Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 441 › Conversation 441-011

Nixon & Haig on White House strategy and Executive privilege

Tuesday, June 5, 1973 · 1:12 PM–1:16 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation441-011 on Tape 441StartTuesday, June 5, 1973 at 1:12 PMEndTuesday, June 5, 1973 at 1:16 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 441-011 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig discuss internal administrative management and the broader political strategy regarding ongoing investigations. The President emphasizes the importance of avoiding unnecessary confrontations and instructs Haig to ensure White House staff refrain from answering legal questions during press briefings. They also touch upon the political nature of the opposition's efforts to target the presidency and the complications surrounding executive privilege and document disclosure.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Hi, Al.
I just wanted to be sure.
Do you want to get off by 4.30 today?
Yeah, fine.
Good.
Any problem with Jerry?
Or Libby, you were saying that... Oh, there's no problem on that.
That's the Secret Service.
And also, we pay for all that, you know.
we paid her first class transportation round trip so it really uh cost her this morning well listen they won't allow it that's right you know that's what the note was about okay that was uh i'll see bazaar in an interview but uh the uh he's a pretty clever guy you know isn't the appearance of this
Oh, I see.
Well, I get the point.
In other words, they wanted to put out a statement, a confrontation statement, and then you said, well, now you're absolutely right.
If I get a, any time you want, of course, I guess I really shouldn't be bothered with some of these other ones.
Make those decisions because, no, no, no, but I meant our strategy decision.
In fact, you should have made them.
Your sense is good.
But the point that I made is that it's never right to have a confrontation when you don't need to.
Always close it up.
Don't you agree?
And Jerry put us in that position.
It's no fault of his, but he should quit answering legal questions from that podium.
Do you think Scots will get a ride here?
Have people say that they're trying to get the president.
That's come to really sink home, isn't it?
They don't mind getting all of them in early.
They're gonna try to get the president.
That's just, that is a straight-up political fight.
Thank you.
Well, we'd given so much of an executive privilege, it would be a tragedy if we'd get down to the business of papers.
I just gathered from this wire, you know, that under the Brady rule, I didn't know that we were confusing enough, but they would, we didn't cut over the damn thing.
But then in the other hand, you don't know, you're not, you're composing.
What is that?
Well, I'll ask him later.
How do you sort that out?
We don't have any .
That's the point.

NARA Description

On June 5, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:12 pm to 1:16 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 441-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 441-11

Date: June 5, 1973
Time: 1:12 pm and 1:16 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 39-89]

Also recorded on June 5, 1973

  • 039-088 1:07 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:07 pm and 1:12 pm.
  • 441-010 1:07 PM · 8 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 1:07 pm and 1:12 pm.
  • 039-089 1:12 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 1:12 pm to 1:16 pm.
  • 039-090 1:16 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:16 pm and 1:22 pm.
  • 441-012 1:16 PM · 11 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 1:16 pm and 1:22 pm.
  • 039-091 1:22 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 1:22 pm to 1:36 pm.
  • 441-013 1:22 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:22 pm to 1:36 pm.
  • 441-014 1:36 PM · 13 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 1:36 pm and 2:00 pm.

All 48 conversations from June 5, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 441-011, June 5, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/441-011 (accessed October 1, 2026).