Conversation 372-024

TapeTape 372StartWednesday, October 25, 1972 at 11:18 AMEndWednesday, October 25, 1972 at 12:00 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob");  Ziegler, Ronald L.;  Kissinger, Henry A.Recording deviceOld Executive Office Building

On October 25, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:18 am to 12:00 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 372-024 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 372-24

Date: October 25, 1972
Time: 11:18 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

        Bill signings

        1972 election campaign
            -October 25, Washington Post story on Haldeman and campaign espionage
                -Ronald L. Ziegler
            -Forthcoming George McGovern television [TV] appearance
                -Administration response
                     -Press conference by Clark MacGregor and Robert J. Dole
                         -Timing of conference
                -Watergate allegations
                     -John N. Mitchell
                     -Dwight L. Chapin
                -Vietnam issue
                     -MacGregor’s statement
                         -Paul C. Warnke
                     -McGovern's position compared to the President’s position
                     -“Peace with surrender” compared “peace with honor”
                     -Emphasis in press
                -Henry A. Kissinger
                     -Possible trip to Hanoi
                     -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                -MacGregor’s statement
                     -McGovern’s position on peace settlement negotiations
                         -Prisoners of war [POWs]
                         -Communist government in South Vietnam

        Watergate
           -News story on Haldeman
                -Veracity
                -Authority
                -Secret fund allegation

                                       (rev. Nov-03)

               -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] inquiry
               -Hugh W. Sloan, Jr.,
               -Response
                   -Ziegler
                   -Henry E. Peterson
                   -Richard G. Kleindienst
                   -MacGregor
               -Richard A. Moore
               -Impact on public opinion
                   -Sherman Adams
               -Impact on press
          -Washington Post
               -John B. Connally’s statement
                   -Charles W. Colson’s staff
                        -Loyalty
          -White House staff loyalty
               -Rose Mary Woods
          -Patrick J. Buchanan
               -John P. Sears
                   -Woods

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Privacy]
[Duration: 17s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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          -Chapin
              -Memorandum
                  -Location
              -Haldeman
              -Donald H. Segretti
              -Chapin's secretary
                  -Nellie L. Yates

                                        (rev. Nov-03)

                           -Unknown person
                 -FBI document
             -Segretti
                 -Arthur H. Bremer
                 -Chapin
                 -Haldeman's knowledge
                 -Chapin
                 -Washington Post
                 -Libel case
                       -Chapin, Haldeman
                       -Maurice H. Stans
                           -John W. Dean, III

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 3m 33s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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Ziegler entered at 11:33 am.

         Vietnam negotiations
             -Postponement of statement
                 -Kissinger’s view

Ziegler left at 11:34 am.

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 5m 23s ]

                                     (rev. Nov-03)

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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       The President’s forthcoming radio message on vetoes
           -Nature of message
               -Time
           -TV
               -Buying air time

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 8m 45s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
*****************************************************************

       Amnesty issue
          -McGovern’s position
              -Vietnam War

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 3m 14s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6

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                                       (rev. Nov-03)

Kissinger entered at 11:55 am.

        Vietnam peace settlement negotiations
            -William F. Buckley, Jr.’s forthcoming column
                -Kissinger’s recent conversation with Buckley
                     -US proposal
                          -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                              -Gen. John W. Vogt
                -Support for the President
            -US negotiating strategy
                -North Vietnamese message
                -(Madame) Nguyen This Binh’s statement
                     -Cease-Fire
                -Nguyen Van Thieu’s response
                -North Vietnamese
                     -Le Duc Tho
                -US stance
                     -Issue of coalition government
                -Issue of coalition government
                     -Treaty Wording
                          -[National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord]
                -Messages
                     -Paris
                     -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
                -Public record
                -Settlement
                     -Timing
                -Verification
                -Settlement
                     -Timing
                          -1972 election
                -Howard K. Smith
                     -Ronald L. Ziegler
                     -Charles W. Colson
                -Richard (“Dick”) Wilson
                -William S. White
                     -Lyndon B. Johnson
                -The President’s position

        October 25, Washington Post story on Haldeman and campaign espionage

                                       (rev. Nov-03)

            -Haldeman’s photograph
            -Kissinger’s view
            -Haldeman’s control over secret fund

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 35s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8

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

Haldeman and Kissinger left at 12:00 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.

