Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 424 › Conversation 424-003

Nixon & Ziegler on Watergate scandal and Grand jury testimony

Tuesday, March 27, 1973 · 5:22 PM–5:34 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 13 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation424-003 on Tape 424StartTuesday, March 27, 1973 at 5:22 PMEndTuesday, March 27, 1973 at 5:34 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 424-003 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler meet to discuss a strategy for managing intensifying public and legal scrutiny surrounding White House staff and potential testimony. They weigh the merits of having officials voluntarily appear before committees versus limiting testimony to the grand jury to avoid further escalation of the controversy. Ultimately, they decide on a defensive communications line emphasizing that White House staff will cooperate with proper legal forums while avoiding premature or broad disclosures that might serve as a "cover" or ignite further media interest.

Audio

Download MP3 · 4.2 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 32% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello, anything I'd like to report?
Sorry, I was about to see if they could correct me if I was wrong.
and the world, and the world to come.
That's right.
Bye-bye.
It's in the right of the bomb.
I gotta go anticipate that a little more.
I just take exactly the same line tomorrow.
I don't know if there's another one for you on that.
I think it's another way of, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, I didn't mind.
It is coming through.
We, you know, I like to think about, you know, I don't think that, you know,
Today, um, something, today, or tomorrow, or some other time, I'm not sure what the action is going to be.
I don't know.
I just don't think it's the right, the right way to do it.
I know I talked to Bill Rogers, and he's totally disappointed in the action that we're doing.
But I think that, you know, we've all been trying to prepare for this, and I think that's what, that's what I'm trying to do.
So, I'm not sure what to do.
That's, I don't know, what you're...
He doesn't like the idea.
He said, he didn't want to cooperate.
No, no.
No, I don't think so.
I thought of that too, but it didn't work.
I think he does got a, he feels embarrassed about it.
And he said, look, look, I can help us.
He's here in the middle of this town.
He said, of course, it's a story.
He said, you're just going to escalate it to a whole lot bigger story.
He said, it's not to worry.
He said, it's sort of like this.
You can't do anything at all, but you can at this point.
He said, well, and at the present day, you're out there.
I mean, I know the idea of what you're having to get ahead of yourself.
And he was, well, he likes what you're getting ahead of.
He said, I'll do it.
I'll have the rest of it.
And he said, I've done it on your behalf.
at Johnson's, Johnson and Jenkins and so on.
Johnson never addressed a lot of papers.
I mean, he never addressed the Jenkins thing.
Never.
Never said a damn word.
And, uh, Eisenhardt never said a word about that, except that he had confidence in all the people who were responsible for that.
Trump, of course, failed, I mean, but he never addressed the subject.
He said, no, right there.
We're not saying that's, we're not taking that one.
That's a very important distinction.
We will walk with it.
We will fight with it.
If we will, we will.
That's another one.
You see what I mean?
If you put something on the end of that, we're going to get about 40 of them, not that many.
The way I would do that is to say that it is known that people with a good name will appear before their actions.
That's the way I handle it.
At this point, I just don't believe in that.
But the more I think about it, I think I've got to go to a special prosecutor.
She can't find me.
Well, they offered a statement to Mr. Diggins about the view of the charges that have been made that members of the White House guys and so forth have volunteered to appear, and they will appear before the hearing is over.
And that's, uh, and that is part of the reason that we're interested in this matter as concerned if it's not brought up.
That's right.
Because, because it relates to a matter that there is no conversation on, so it might not come.
I just let her go.
What about her?
I let her go.
That's not the proper form.
This is a criminal charge.
That's the way I do that.
Well, I mean, this way is a good way to do it.
It's a good way to do it.
Just a little cover.
A cover.
Yeah.
All right.
So there's a little bit of action.
All right.
I guess you want it.
Rather than start to nitpick, put them on a little bit better, saying, oh, volunteer.
The president is authorized to appear.
They will all appear on that point.
That's a pretty strong statement.
The grand jury is the proper place.
That line is where we can do it.
That's where the grand jury is.
Well, we don't want to be rushed into something.
I don't know what the hell.
Okay, Ron, bye.

NARA Description

On March 27, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:22 pm to 5:34 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 424-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 424-3

Date: March 27, 1973
Time: 5:22 pm and 5:34 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.

[See Conversation No. 44-32]

Also recorded on March 27, 1973

  • 044-029 4:58 PM · 7 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:58 pm and 5:20 pm.
  • 044-030 4:58 PM · 5 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:58 pm and 5:20 pm.
  • 044-031 5:20 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:20 pm and 5:22 pm.
  • 424-002 5:20 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:20 pm and 5:22 pm.
  • 044-032 5:22 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:22 pm and 5:34 pm.
  • 044-033 5:34 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:34 pm.
  • 424-004 5:34 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 5:34 pm.
  • 424-005 5:34 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:34 pm and 5:46 pm.

All 50 conversations from March 27, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 424-003, March 27, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/424-003 (accessed October 2, 2026).