Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 433 › Conversation 433-019

Nixon & Ford on Watergate scandal and H.R. Haldeman

Tuesday, May 1, 1973 · 1:24 PM–1:26 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ford, Gerald R.Conversation433-019 on Tape 433StartTuesday, May 1, 1973 at 1:24 PMEndTuesday, May 1, 1973 at 1:26 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 433-019 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with House Minority Leader Gerald Ford to solicit political support during the escalating Watergate scandal. Nixon expressed deep personal anguish over the forced resignations of H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, while urging Ford to rally Republican members of Congress to defend his administration. He specifically requested that allies push back against critics like Senator Charles Percy and publicly support his leadership during the crisis.

Audio

Download MP3 · 2.8 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).

Ready.

I'll take him first.

I want to express my appreciation for your note, tell you to keep the faith, and tell the guys, God and Emmett, to get off their ass and start fighting back.

Okay, boy.

Just want to get to know that I deeply appreciate the little belt that I saw, and I was most moved by it.

What I did, it was the most painful thing I've ever done to take two totally innocent men and just have to stack them.

But they had to be stacked.

And they could have done it themselves, but then I had to do it myself.

But if you could, get a few of the congressmen and senators to speak up and say a word for Christ's sake to me.

You got Percy out saying he's a special prosecutor, but he asked, oh, he's running for president.

But good God.

Elliot Richardson is a special prosecutor.

You know that.

But can't you get it to him, Jerry?

Well, you stand firm, old boy.

All right.

Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 1, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:24 pm to 1:26 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 433-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 433-19

Date: May 1, 1973
Time: 1:24 pm - 1:26 pm
                                              -9-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Gerald R. Ford.

[See Conversation No. 45-87]

Also recorded on May 1, 1973

045-085 1:20 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:22 pm.
433-017 1:20 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:22 pm.
045-086 1:22 PM · 44 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone from 1:22 pm to 1:23 pm.
433-018 1:22 PM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and William E. Timmons met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:22 pm to 1:23 pm.
045-087 1:23 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Gerald R. Ford talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:23 pm and 1:24 pm.
433-088 1:26 PM · 8 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 1:26 pm and 1:28 pm.
045-088 1:28 PM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and William J. Baroody, Jr. talked on the telephone from 1:28 pm to 1:29 pm.
433-020 1:28 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and William J. Baroody, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:28 pm to 1:29 pm.

All 181 conversations from May 1, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 433-019, May 1, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/433-019 (accessed October 5, 2026).