President Nixon and Alexander Haig met to discuss defensive strategies regarding the ongoing Watergate investigation, including managing leaks and potential legal exposure. The President focused on reframing the Watergate scandal within the context of national security and foreign policy achievements to counter domestic critics. Additionally, they reviewed personnel concerns, including the status of FBI leadership and the potential implications of the grand jury investigation involving Vice President Spiro Agnew.
On May 17, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:08 pm to 4:34 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 438-022 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 438-22
Date: May 17, 1973
Time: 4:08 pm - 4:34 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building
The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Henry A. Kissinger’s report
Rose Mary Woods talked with the President between 4:08 pm and 4:09 pm.
[Conversation No. 438-22A]
[Begin telephone conversation]
[See Conversation No. 46-103]
[End telephone conversation]
Watergate
-Stewart Jo Alsop’s column
-Reaction to Joseph C. Kraft’s article
-President’s previous conversation with Ronald L. Ziegler
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-22 (cont’d)
-White Paper
-Patrick J. Buchanan
-War and peace issue
-Daniel Ellsberg
-Jacob K. Javits’s call to Kissinger
-Congressional support for President’s wiretaps
-Javits’s possible call to Haig
-President’s role in wiretaps
-Kissinger and Haig
-Leaks
-Effect on United States foreign policy
-Vietnam War, People’s Republic of China [PRC], and
Soviet Union
-Critics of wiretaps
-John W. Dean, III
-Documents
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
-Timing of release
-Richard M. Helms
-Forthcoming meeting with Haig, May 17
-Meeting with the President regarding Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
involvement
-Ellsberg
-Leak investigation
William J. Casey
-Pressure on Haig
-Statement
-Trip with State Department
-Haig’s possible telephone call
-Loyalty of White House
-William P. Rogers
-William E. Simon’s telephone call to Haig
-Treasury Department
-Return of Casey
-Haig’s forthcoming conversation with [David] Kenneth Rush
-White House defense
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-22 (cont’d)
-Worthiness
President’s forthcoming speech
-John K. Andrews, Jr.
-Cambodia
-Congress
-President’s visit to Meridien, Mississippi
-John C. Stennis
-Speech
-Progress in foreign relations
-Soviet Union
-PRC
-Vietnam settlement
-Military strength of US
-Increased progress
-Negotiations
-Second place in World position
-Speechwriters
-Use of military strength to relate world position
-Public reaction
-US-Soviet negotiations
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Limits
-Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
-Unilateral disarmament
-Vietnam settlement
-Peace agreement
-Enforcement
-Compliance by North Vietnam
-Missing in Action [MIAs] accountability
-Withdrawal from Cambodia
-Unilateral disarmament
-Peace
-Risk of war
-US world position
-David R. Gergen
-Issues to avoid
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-22 (cont’d)
-Cambodia
-Congress
Vietnam settlement
-Kissinger’s cable
-Optimism
-Negotiations
-Expectations
-Soviet Union [?]
-William P. Rogers [?]
-Equity
-South Vietnam
-Strength
Watergate
-Buzhardt
-Compared to Nixon Fund scandal
-Left-wing tactic
-Haig’s letter to unknown New York doctor
-Justice Department
-Cooperation
-[Unknown name]
-Firing
-Reporting
-Possible leak
-Jack N. Anderson
-Ellsberg case
-Haig’s forthcoming conversation with an unidentified man
-Buchanan
-Possible leak to Anderson
-Pentagon
-Buzhardt
-Buchanan
-Buzhardt
-Donald McI. Kendall
Clarence M. Kelly [?]
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-22 (cont’d)
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] directorship
-Association with Ethel Kennedy
-Role at Chappaquiddick
-Relationship to Kennedys
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Robert F. (“Bobby”) Kennedy
-Ethel Kennedy
-Haig’s forthcoming conversation
-National security
-Special Prosecutor
-Elliot L. Richardson
Watergate
-Special Prosecutor
-Richardson
-Unknown doctor’s letter to Haig
-Buzhardt
-Ziegler
-Thomas G. Eagleton’s medical history
-Treatment
-Haig’s discussion
-White House staff activities
-Criticism by President
-Dean
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters’s memoranda of conversation [memcons]
-Possible leak
-Affidavit
-Haig’s forthcoming conversation with Spiro T. Agnew
-Executive privilege
-Contacts with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman
regarding grand jury investigations
-Maryland grand jury
-President’s knowledge
-Haldeman, Mitchell
-Haig’s telephone call to George Beall
-J. Glenn Beall, Jr.
-District Attorney
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-22 (cont’d)
-Influence over grand jury investigation
-Embarrassment for Agnew
-Contribution
-Agnew’s role as Vice President
-Compared to President as Vice President
under Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Haig’s opinion
-President’s plan
-Dean
-Papers
-Possible examination by White House staff
-Security risk
-Buzhardt
-Reactions to events
The President and Haig left at 4:34 pm.This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.