Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 377 › Conversation 377-015

Nixon, Colson & Haldeman on 1972 Presidential Campaign and Amnesty

Sunday, October 29, 1972 · 10:20 AM–10:55 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 17 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); [Unknown person(s)]Conversation377-015 on Tape 377StartSunday, October 29, 1972 at 10:20 AMEndSunday, October 29, 1972 at 10:55 AMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 377-015 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with H.R. Haldeman and Charles Colson to coordinate campaign strategy and counter negative press regarding corruption allegations ahead of the 1972 election. The participants discussed the distribution of a "white paper" to editors and broadcasters to defend the administration's record and address criticisms concerning the U.S.-Soviet wheat deal and other controversies. Additionally, Nixon emphasized his hardline stance against amnesty for draft evaders and reiterated the importance of maintaining an accurate public record of his campaign's activities.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 5 minutes of this recording (about 28% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
I want to be sure that, I guess, hold on.
I want to just three or four hundred signs.
all the women out there who do it.
And so those are the reasons he's been my favorite sign.
Because I really got pissed off when I saw that this son of a bitch Tom Hauser made a statement.
I don't know what to do.
I told all of them, I told all of them about me.
We were carrying on all that, of course.
And by then, I was talking to my brother-in-law, and he said, you know, that's not good.
You know, our deal, our wedding money didn't grow.
I'm glad it didn't grow.
The whole thing was important.
The wedding was in front of my eyes, right in front of my eyes.
I didn't think it was going to happen.
I didn't think it was going to happen.
I didn't think it was going to happen.
I didn't think it was going to happen.
Alas, there is no one at all.
rather than talking about amnesty because we wanted to serve America let us honor the amnesty of children and serve America and not let them be labeled and after that one day I had this I had this wall that the Cold War had drawn to me and I just wanted to draw the line on it once and for all there will be no amnesty we're not going to serve America we're not going to serve America we're not going to serve America we're not going to serve America
that there, there will be no end.
It's pretty, pretty cute.
But if you like that old pencil, you know, exactly what he said.
He's trying to bust it.
He's running.
It's very offensive.
He's wondering what to do.
And he did.
He's looking.
That's, that's very offensive.
He's running out.
He's over.
He'll do another offensive.
He's running out.
He's over.
And he doesn't see the hurt.
He's running out.
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I feel sorry for the poor bastards that made mistakes.
All right, they're going to pay, and they're going to go to prison.
Believe me, I mean prison.
They're going to go to prison.
That's what Lincoln did.
Lincoln said, all right, I'm going to die outside the door.
I know what you're saying, but I'm going to die inside the door.
I remember getting scared of the man outside and waiting in a row line.
He said, you know, he said to me, I'm saying, I'm scared of him.
And he pushed me for the number of days.
And I was like, I don't know what to do.
I said, I don't know what to do.
I said, I don't know what to do.
I said, I don't know what to do.
I said, I don't know what to do.
Because your father was a corruption.
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Thank you.
They don't have this.
They don't have this.
They don't have this.
Maybe that's a reason.
I don't think that's a reason.
I don't think that's a reason.
I don't think that's a reason.
I don't think that's a reason.
That's our problem.
what about our white paper definitely
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Thank you.
part on that we want to win in the right way.
I just want that on the record.
I don't know if there are wires or something on the ground, but I thought it was a suggestion.
I don't know if they're there or not going to be on that.
I want to get to the list and say what they want to do.
I'm not going to get to that post.
I'm not even going to be in the White House.
I'm not going to be in the White House.
I'm going to be out there.
They may have filed, part of our problem, is that when Perry came and filed, they didn't really map over.
And certainly the federal map was the last time.
And that was the go over.
Yeah.
They could have talked about the 5,000 and what they were supposed to do, but when they mapped over again, they were able to come 20,000, 100,000.
We had to go out and say, you know, what can we do?
It's a big job.
It's a lot of work to have $300,000.
If that wasn't $100,000, God damn how huge it would be.
It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work.
and why did they make the calls to major editors about this white paper?
and I didn't drive.
I just drove out of there.
I couldn't go anywhere.
So I went away.
I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really
Well, he was.
He was.
He was.
He was.
He was.
And that's what got the man working, that's what got him through.
If you got this, can I stay here?
Can I have a white paper?
You can say yes.
Or we can't.
I don't know.
wrong.

