Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 442-061
Date: Monday, June 4, 1973 at 8:40 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Sanchez, Manolo
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/442-061

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] rob check them out 20 things because listen to this thing i haven't seen anything but it wasn't stated or through you or something it didn't have anything to do with the urban committee
[0:15] No, it was a very close statement.
[0:18] Ian Moore and I argued it for about an hour and ten minutes.
[0:24] I'm just listening to the man.
[0:27] I had a draft.
[0:27] No, not the draft.
[0:28] I didn't have a draft.
[0:29] I was stating that he prepared.
[0:31] They had to send it, I think, to Eastland.
[0:34] All right.
[0:35] But it was after the 17th.
[0:38] This was the 20th of March.
[0:40] Right.
[0:40] And this would have been...
[0:43] On the 17th, he brought my paper to me.
[0:46] There are a lot of notches where I read that in my office.
[0:54] Right.
[0:54] On the 17th, he brought something to my office.
[0:57] I can't remember what it was.
[0:58] I think it was .
[0:59] Then he drafted another letter to Easton, which is amazing because it says that, second to this, that the fact that I conducted an investigation on this matter,
[1:10] The direction of the president made it inappropriate for me to obtain the FBI information relevant to their investigation.
[1:23] To the contrary... As a matter of fact, he discussed this whole thing when we were at it.
[1:27] And more, before the fellow fellow will remember, during the whole conversation, I went over it line by line.
[1:30] I went over Segretti, I went over your statement, whatever his statement, everything else, you know?
[1:34] It was all in there.
[1:35] He says, to the contrary, in an investigation of this importance, referring to his,
[1:41] It was incumbent on me to obtain all available information.
[1:46] This was a letter that he was going to send to the chairman.
[1:52] I didn't know what it was with her statement.
[1:58] It has been alleged that I show an FBI interview with Donald Stratton.
[2:06] Well, to find out some more of what the hell we discussed on the 20th of March, whether it was that, or a statement you were debating, Henry Nassar, it could be my best estimate here.
[2:17] Ted Moore's on his way by train from Connecticut to Ohio State University.
[2:27] We've got a little bit more to say about that.
[2:28] If we're done, I'll read you through a little bit more about the things that connect.
[2:29] What the hell was discussed?
[2:31] I'm not worried about it.
[2:34] Me, I just look at them.
[2:36] I just try to march on it.
[2:38] Shit was all about how do we get the facts out.
[2:41] You know, segregated and how do we have a counter attack.
[2:45] Dean, let me think.
[2:52] Some way to get to him.
[2:56] I don't think he's a bad guy.
[2:56] I don't think so.
[2:57] He's dumb.
[2:57] You know, he's scared, but he's not bad.
[3:00] You don't agree?
[3:03] They followed through this, and God thought, he's a bull rock band, he's everything else.
[3:09] What the hell is this stuff?
[3:11] It doesn't matter what it is.
[3:16] He's scared.
[3:17] Who the hell wants to go to prison?
[3:23] I agree.
[3:25] He's scared.
[3:26] Yes, sir.
[3:26] He's scared about some information he might be reading about.
[3:36] Boy, if you're on our side, who's playing?
[3:40] Hey, Sheryl.
[3:42] Hey, Sheryl.
[3:45] But what really was interesting to me was that through the tilt of the transversal march on the left, those members I showed you, goddammit, they didn't talk about cover-up.
[3:59] They never mentioned cover-up until then.
[4:01] And then they said that that one's trying to blackmail us.
[4:04] He's never mentioned it once.
[4:05] They never mentioned the 320 or the 350.
[4:09] They mentioned the goddamned thing.
[4:13] It's a strange thing about the history.
[4:13] Do you agree?
[4:14] Yes, I do.
[4:22] He's so sloppy.
[4:31] How the hell are we going to get him there?
[4:49] And I am licensed to stand on this paper and concern on this.
[4:57] There was nothing negative about it.
[5:00] You know, I don't mean to get her into, you know, I don't mean to hurt her, but I mean to point it to Dick and the rest.
[5:07] Good God, this whole fabrication that we've met in broadly meetings, 35 meetings, about cover-ups is bullshit.
[5:17] There ain't no meetings about cover-ups.
[5:20] the uh look the fact of the matter is if we were spending our time
[5:37] concerning ourselves into how not to violate the doctrine of separation of power.
[5:44] That's what it was all about.
[5:46] It wasn't about cover-up.
[5:48] It wasn't about hate.
[5:51] I wasn't trying to pair up anything.
[5:54] That's right.
[5:54] It was deemed that.
[5:59] At some point, I had it in my notes.
[5:59] Twenty-six.
