Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 426 › Conversation 426-005

Nixon & Haldeman on Watergate and Executive privilege

Thursday, March 29, 1973 · 4:20 PM–4:45 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation426-005 on Tape 426StartThursday, March 29, 1973 at 4:20 PMEndThursday, March 29, 1973 at 4:45 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 426-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to coordinate the White House’s political strategy regarding the escalating Watergate scandal, specifically focusing on the public perception of executive privilege. Haldeman briefed the President on discussions with George H.W. Bush and Howard Baker concerning legislative negotiations and the need for a shift in policy regarding witness appearances. They also reviewed the content of the President’s forthcoming address, which was intended to address public concerns while balancing policy issues like the defense budget and price controls.

Audio

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NARA Description

On March 29, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:20 pm and 4:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 426-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 426-5

Date: March 29, 1973
Time: Unknown between 4:20 pm and 4:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

       Watergate
            -Haldeman's previous phone call to George H. W. Bush
                  -Howard H. Baker, Jr.
                  -Spiro T. Agnew
                  -John D. Ehrlichman's negotiations with Baker
                  -Bush's conversation with Baker
                  -Executive privilege
                  -President's role
                  -Baker's views
                  -Bush's conversations with Gerald R. Ford, William E. Brock, III
            -President's forthcoming speech, March 29
                  -Contents
                         -Amnesty
                                              -11-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                                Conversation No. 426-5 (cont’d)

                          -Price ceiling
                          -Vetoes
                          -Defense budget
             -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] director position
             -President's forthcoming statement
                   -White House defense regarding Watergate
                   -News cycle
                          -Ehrlichman, Ronald L. Ziegler

Haldeman left at 4:45 p.m.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 64% 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

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And so it was part of, you know, Baker's history of covering the vice president, the chairman, was looking at ways to get his message in.
So I told him, I said, I can only tell you this.
You've just got to keep this to yourself.
But I said, John, earlier in the past, I talked to Baker.
And as a result, as I said, the Vice President called me.
As a result, they were calling him.
That process is underway, but it has to be very closely held because the question of whether we can work something out.
All he was trying to say
Thank you.
The issue of the country is the question of the executive privilege that we give to the people of that country.
What they care about is what is the White House hiding, and why is the White House hiding.
And I said, that we've got to answer.
And I don't need to talk to the president.
I said, do you want to?
This is understood.
Instead of Howard, in fact, messaging to the Vice President, all I want to do is make sure that message is in because what Howard is trying to say, as I understand it, is that he thinks it will be worked out so that there can be some way of an accommodation of both sides' views and work out some way to...
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
See, I'm covering three big points on that.
The third is.
support the president.
We, uh...
If it works this way, we don't have to have a bad day.
Thank you.
There are going to be days that we're not going to have our thing.
We've been on the defensive for nine months.
It doesn't look like we're reactive.

Also recorded on March 29, 1973

  • 044-070 3:30 PM · 1 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:30 pm and 4:05 pm.
  • 044-071 3:30 PM · 10 min — John D. Ehrlichman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:30 pm and 4:05 pm.
  • 044-072 4:45 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:45 pm and 4:53 pm.
  • 426-006 4:45 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:45 pm and 4:53 pm.
  • 044-073 4:53 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:53 pm.
  • 044-074 4:53 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 5:11 pm.
  • 426-007 4:53 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 4:53 pm.
  • 426-008 4:55 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, White House operator, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:55 pm to 5:10 pm.

All 82 conversations from March 29, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 426-005, March 29, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/426-005 (accessed November 15, 2026).