Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 442 › Conversation 442-067

Nixon & Haig on Watergate investigations and Elliot Richardson

Monday, June 4, 1973 · 9:39 PM–9:48 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 7 min

ParticipantsHaig, Alexander M., Jr.; Nixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation442-067 on Tape 442StartMonday, June 4, 1973 at 9:39 PMEndMonday, June 4, 1973 at 9:48 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 442-067 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig met briefly to discuss administrative personnel, travel arrangements, and the status of ongoing internal investigations. The conversation centers on staff management, including the travel policies for certain individuals, and an assessment of tape recordings related to internal probes. The pair also acknowledged the confirmation of Elliot Richardson as Attorney General as a significant positive development for the administration.

Audio

Download MP3 · 11.9 MB

NARA Description

On June 4, 1973, Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:39 pm to 9:48 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 442-067 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 442-067

Date: June 4, 1973
Time: 9:39 pm - 9:48 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked with the President.

[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was initially prepared for the
Watergate Special Prosecution Force (WSPF) and can be found in Record Group (RG) 460, Box
172, “Transcript Prepared by the Impeachment Inquiry Staff for the House Judiciary
Committee…,” pages 159-164 (.pdf pages 164-169). The Nixon Presidential Materials Staff
reviewed the transcript and made changes as necessary. This transcript has been reviewed under
the provisions of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (PRMPA).
The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[See also Conversation No. 39-79]

[Begin transcribed portion]

[End transcribed portion]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 49% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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).

So, okay.
So, hi.
Hi, hi.
Yeah.
Great, great.
Tomorrow, great accomplishment.
I just got nine hours to scratch, so I gotta go to bed.
I didn't realize it was a damn product.
They didn't find it in the files, but I looked at the stuff.
Looking back, I can see where he handed the dollar.
I wasn't bothered.
Yeah, well I, I just, I'm sick.
I miss work all the time.
I'm sick.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the time.
I miss work all the
Awesome, I see you.
Mark.
You'll be there, too.
You better be there.
Maybe you shouldn't have.
Sure.
The main thing is that now you've got to do it.
Okay.
You have tremendous strength.
All right.
Great.
I'll see you in a little while.
That's gonna be Shattergate.
Right, right.
Now you've done a great job.
You've done a hell of a job.
We've got a hell of a world.
We've got Mel and Bryce and the three of you.
You're a rocket shop.
You're a team of staff.
And these other guys go out and they go, you know, just as we asked the people here.
You know?
Don't you think so?
Bryce, you'll believe it.
I'll see you at Boston in a while.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
He must say that.
He must not just say that he's leaving, but he must not be just saying, look, I've forgotten to check in on Saul, for example, much later.
Good.
It seems, well, I don't know if that's the last time he's going to be gone.
He's, but that's his point.
He's forgotten to check in on Saul.
I'm sorry about Calvin, I know he was out with the other son, but he does waste more time than he's given right now.
The main one is that he is the man who has the right to be God.
Brother Tom.
Right.
But the main thing is that I don't want him to travel abroad because the travel is my representation.
I know you don't want that, but I do.
There's no problem with it, but Tom doesn't understand that, right?
He can travel abroad because he's going to be careful of that, too.
He was afraid I would get close to him.
I was like, oh good God.
I was afraid.
How far?
But what is it?
He said, sir, I'm not going to get off.
Correct.
He knows damn well that I'm going to get off.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
That's great, Al.
We have to make 30 minutes.
Right.
Well, I tell you, I've been through this dangling strain today.
Eight hours of listening and taking calls and calls.
We don't have some.
I mean, two through Peter's game.
On the 23rd, I mean, two and one.
And David, we don't have.
As far as the health, they are ending up in the health.
But I tell you, there's nothing in there.
Nothing in these calls.
It could have been the 23rd, perhaps, after we talked about the 21st, but after that I was investigating.
That's right.
But by then, we'd already gone through it.
Yeah.
Bizarre, too.
So, he felt better.
All right.
All right.
Isn't that great?
I know we can play it.
Okay, we got Richardson confirmed, so we set Pearson good.
Okay, bye.
See you tomorrow.

Also recorded on June 4, 1973

  • 039-079 9:39 PM · 10 min — White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 9:39 pm to 9:48 pm.
  • 442-068 9:48 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:48 pm and 9:54 pm.
  • 442-069 9:48 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 9:48 pm and 9:54 pm.
  • 039-080 9:54 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:54 pm and 10:04 pm.
  • 039-081 10:05 PM · 15 min — White House operator, President Richard M. Nixon, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 10:05 pm to 10:20 pm.
  • 039-082 10:20 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:20 pm and 10:21 pm.
  • 039-083 10:21 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 10:21 pm to 10:22 pm.
  • 039-084 10:22 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:22 pm and 10:50 pm.

All 116 conversations from June 4, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 442-067, June 4, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/442-067 (accessed November 12, 2026).