before he goes on tonight, and they've got a hell of a good set up of things challenging to answer.
If you can't do it, you can already take the program.
So they go on the news set up.
and demand to be fire-chained.
And that's all.
At least that's all I've seen so far.
The Vietnam thing, I think we just got to, you know, just have a merry hit on without getting into our own stuff.
Okay, no question.
I've got to get that.
I've got to keep Vietnam up front.
I'm trying to keep it up there.
Whatever happens, I've got to do it.
I've got to do it.
I've got to do it.
I've got to do it.
I think we've got some time to come back to Clark's main points that I told him about.
It's fascinating.
Every factual statement in the story is false.
They've got to bundle it.
They've got to bundle it somehow.
It's even closer than I thought.
I didn't have any story about any of the bombs.
There was no secret bomb.
I had not been interrogated by the FBI.
Sloan did not make the statement that I had any.
I don't.
As I told you last time, I just, supposedly, the post, you've got to write, it's a neat story, you've got to write it through.
You've got to write it through.
The thing that I was going to say, though, is that the, uh,
I think there are some who are there, and I'm not sure who they are, and I would probably know it.
I would have been working with them, you know, as he was in front of staff people.
There is an antagonism between Colson and Colson's staff, and most of the other people that he works with.
You know, he's pushing our way to get things done.
People don't like being pushed to get things done.
So you spoke about the fact the other day.
You spoke about the fact that
Roads primarily, I don't want to be strung with that.
And that was definitely, it had to change.
So what's she doing now?
In the past, it was a sort of a collection of the old gardeners, Buchanan and some of that group.
Dr. Buchanan now?
No, Buchanan's changed.
But Sears, he was gone.
Some of those guys that, you know, in the old days.
Obviously, he developed her that way, not as a weapon.
Now, you don't possibly think that Rose would be able to do that, possibly.
Rose does not know, absolutely not.
That's my point.
She would never do anything for her cause.
for a while since I've ever served here and I'm not going to let others hear a piece of me about that.
Okay, but that's not what I meant.
I said it's nobody's commitment then.
Who the hell was it?
That's another one I know.
There are, now let me ask you this.
Let's talk about the statement of Collins.
Collins includes the number and the shape and the value of the number and the heart of the number.
I can't find it in my account.
I can't find it in Chasers' file.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I'm moving ahead, I'm getting the .
You see, that kind of stuff shouldn't be .
No, I don't do it.
Now, who have they changed the secretary?
Basically, she would.
I can't imagine.
She needs to work with them.
Yeah.
I really think that she's sort of a mother.
the other part of this story
And that just was absolutely, you know, that is totally out of, there's no, they checked that, they buried it, and they burned it again.
There was nothing about it.
It wasn't working back on people anymore.
Because you understand if there is such a thing, you want to know what to handle.
I've heard the name too, right?
It's just somebody who's all the time.
There was a guy named too, right?
You know what I mean?
You're going to have a figure.
You're going to have to do some post-curriculum or something.
I don't think you want to get into that at this point.
They'd get into British stuff if they wanted to.
No.
I would say no.
The U.P.O.
stands as a very solid legal basis to win and get the money.
The rest of it is a question of who is liable.
Mr. President, I talked to him.
He said he was stuck.
He thought it would be better for reasons that he said he wouldn't be aware of.
I'm not going to say anything for hours.
But I don't know.
Right.
So I won't be here today.
But you can check with me again tomorrow.
Yes, sir.
My paper is overruled.
What is your plan tomorrow?
You know what I mean?
I'll do anything they want.
I don't have to pad something out.
If you want to get it out, I think it would get a better ride.
On amnesty.
Amnesty is still one thing.
He knows it.
He's trying to get off of it.
He says he's for the same position on amnesty that you are.
And he's trying to vote.
Wasn't killed.
True.
Not proven.
I accept.
And he's, uh, enthusiastic.
He said he's got an extra problem today.
according to what you're doing on the account.
But I told him about the others.
I had known him a whole time.
The one he took out there, he endorsed that.
I said, Bill, I can tell you on the phone that what you're working on is so much weaker than what you have already seen that it's almost time to put it in for Bill.
But I know there's
Because of these Vietnamese maniacs, I don't want to make the others look bad.
So Mrs. Ben is screaming at you, and you are screaming at the North Vietnamese.
So if we get through the next 48 hours, if he doesn't come to me next week, what?
Oh, he doesn't.
He doesn't.
The way we can do it is we can say we had an agreement which made it clear that there was no public government.
When they translated it into Vietnamese, they used the word for administrative.
It had the same meaning as government.
That we couldn't accept because we had said this wasn't administered by the other government.
Right, right.
You see my point.
Well, that's not part of government.
getting so good, then we've kept them in a very unreasonable position here.
Because we've now guaranteed them that we'll settle it by the end of November.
All they're asking for is a
I'd like Ron to get him in so that it doesn't look as if I'm making the call to him.
I think it's better.
I think it's better.
Don't you think?
Absolutely.
Well, another one is getting in this post.
Ron, I think it's better.
I think it's better.
I think it's better.
I think it's better.
I think it's better.
I think it's better.
I think it's better.
Or Bill White.
Either Bill White or Bill White.
I thought I did, but I found out that I don't.