[6:00] Twenty-six?
[6:02] Twenty-six.
[6:02] I said, right at first, you told me.
[6:04] Well...
[6:05] He was still playing the game.
[6:08] You would not have played if you were conducting the frustration.
[6:13] You don't need it.
[6:13] What happened on the 26th?
[6:14] On the 26th, I said it.
[6:21] I said, I have this in my office.
[6:24] I called.
[6:24] She looked at me.
[6:25] She looked at me.
[6:26] She said, I said, yeah, I moved the center this week.
[6:29] And that was on the 26th of March.
[6:34] And that was when, see the first time that I began to grow suspicious.
[6:41] No.
[6:42] was at a point when he reacted in a way, when I was raising Heldman, worried about the shield law and so forth.
[6:56] And, well, then, in 1st March, and in a civil suit, they, the lawyers, subpoenaed the files of a lot of newsmen.
[7:06] And I said, John, what the hell are they doing in this?
[7:09] And his response to me was a racket.
[7:12] Then as we moved into the end of the march, he was in a meeting or two in my office.
[7:18] And he was a little bit red.
[7:19] And I remember the day that we were sitting in here, I think it was about the 14th of March, before the press conference.
[7:27] I was sitting in his office because I lived there and I had studied the past three years.
[7:33] And his responsiveness and the way he was acting, in the back of my mind, said, not that I was suspicious of him,
[7:42] But then I thought, this guy who I put all this trust in all this time is not as competent as I thought he was.
[7:55] There was a mystery with him.
[7:57] It took me longer.
[7:58] I mean, first when he came in, he just promptly said that.
[8:00] No, I know.
[8:00] I didn't suspect him of any wrongdoing.
[8:01] I just thought, began to suspect him of incompetence.
[8:05] This is why I was convinced when we talked about it.
[8:14] The problem and part of the thing is to remember it always grows yet in the crust of the leaf.
[8:25] The fact that we met 35 times without covering it is totally false.
[8:27] We've gotten that out and it's what we have.
[8:28] All right.
[8:28] Thank you.
[8:34] No.
[9:00] I'm not disappointed in them, though.
[9:01] I think it's been a little longer.
[9:02] Well, at least it'll be done in a short time.
[9:03] It's funny to think about why it's been so long.
[9:05] .
[9:05] .
[9:06] .
[9:07] .
[9:07] .
[9:09] .
[9:09] .
[9:10] .
[9:10] .
[9:11] .
[9:12] .
[9:15] .
[9:35] Nothing we can't handle except the micrometer and controller.
[9:56] More or no.
[10:00] Must go.
[10:04] That's me.
[10:17] I'm an expert.
[10:17] No, the target that I picked is just John.
[10:24] Well, but your question... What?
[10:25] Did he tell me?
[10:25] What did I say?
[10:26] No, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute.
[10:26] No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
[10:34] I just dictated that the 20th, Mr. Dean and Mr. Maher, from 1.42 to 2.31.
[10:44] Okay?
[10:44] Yes, sir.
[10:45] Don't ask me about that, okay?
[10:49] And I have a fortnight left.
[10:52] Right.
[10:52] I'll tell you about that.
[10:54] No, no, not before.
[10:55] Yes.
[10:56] 1247 to 130.
[10:59] You got that?
[10:59] Yes, sir.
[11:01] That's right.
[11:02] You make him give you that.
[11:04] All right.
[11:08] Yes, sir.
[11:09] You don't have to get him.
[11:12] You don't have to get him to 20.
[11:15] Don't get him to 20.
[11:16] I've got it here.
[11:18] No.
[11:21] Nothing more.
[11:22] Nothing more.
[11:24] 14 to 90.
[11:25] All right.
[11:26] Okay.
[11:26] Okay.
[11:26] It's been a good day, though, huh?
[11:29] Yes, sir.
[11:30] This is a very interesting draft.
[11:34] Wow.
[11:34] It's a very interesting draft.
[11:37] It ought to be prepared after the 18th.
[11:40] That would be good.
[11:41] There's some men in the front end of the meeting.
[11:46] You apologize, huh?
[11:47] I told you it was a goddamn draft.
[11:51] There you go.
[11:52] What does it show?
[11:53] Oh, it's your 42nd.
[11:53] It is a best of 18th.
[11:59] And the reason, I suppose, that he didn't send the building, he didn't move it in that way, is because he was worried.
[12:20] Of course, a break was through.
[12:23] You see, I think we're going to put this thing out, right?
[12:40] After we come here.
[12:42] But then we decided, the day he came in with this, then we decided to go with it.
[12:49] Now, now, now.
[12:51] Now, now, now.
[12:56] Thank you.