President Nixon met with Charles Colson to discuss Colson's upcoming trip to the USSR, focusing on the potential for strategic speech material, public relations, and trade negotiations. The conversation shifted to an extensive review of polling data provided by Albert E. Sindlinger, which Nixon and Colson used to analyze public sentiment on the Vietnam War settlement, economic issues, and shifting social values. Finally, the two discussed public relations strategies for managing the media, emphasizing the need for the administration and its supporters to more aggressively combat negative press coverage regarding Watergate and domestic policy.
On February 5, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:10 pm to 4:46 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 408-007 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 408-7
Date: February 5, 1973
Time: 4:10 pm - 4:46 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with Charles W. Colson.
Schedule
-Colson
-Trip to the Union of Soviet Republics [USSR]
Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 4:10 pm.
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12
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Schedule
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower and [Dwight] David Eisenhower, II
-Evening plans
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
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Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:46 pm.
Colson's trip to the USSR
-Patricia Colson
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Possible article by Colson about trip
-Speech material
Sanchez entered at an unknown time before 4:10 pm.
**********************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Schedule
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
**********************************************************************
Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:46 pm.
Colson’s trip to USSR
-Speech material
-USSR
-People
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
-Government
-Negotiations
-Trade
-Briefing
-Steven Lazarus
-Commerce Department
-East-West Trade Center
-Ralph Lazarus
-Navy Captain
-East-West Trade Center
-Vienna, Austria
-Facilities
-State Department
-Israel
-Duration of visit
-The President’s opinion
-1968 trip to Europe by Colson
-Berlin
-East Berlin
-Berlin Wall
-Colson’s son
The President and Colson’s meeting with Albert E. Sindlinger
-Herbert C. Hoover story
-Sindlinger’s attitude
-Helpfulness
-Prompt inflation
-Bias
-Polling techniques
-Reflection of public opinion
-Shooting of John C. Stennis
-Comparison with White House correspondence analysis
-Telephone polling
-Vietnam War
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14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
Sindlinger
-1972 election outcome
-The President’s margin of victory
-George S. McGovern
-1964 election comparison
-Barry M. Goldwater, Sr.
-McGovern’s supporters
-Loyalty
-Bumper stickers
-Minority
-Fanaticism
-Voter turnout
-Sindlinger’s certainty of the President’s margin of victory
-Comparison with George H. Gallup and Louis P. Harris
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
**********************************************************************
Vietnam War
-Settlement
-Sindlinger's analysis
-Desire for end of war
-Hawks
-Type of settlement
-The President’s critics
-The President as “national hero”
-Effect
-The President as a strong leader
-Image
-H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, other White House staff members
The President’s Schedule
-Meetings with Sindlinger
-Frequency
15
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
-Reflection of public opinion
-Comparison with Harris, Gallup
-Currency of reports
-Depth
-Issues
-Busing
-Budget
-Recommendation of the President's television [TV]
appearence
-Timing
-Vietnam settlement
-Spending and economic issues
-Domestic Council
-Sub-standard housing
-Food stamps
-Congress
-Access to interviews in districts
-Change emphasis [?]
-Public reaction
-Standard polls
-Harris’s reporting of domestic issues
-Vietnam
-Joseph W. Alsop
-Domestic issues
-Congress
-Washington Post
-New York Times
-Networks
-Pressure groups
-Call to the President
-Article
-Currency
Polls
-Sindlinger
-Use of Harris for polling
-Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW]
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
-Vietnam War
-Polling techniques
-Cease-fire
-October 8, 1972 agreement
-Vietnam War
-Public relations strategy
-Administration accomplishments
-“Peace with honor”
-Change in world relations
-The Nixon Doctrine
-Post-war period outlook
-Generation of peace
-Compared with Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Korean War
-1956 election
-Foreign relations
-People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Communication
-Respect
Domestic Issues
-Role of government
-Taxes
-Concentration of power
-Social programs
-School lunch programs
-Bureaucrats
-Government waste
-Social issues
-Shooting of Stennis
-Sindlinger
-Blacks
-Whites
-Middle class
-Support for the President
-West
-Irish-Americans
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
-Italian-Americans
-Social issues
-Amnesty for draft dodgers
-Law and order
-Busing
-Pornography
-Marlon Brando
-Newsweek, Time articles
-Family magazines
-Patricia Colson
-Robert H. Abplanalp's conversation with the President
-Public service program
-Blacks
-Language
-Robert J. Brown
-Permissiveness
-Role of government
Vietnam settlement
-Antiwar critics
-Reaction
-The President's press conference
-News coverage
-Time
-Dan Rather
-Balance
-The President's tone, voice
-Comparison with Lyndon B. Johnson
Press relations
-Reporting standards
-Censorship
-Double standard
-White House public relations
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Richard A. Moore
-Agreement
18
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
-Implementation of policy
-TV networks
-Influence
-CBS affiliate
-Coverage
-Watergate issue
-Vietnam settlement
-Antiwar critics
-Prisoners of War [POWs] guests
-CBS V
-New York
-Strategy
-John O. Pastore
-Donald R. Larrabee’s initiation at the National Press Club
-Democratic Congressmen
-New York Times piece
-Unknown man’s comment
-[Unintelligible name]
-Fighting back
The President’s supporters
-William Proxmire
-Demagogues [?]
-Proxmire
-Skills
1972 election
-“49 state landslide”
-Mandate
-Comparison with 1968 election
-Democrats
-Students
-Post-election plans
-The President’s opponents
The President’s schedule
19
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Aug.-09)
Conversation No. 408-7 (cont’d)
Colson left at 4:46 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.