{"conversationCode":"424-005","tapeNumber":424,"conversationNumber":5,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-424-005","startDateTime":"1973-03-27T22:34:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1973-03-27T22:46:00.000Z","startDate":"27-Mar-1973","startTime":"5:34 PM","endDate":"27-Mar-1973","endTime":"5:46 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President);","description":"On March 27, 1973, 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. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 424-005 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":"5.4","chronRelease":"Fifth Chronological Release: Part IV","chronReleaseDate":"8-Dec-2010","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 424-5\n\nDate: March 27, 1973\nTime: Unknown between 5:34 and 5:46 p.m.\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President dictated a memorandum for the file.\n\n*****************************************************************\n\n[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during\nchronological review 2007-2013]\n\n       Watergate\n            -Difficulty\n            -Meeting with William P. Rogers\n                  -Rogers’s opinion of independent commission\n                  -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman’s suggestion\n                  -Comparison to Lyndon B. Johnson\n                        -Walter Jenkins\n                        -Robert D. (“Bobby”) Baker\n                  -President’s television [TV] appearance\n                        -Value\n            -Special prosecutor\n                  -White House cooperation\n            -Grand jury\n                  -John N. Mitchell, Jeb Stuart Magruder, John D. Ehrlichman\n                  -Charles W. Colson [?]\n                  -Haldeman [?]\n            -TV\n            -F. Lee Bailey\n\n*****************************************************************","filename":["424-005.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)"],"prevCode":"424-004","nextCode":"424-006","transcript":[{"start":0.2,"end":24.39,"text":"Uh, this is being dictated to later in the day by my side."},{"start":24.41,"end":26.01,"text":"And, uh, they don't even know something about the fact that they ordered a boat."},{"start":26.03,"end":26.43,"text":"It's actually a 300."},{"start":26.45,"end":27.03,"text":"I didn't have the rockets in."},{"start":27.05,"end":28.59,"text":"The rockets were a nice boat, but the boat was really not really a good path."},{"start":28.61,"end":29.3,"text":"And it was a right-of-charge boat."},{"start":31.89,"end":34.81,"text":"I hope so."},{"start":65.76,"end":91.14,"text":"You said earlier that you considered all the problems that we had to deal with, and that we had to get you to talk to us about these problems."},{"start":91.38,"end":113.7,"text":"Also, my heart is pumping a lot."},{"start":113.72,"end":114.26,"text":"I don't know what happened."},{"start":114.28,"end":114.54,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":114.56,"end":114.83,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":114.84,"end":115.11,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":120,"end":143.25,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":150.78,"end":170.47,"text":"... ... ... ... ..."},{"start":180.09,"end":204.78,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":212.03,"end":218.25,"text":"Thank you for listening."},{"start":248.16,"end":273.73,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":279.68,"end":306.16,"text":"... ..."},{"start":320.89,"end":336.42,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":351.54,"end":369.58,"text":"... ... ... ... ..."},{"start":401.76,"end":401.91,"text":"you"}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon recorded a memorandum for the file to document his internal deliberations regarding the escalating Watergate scandal. He analyzed the political viability of appointing an independent commission or special prosecutor, weighing those options against the potential for White House cooperation and the impact of a televised public address. The discussion also addressed potential legal vulnerabilities for key administration officials, including John Mitchell, Jeb Magruder, and John Ehrlichman, while drawing historical parallels to the political challenges faced by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.","topics":["Watergate","Special Prosecutor","John N. Mitchell","H. R. Haldeman","Public Relations","White House Legal Strategy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T19:17:38.229Z"},"topicSlugs":["watergate","special-prosecutor","john-n-mitchell","h-r-haldeman","public-relations","white-house-legal-strategy"],"audioDurationSec":402,"audioFiles":[{"file":"424-005.mp3","bytes":2258944,"durationSec":401.84,"bitrate":44972,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:46.739Z","transcriptGapSeconds":225,"transcriptGapShare":0.56,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/424-005.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/424-005","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/424/conversation-424-005","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}