{"conversationCode":"440-042","tapeNumber":440,"conversationNumber":42,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-440-042","startDateTime":"1973-05-24T17:40:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1973-05-24T20:34:00.000Z","startDate":"24-May-1973","startTime":"1:40 PM","endDate":"24-May-1973","endTime":"4:34 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;","description":"On May 24, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 4:34 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 440-042 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":"5.5","chronRelease":"Fifth Chronological Release: Part V","chronReleaseDate":"21-Aug-2013","aogpRelease":"Abuse of Governmental Power Release","aogpSegment":"Segment 0","lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 440-42\n\nDate: May 24, 1973\nTime: Unknown between 1:40 pm and 4:34 pm\nLocation: Old Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.\n\n       Television [TV] coverage\n              -TV Guide\n\n       Peter G. Peterson\n              -Possible role in government\n                      -Counsellor\n              -Ambassadorial post\n                      -Timing\n                      -John A. Scali\n\f                                             -27-\n\n                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM\n\n                                                            Conversation No. 440-42 (cont’d)\n\n       Watergate\n             -White House response\n                    -National security\n                           -New York Times\n                           -Importance of secrecy for foreign policy","filename":["440-042.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Haig, Alexander M., Jr."],"prevCode":"440-041","nextCode":"440-043","transcript":[{"start":7.47,"end":9.59,"text":"and flavors and things."},{"start":62.18,"end":70.68,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":70.7,"end":78.13,"text":"That's right."},{"start":78.27,"end":79.66,"text":"You could tell them that."},{"start":79.68,"end":81.24,"text":"That's another possible way."},{"start":81.26,"end":82.48,"text":"You might like to learn this."},{"start":82.62,"end":82.72,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":93.15,"end":121.89,"text":"... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..."},{"start":124.38,"end":133.66,"text":"And it would be good if we get some controversy started."},{"start":133.68,"end":136.04,"text":"The New York Times will squeal and say that it's terrible and so on and so on and can't protect our national secrets."},{"start":136.06,"end":136.78,"text":"Why do we have to have secret funds?"},{"start":136.8,"end":140.03,"text":"But you see, I made a very powerful point there."},{"start":140.05,"end":147.04,"text":"I said if they would still be in power, we wouldn't have had China and we wouldn't have had Russia if we had not stopped the leaks."},{"start":147.06,"end":148.5,"text":"And that's just the God's truth."},{"start":154.27,"end":154.9,"text":"Okay."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander Haig discussed managing the White House's public image regarding the Watergate scandal, specifically focusing on the necessity of government secrecy. Nixon emphasized using the protection of sensitive foreign policy initiatives, such as diplomatic breakthroughs with China and Russia, to justify withholding information from the media. The pair also explored strategies to initiate public controversy to deflect criticism from the New York Times and considered potential government roles for Peter G. Peterson.","topics":["Watergate","National Security","White House Public Relations","Leaks","Foreign Policy","Peter G. Peterson"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T20:19:12.095Z"},"topicSlugs":["watergate","national-security","white-house-public-relations","leaks","foreign-policy","peter-g-peterson"],"audioDurationSec":164,"audioFiles":[{"file":"440-042.mp3","bytes":5261312,"durationSec":164.32,"bitrate":256149,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:20:04.739Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:40.964Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/440-042.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/440-042","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/440/conversation-440-042","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}