Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 385-014 Date: Monday, December 11, 1972 at 5:14 PM Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; Eisenhower, Julie Nixon Recording device: Old Executive Office Building Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/385-014 This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative. [0:00] Yes, sir. [0:06] I'll check all right. [0:15] All right. [0:16] What is the, I wondered if you had been able to spare a few, of course, two Republicans who were afraid to push this announcement and so forth and so forth? [0:27] We've been out for some days. [0:28] Yes, sir. [0:28] Thank you. [0:28] Thank you, Mr. Dean. [0:30] You know, I had to, I had to asshole with them. [0:44] I didn't have enough time to say it and speak it out. [0:47] I guess the first good thing that's really been said by a Republican since the election is that they're here again. [0:51] And I'm rather curious, why did nobody else vote in that election? [0:53] The Charity Board didn't. [0:53] The old McGregor, he's been gone. [0:54] We've missed him. [0:55] You know, you know that. [0:55] He shouldn't have been operating this much now. [0:57] McGregor, McGregor just re-opened his, his drive and also, [1:00] He was the one that was there. [1:13] He was the one that sat in for advice. [1:17] So we didn't have anybody ready to put our side across. [1:18] No one told Michael that he gave two speeches that I asked him to give and wrote. [1:20] Yeah. [1:20] It would very help me if I had a speech and I could work with the press that I had. [1:24] Well, Bob and everything had it. [1:25] Bob and everything had it. [1:26] We're good. [1:26] We're good. [1:27] All right. [1:27] The reactions on Bush were just something to watch. [1:28] We're very good. [1:28] We're good. [1:30] The majority of the subcontractors in the field. [1:52] George Bush is the man who was the middle man in the field. [1:53] We had a very good response to him. [1:54] When he was on the field, he was the man of growth. [1:55] And he's a nice guy, and he'll be able to do what he loves. [1:56] But it's good to be able to go out and challenge him. [1:58] But I'll try to figure out what's in that category. [2:16] It just kind of turns sour at times. [2:17] It's very low-beating temperamentalism. [2:18] I think the bush changes. [2:18] I was a bush. [2:19] Bush would work with us all the time. [2:24] We did that for a week and a half. [2:25] Yes, we will. [2:25] And there was a kind of investment. [2:26] And I did it. [2:26] Yeah, I did it for a week and a half. [2:27] Well, I had a strong feeling that he was making it up. [2:48] And I said, I'd like to see you when you come to this room, John. [2:50] And I said, what about it? [2:50] And he said, no, we, I said, we need to have an argument. [2:51] He said, we want to have an argument. [2:52] He said, that's going to take quite a bit of time. [2:53] And I said, well, I've just been assessing it. [2:54] What can we do? [2:54] I think it's going to take a little bit of time. [2:57] And I was to tell, describe such a challenge to him. [3:19] And he said, why? [3:19] And I said, I don't want to know what it was. [3:20] What if I was going to be arrested? [3:21] And he said, that's not something you can do. [3:22] And I said, you have no chance. [3:22] And he said, absolutely, you have no chance. [3:27] And I said to him, well, you don't have to deal with Russians. [3:46] It's just that every day you see them in the whole city. [3:47] It's just that every day counts. [3:48] He said, I'm not getting rid of you, so I'm going to work for you. [3:49] I said, well, I'm going to work for you. [4:07] That's what we're trying to do. [4:28] It's a combination of both. [4:29] Yeah, it is. [4:29] I'd love to see that. [4:29] It's the best you can do. [4:30] It's the best you can do. [4:30] It's the best you can do. [4:31] That's really important. [4:43] It has the sound of big business. [4:53] It has the sound of minority party. [4:55] It has the sound of hedonism. [4:56] It has the sound of old farts. [5:02] It really does. [5:02] It doesn't track all young people. [5:06] Young Republicans are usually considered reclusive. [5:07] Rarely is it a fellow thing. [5:07] And it is unfortunate because there are a lot of good Republicans. [5:09] They're the best people I know. [5:11] I know all about them. [5:15] But I had a very distinct view of the county. [5:37] It was a lot more important to have him in the program. [5:38] You know, he's kind of very vocal about it. [5:39] He's very vocal about it. [5:40] And he's kind of come up with a lot of things in a way that I was going to expose to him. [5:42] And that movie was an argument. [5:42] It was not an argument. [5:46] by what you see to do with the system and what it's not. [5:59] But it's just becoming more and more public. [6:00] I think it's starting to be a great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great [6:17] Yeah. [6:48] The only good statement made by a Republican since the election is that I just think he's one of the best. [7:12] What have they seen in the evidence? [7:13] We've seen it from Ford. [7:14] We've seen it from Scott. [7:14] We've seen it from Scott. [7:15] We've seen it from the leaders. [7:15] We've seen it from McGregor to the left. [7:16] Of course, we've seen it from Mitchell to the right. [7:19] So forth. [7:40] Right. [7:41] But it didn't rule on it. [7:41] Yeah. [7:41] The bill had a couple of things to do with that. [7:43] It was a new program. [7:43] It was a new program. [7:43] It was a new program. [7:44] Plus, the bill can't afford that. [7:45] But they did a good job. [7:45] The story ran fine, but it still says it's not. [7:47] Well, let's see that we can better remember, better push this. [8:03] I just wonder if we kind of, you know, have to go with the capital change. [8:08] I mean, the party