'm calling for some judges.
I have a follow-up.
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The hell with that.
I don't want to .
The only thing we want
Why don't we do this?
Right after our future pregnancy.
He's still got a child.
He's the nanny of the baby.
I'm not ready to talk about .
Well, of course, that's one of the best .
Now, on the president.
On the other hand, as far as .
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I wondered if there was any way I could suggest .
I don't know why we can't do it.
Why can't we?
I don't know.
I'd love to.
Why do we have these damn judges here?
Oh, yeah.
We've got a whole file full of them today.
It's the Administrator's Association.
Maybe you want to pick one of those up.
It's all about discipline.
So they can be on the interior of the county level.
There we go.
and they can suspend attendance.
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Thank you.
Well, but if you would .
I don't know .
I don't know whether .
He's very proud.
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I don't know.
What do you think?
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Rather than just going in and talking to each other, they just take us home and they say, well, this isn't the way.
It doesn't do something.
It doesn't even matter for some reason.
You take a position that is a mandatory sentencing position within the discretion statute.
In other words,
You can hear each other's e-mail stewardship.
American people are looking, and I see American people here, but we're looking to do a crackdown on the book.
We're looking for you to make an example.
And there are good public policy resources, but we haven't had any discretionary things on the books.
I recommend that you read the Bible letter.
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I don't know.
I don't know.
We've done this before.
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the whole move in the country about the subject of criminal justice.
And I don't think anybody else has done it, even on the ground.
That's right.
That's true.
What I want to do, though, Connolly has a point.
He said it's a great job .
going back and letting the judges all over the country .
But nevertheless, we've been busting out.
The judges are doing a lot of what they saw here.
And also, the probation officers are in the house.
They have to be .
And we all know this, but God, we want to be kind to some of the people who have cancer.
I have three kids that go on welfare, and I'm not called by their father, but if I can get a good heart rate in the state of San Francisco, maybe it's the state.
And I went to the Navy for radio talk.
I went to the Navy for radio talk.
And they were just saying that I had to address it.
And I said, judge me.
Judge me.
Prosecute me.
That would be time.
And mail it to every damn judge, every prosecutor, every person.
That was it.
You might say that I, after meeting with these people, decided it was necessary to make the name radio station.
Why follow the Japanese?
So if you don't need a book, go on a reading, do it on Sunday, read it on Monday morning.
We can say that we've done this.
We've done this.
You get your chance to read your press release on the record.
And secondly, I have met with four people.
They are very dedicated to what they say about the problem of soft judges being judges.
The problem is prosecutors.
The problem is some probation officers who go to court.
thinking of the rights of the criminal and not of the rights of the innocent.
So I think a racial problem might be good.
I don't mind the idea, John.
stopping sometimes we're out in order to get a vision
If you did that, though, what are you really getting out of the group?
Let's look at that.
Let's look at .
And then what we need now ..
The administration ..
We now have the laws, we have the tools, and those responsible are those who enforce the law.
Those are responsible.
So there are prosecutors, there are judges, and there are probation officers.
And there are the weaknesses that we have.
And the cops raise the cops.
They go out in the beat and get a horrible example.
Here's a guy, I mean, he works his tail off.
Here's a guy, and if you make up an example,
Over and over again, I've had people report to the police.
And then a soft-headed judge that's gone.
Not soft-hearted, soft-headed.
I choose that word.
A soft-headed judge.
That kind of name calling is a little bit of a strike home for a lot of you guys.
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But it occurred to me that that's really what we need now.
We need to have the wall.
We have the White House at the highest level backing up the House, backing up the government.
We've got the money.
We've got to do it.
We have passed the wall.
We have passed laws.
We've appropriated money.
The White House has passed laws.
We've appropriated money.
We're doing what the international community should be doing.
The problem is, the problem now is we have to push it.
But I feel very strongly about it.
No, I think we should do it.
I think .
Well, the other thing is .
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about these judges.
All these guys .
All these guys .
Is that right here?
Yeah.
The whole audience broke out in tears.
Really?
Yeah.
Great.
I'm sure you'll become a wrong-er.
I'm going to take the judges on.
I'm going to do it.
Why should they be sick?
I don't mean to put them up for recall or say, Stephen, we're back.
We need judges with backbone.
What's that word?
Backbone.
The purpose now, Stephen, is the judiciary.
We've done our job.
The Congress has done their job.
That's right.
Now we need an actual change of attitude from the part of the judges.
They're out of step.
You say there are thousands of judges and prosecutors that are outspending the country.
What do people in this country want?
They want .
And she goes beyond our country.
She also covers street crime.
She gets that into street crime.
So we get that into .
Christ is also a faithful God.
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No cell.
And so he bought it right then and there.
Yeah.
They didn't do that.
Thank you.
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Well, our guy was a Catholic.
He's all right.
I saw that .
You know, he reminded me of that horse.
Remember the horse ?
No, not .
And the worst fall of the Grand Rhymes is the Dead Rhymes.
That's where the building just a little bit more on the line.
And the Russians don't have a run for their money.
The Russians don't have a run for their money.
And so that's the reason we have the Grand Rhymes,
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I saw him.
5,000 meters.
5,000 meters.
10,000 meters.
I saw the finishing pass yesterday.
5,000 meters.
5,000 meters.
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So after it's finished, what happens to the metals?
The whole coliseum is filled with gold.
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Chief, for 5,000 meters .
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I don't know whether
I don't want to talk about what we're doing.
We have the write-offs and all that crap.
We've got them.
We've got .
You all are.
Thank you.
You give him those terms and see if anything happens back.
That was a good meeting.
I think they were
They're all so young.
Well, I think maybe it gives them a charge.
One of those kids worked for a long time.
And here these kids are all more blessed, I'm sure.
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Do they like their work?
Yes, sir.
They know they're doing something important to do.
The thing they ought to do, too, but they want to .
Good.
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