President Nixon and Charles Colson met to discuss campaign strategy and the political fallout surrounding the ongoing Watergate scandal and press coverage. They focused on discrediting George McGovern by highlighting his proposed defense budget cuts, alleged radical associations, and questionable campaign financial practices. Nixon and Colson also reviewed tactics for mobilizing blue-collar voters and affirmed their commitment to an aggressive, negative advertising strategy to maintain their momentum in the final stages of the election.
On October 25, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:29 pm to 1:10 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 372-026 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 372-26
Date: October 25, 1972
Time: 12:29 pm - 1:10 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Charles W. Colson.
Watergate
-Ronald Ziegler's statement
-Washington Post article on Haldeman and campaign espionage
-Testimony
-White House response
-Secret fund
-Washington Post
-Dwight L. Chapin
-H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Chapin's secretary
-Nellie L. Yates
-Newsweek
-Public opinion
-White House response
-Watergate allegations
-Clark MacGregor
-Press conference
-Ziegler
George S. McGovern's campaign practices
-Demonstrators
-Tricia Nixon Cox, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
(rev. Nov-03)
-Press coverage
-The President’s recent trip to New York
-Response
-Robert J. Dole's statement
-Surrogates
-Press coverage
-Donald F. Rogers
-Hearsay
-Tricia Nixon Cox's reaction
-Television [TV] exposure
-John A. Volpe
-Patricia Ann (Hughes)
-Colson
-National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC]
-Columbia Broadcasting Corporation [CBS]
-Colson’s view
-Violence, damages
-Republican National Convention
-San Francisco
-Anti-free speech stance
-McGovern’s silence
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 11m 36s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
*****************************************************************
Campaign issues
-McGovern’s policies
-Higher taxes, higher prices, unemployment, welfare
-Defense budget
-Agnew’s speech in New York
-Jobs
(rev. Nov-03)
-Property value
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-George P. Shultz’s statements
-Colson’s conversation with Shultz
-Higher prices, higher taxes, welfare
-Recession
-Agnew
-Defense industries
-Strategy
-Advertising
-Tone
-Democrats
-Voting options
-Amnesty issue
-McGovern
-R. Sargent Shriver
-Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S Truman
-R. Sargent Shriver
-Attack on John B. Connally
-Welfare and blacks
-Effectiveness
-New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan
-Italian-Americans
-Naval base
-Re-election committee
-Unknown person’s speech
-Press
-California
-Haldeman
-Franklyn C. (“Lyn”)Nofziger
-Republicans
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Reagan
-McGovern’s budget policies
-Rodgers’s response
-Defense cuts
-Effect on jobs
-B-1, North American Rockwell, Lockheed, Northrop, General
Dynamics
-International Brotherhood of Teamsters
-Analogy to Massachusetts
(rev. Nov-03)
-1960 election
-Brochures
-Leverett Saltonstall
-Defense contractors
-Lawrence
-Impact
-Advertisements
-Rogers
-Aerospace workers
-Southern California
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 6m 9s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
*****************************************************************
Press relations
-American Broadcasting Corporation [ABC]
-Veterans benefits bill signing ceremony, ) October 24, 1972
-[Larry Kirk]
-Radio
-Wire service photograph
-Washington Star, Washington Post
Campaign practices
-Press coverage
-Tricia Nixon Cox and demonstrators
-NBC
-Mrs. Colson
-CBS
-Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins's photographs
-Subjects
-McGovern
(rev. Nov-03)
-Hobart Rowen’s son [James Rowen]
-Article about radicalism
-Dole
-Forthcoming TV appearance
-Questions about finances and campaign practices
-Demonstrators
-Henry Kimelman
-Foreign contributors
-Investment trust
-Tax shelter
-War record
-Biography
-Joe Bottum
-Karl E. Mundt
-Adolf Hitler statement
-Ku Klux Klan [KKK] charge
-Mundt
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 12:29 pm.
The President’s schedule
Bull left at an unknown time before 1:10 pm.
-Comparison of Ho Chi Minh to George Washington
-American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations [AFL-
CIO]
-George Meany
-1962 Senatorial campaign
-McGovern’s position in Food-for-peace program
-1971 allegation
-Minnesota
-Dole’s response
-Communication with the White House
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
(rev. Nov-03)
[Duration: 47s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************
Colson left at 1:10 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.