change. [8:12] I mean, that's how it is. [8:14] Why did she put the two together? [8:34] Very perfect. [8:35] Bob Conley can't wait too long. [8:36] He can't wait too long. [8:38] He can't wait too long. [8:38] But I think that's just why he is waiting for his shared power. [8:40] He's got to do it in a manner of principle. [8:43] So they didn't want to have a party, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. [9:13] All right. [9:43] All right. [9:45] Oh, . [10:15] . [10:42] . [10:42] . [11:14] I think that's a good idea. [11:41] I think that's a good idea. [11:42] I think that's a good idea. [11:46] Thank you. [12:19] Yeah. [12:47] Yeah. [12:51] Thank you. [13:21] to get through to the board when we didn't have any options. [13:36] That's one of the aspects of getting to the board when you can't get through to the board when you can't get to the board when you don't have any options. [13:39] So, uh, if you could, uh, say to the board, and say to the board, [13:57] Why does he do this out of the first place? [14:27] But after a while, they don't pay attention to it. [14:54] Well, that's all I wanted to cover. [15:23] I wanted to make sure . [15:23] On the track and . [15:30] We're running into the same situation. [16:03] I want to get command. [16:29] I want to get command. [16:29] I want to get command. [16:30] I want to get command. [16:30] I want to get command. [16:31] I want to get command. [16:32] . [16:42] . [16:48] . [16:53] . [16:54] . [17:01] Chuck, the apartment on Brennan, for example, I'm just encouraging you to be sure that if you have a secretary level, you've got somebody that can work directly with her. [17:20] See if there are other ones who might have one hell of a spot in that situation. [17:25] You can't let those people work with another. [17:26] I'm not referring to the big place about labor policy. [17:27] I'm referring to the labor policy. [17:28] I'm not referring to the labor policy. [17:31] Congress has a whole bag full of shelves and fritzes and things where we should never get up to be on a certain undersecretary level. [17:52] That'll have to be somebody that's brain-developed to be discussing it with the machinery over here. [17:54] Rather than having a subject that is discussion-related, I don't want things to be made or any level of narrative [18:01] involved in political policy is very important. [18:25] I'll make a big decision about this thing. [18:26] There's so much trouble over there. [18:26] I don't know what we're going to do. [18:27] I don't know what we're going to do. [18:28] I don't know what we're going to do. [18:29] I don't know what we're going to do. [18:29] I don't know what we're going to do. [18:31] And I believe that Schultz strongly believed that, and I'm just glad for that. [18:54] I appreciate the compliment. [18:54] Brad, because he had all these other issues, and I should probably thank you for that. [18:56] And Kirk Thomas, who he had guided to the Hill as well. [18:57] And I'm just glad he's there, and he's here. [18:58] And I believe he's strong, and I think we should all thank Schultz. [18:59] Schultz, I think, is the best person. [19:00] George, I think, is the best person. [19:01] ... ... ... ... ... ... [19:32] . [20:00] . [20:00] . [20:00] . [20:00] . [20:01] Hi, what's going on? [20:26] Hi, Doug. [20:26] We'll be touching about an hour. [20:26] Yeah, that's fine. [20:27] We'll work on that. [20:27] I'm just worried about the resources coming. [20:28] I know we still should be sure to come all the way . [20:29] Yeah, I do too. [21:00] . [21:08] . [21:11] . [21:12] . [21:14] . [21:20] . [21:22] . [21:22] . [21:26] . [21:30] He wanted to move over to work with the Kennedy Center, which would be a bad thing to do. [21:58] He has a great interest in that, apparently. [22:00] That wouldn't be better than to get our guy over there. [22:27] Sure. [22:27] Manage your little staff somewhere. [22:28] So do I. [22:28] And if he wants to do that, give us somebody over there. [22:29] They have a problem. [22:29] We'll see. [22:31] A little bit of a lowly workout. [22:45] Yeah, nothing. [22:45] But then I told Mike that, you know, I had said from what he had said earlier that he wanted to change. [22:52] He said, no, he didn't. [22:53] He just wanted to be sure it was understood. [22:56] He was willing to change. [22:56] He didn't want to create any problems. [22:57] But Mike just didn't work for it. [22:58] That's how it is. [22:58] All right. [22:58] He pulled the back of himself out with a big guy. [22:59] His second guy left. [23:00] So we get a... [23:00] I don't know if you guys... Nope. [23:02] All right. [23:06] That'll be set. [23:14] Right. [23:14] All right. [23:18] So there's no problem. [23:19] I've got no problem. [23:22] You might do a lot worse over there than . [23:23] That's my opinion. [23:25] You won't. [23:25] You will have to see the department. [23:27] Apparently, Brendan has that. [23:28] He wants to get all the news out and all that. [23:29] Let Brendan do that and get it administrated. [23:30] assistant secretary to do the work on that one. [23:52] Kurt, do the day-to-day labor department substance. [23:53] It's a different approach than we're doing on some departments, but that's all right. [23:55] The advantage is he's totally your guy. [23:56] Sure is. [23:56] And there's nobody else in the labor view after that is. [23:57] I mean, he'll sit in those meetings, probably our patient, the patient plus the host. [23:59] Again, he has the credentials and the weight and challenges. [24:01] qualifications. [24:09] What a good market we're on. [24:14] So, you know, that was our first government for the high ground, not for the department, because we wanted to do a less regulated accounts job, which now they don't seem to think is a good idea. [24:22] But that doesn't matter. [24:23] It still counts in the department. [24:25] Okay.