Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 425 › Conversation 425-047

Nixon & Ehrlichman on Watergate and John Dean

Monday, April 9, 1973 · 7:55 PM–8:07 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 11 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation425-047 on Tape 425StartMonday, April 9, 1973 at 7:55 PMEndMonday, April 9, 1973 at 8:07 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 425-047 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman discuss the ongoing fallout from the Watergate investigation, specifically focusing on the precarious position of White House Counsel John Dean. The two men strategize on managing public perceptions and media narratives, emphasizing the need to exercise caution regarding legal allegations. They also touch upon personnel uncertainties and the difficulty of navigating the mounting political pressures facing the administration.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 13% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Yeah.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi, Tom.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Very well.
Oh, yeah.
That is a good job.
No.
Wait a minute.
All right.
You can tell us.
We can only make that as an allegation.
So back off.
Put my hope and heart on first, and then just breathe it out and call it a day.
Whatever you want to do, just be careful.
Thank you.
But on Dean, uh, he held tight with the fact that he just couldn't deal with it.
Baker helped him, I heard.
But that's one I didn't have time to do that with.
It's hard now.
Why the hell is that even part of the version?
Yeah, let me say what they want, whether it comes to the books or not, every one of them.
If you've got a bad headline that scares somebody, you can't have trouble.
That's a line that's got to come through.
I didn't realize I had gotten that close to the end too.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Maybe we'll see.
Well, anyway, you're going to meet Wentz, and he's going to resolve it, aren't you?
Is that what you got?
Yeah, we're going to resolve it when we get there.
But then, we're never here.
What about you?
I don't know.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
The more I think about this, I just forgot to tell you what I'm going to do.
Do you have any idea what you're going to do?
it's not it's not the kind of
I, uh, what the hell does it matter what asshole the person is?
Why do you have to do the job?
He has to follow me.
I mean, what the hell is that?
I mean, that's why I'm saying he has to follow me.
He has to be behind me.
What the crap is that?
And I told her, you realize that that's his craft, the nomination.
I went, so what can we do then?
I said, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On April 9, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:55 pm to 8:07 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 425-047 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 425-47

Date: April 9, 1973
Time: 7:55 pm - 8:07 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with John D. Ehrlichman.

[See also Conversation No. 44-115]

Also recorded on April 10, 1973

  • 425-046 7:48 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and David C. Hoopes met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:48 pm to 7:50 pm.
  • 044-115 7:55 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 7:55 pm to 8:07 pm.
  • 044-116 8:07 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:07 pm and 8:21 pm.
  • 044-117 8:21 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 8:21 pm to 8:23 pm.
  • 425-048 8:21 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 8:21 pm to 8:23 pm.
  • 044-118 8:23 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:23 pm and 9:01 pm.
  • 425-049 8:23 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 8:23 pm and 9:01 pm.
  • 044-119 9:01 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:01 pm and 9:02 pm.

All 81 conversations from April 10, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 425-047, April 10, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/425-047 (accessed October 5, 2026).