NARA Description

On October 29, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:20 am to 10:55 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 377-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 377-15

Date: October 29, 1972
Time: 10:20 am - 10:55 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Charles W. Colson.

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 4m 14s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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

        The President’s schedule
            -Forthcoming trip to Chicago
                -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                -Roman C. Pucinski
                     -Signs
                          -Alderman
                          -Michael P. Balzano, Jr.
                -Thomas J. Houser
                     -Washington Post statement
                     -Charles H. Percy
                     -The President’s conversation with Haldeman
            -Saginaw, Michigan, October 28, 1972
                -Robert P. Griffin
                     -The President’s remarks
                -Audience
            -Amnesty
                -The President’s recent remarks

        Radio address on Defense Policy, October 29, 1972
            -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
            -The President’s draft
                -Defense of freedom
                -Draft
                     -Volunteer army
                -Amnesty
                     -Penalty
            -Amnesty
                -[George S. McGovern]
                     -Credibility
                -The President’s tone
            -Draft evaders
                -Prison terms
                     -Abraham Lincoln’s policy
                -Prisoners of war [POWs]

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 9m 49s ]

Haldeman entered at 10:30 am.

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2

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

        Campaign practices
           -John S.V. (“Jack”) Knight's view of 1972 election
               -Recent article
                   -Tone
                   -McGovern
                   -The president’s accomplishments
                        -People’s Republic of China [PRC] opening, peace, revenue sharing

                 -Corruption
                      -White House staff campaign organization
             -US-Soviet Union wheat deal
             -Knight
                 -Response
             -Corruption charges
                 -Effect
                      -Post-1972 election
                      -Wire story
                 -Strategy
                      -Possible libel suit
                          -Colson, Dwight L. Chapin, Haldeman
                      -White paper
                          -Distribution to editors, surrogates
                          -Publication of record
                          -Distribution to editors, television [TV] broadcasters
                          -Question
                          -Herbert G. Klein
                               -Distribution to Knight
                               -Assignment

An unknown person talked with the President at an unknown time between 10:30 am and 10:55
am.

[Conversation No. 377-15A]

[End of telephone conversation]

        Campaign practices
           -Desire for accurate record

        Press and media relations
            -Pool
                 -Wire services
                 -California plane
                 -Ronald L. Ziegler
            -Problems
                 -Files
            -Warren, Ohio
                 -Audience
            -Michigan

       Campaign practices
          -White paper
              -Klein
                   -Telephone calls to editors
          -Possible suit
              -Maurice Stans
              -William P. Rogers
          -Corruption charges
              -Effect
                   -Post 1972 election
              -US-Soviet Union wheat deal
              -ITT settlement
              -Carpet industry
              -Double standard
          -Democratic campaign practices
              -Use of obscenities
              -Headquarters burning
              -Thrown fire bombs
              -Publicity
              -Robert J. Dole

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

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 4m 18s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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

       The forthcoming briefing of surrogates
           -White paper

       Polls
           -October 28, 1972

       Unknown person

Haldeman and Colson left at 10:55 am.

Also recorded on October 29, 1972

  • 032-085 10:03 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 10:03 am to 10:07 am.
  • 377-013 10:03 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:03 am to 10:07 am.
  • 377-014 10:07 AM · 1 min — 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 10:07 am and 10:20 am.
  • 032-086 10:20 AM · 10 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 10:55 am.
  • 032-087 10:20 AM · 18 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 10:55 am.
  • 032-088 10:20 AM · 34 sec — Charles W. Colson and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 10:55 am.
  • 032-089 10:20 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 12:24 pm.
  • 032-090 10:20 AM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 am and 12:24 pm.

All 35 conversations from October 29, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 377-015, October 29, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/377-015 (accessed October 5, 2026).