Conversation 448-011

TapeTape 448StartTuesday, July 10, 1973 at 12:50 PMEndTuesday, July 10, 1973 at 1:20 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.Recording deviceOld Executive Office Building

On July 10, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:50 pm to 1:20 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 448-011 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 448-11

Date: July 10, 1973
Time: 12:50 pm - 1:20 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
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                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      (rev. April-2012)

                                                           Conversation No. 448-11 (cont’d)

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler

     Press briefing July 10, 1973
           -Gerald L. Warren
           -Republican leaders
                  -Hugh Scott
                        -John N. Mitchell
           -Warren’s contributions
                  -Government Accountability Office [GAO] report
                        -Agriculture
                              -[Grain sale]
                  -Precision Valve Corporation
                        -[Anti-trust action]
                        -Denials

     Watergate
          -Expenditures at San Clemente and Key Biscayne
                -William J. Brennan, Jr.
                       -Forthcoming conversation with Ziegler
                -Legal purchase contrasted with General Services Administration [GSA]
                 expenditures
                -Arthur F. Sampson
                       -Possible statement
                             -Justification
                -Release of figures
                       -House, Office
                -Gerald L. Warren’s briefing
                -Robert H. Abplanalp
                -Ziegler’s meeting with Brennan
                -Abplanalp
                       -Possible conversation and statement
                -Ziegler
                       -Meeting with William L. Safire
          -Press briefing July 10, 1973 by Warren
                -Attitude toward Watergate
                       -Guilt of Mitchell, President
                             -Law firm
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       NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                           (rev. April-2012)

                                                  Conversation No. 448-11 (cont’d)

-Ervin committee hearings
      -Samuel Dash
      -Mitchell’s testimony
           -Jeb Stuart Magruder
           -Mitchell’s schedule
                  -Magruder
                  -G[eorge] Gordon Liddy
                        -Meetings
                  -Meetings with White House
                  -DeVan L. Shumway
           -John W. Dean, III
                  -Role
           -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman
           -March 22, 1973 meeting with the President
                  -Executive privilege
           -President’s knowledge of break-in
           -Funds for defendants
                  -White House attitude
                  -Committee to Re-Elect the President [CRP] attitude
                  -Charles W. Colson
           -Magruder’s Grand Jury testimony
                  -Mitchell’s knowledge
                        -Perjury
                  -Dean’s role
-CRP
      -Age of employees
      -Dean
      -Legal ethics
           -Personal responsibility
-Ervin committee testimony
      -Mitchell’s response
      -Magruder
           -John J. (“Jack”) Caulfield
      -Mitchell
           -Dash’s questioning
           -Maurice H. Stans’s testimony
-Mitchell
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            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                (rev. April-2012)

                                                     Conversation No. 448-11 (cont’d)

           -Grand Jury testimony in Robert L. Vesco case
                  -U.S. attorney
           -Martha (Beall) Mitchell
     -Ervin Committee testimony
           -Witness schedule
                  -Herbert W. Kalmbach
                  -Mitchell
                  -Magruder
                  -Perjury
                  -Mitchell
     -President previous meeting with Alexander M. Haig
           -Henry A. Kissinger’s dinner July 9, 1973
                  -Frank F. Manckiewicz, Thomas W. Braden, Stewart J. O. Alsop
                  -Democrat’s plans and goals
     -Possible forthcoming allegations
           -Political contributions
           -“Dirty tricks”
     -Vietnam War, domestic turmoil
           -Kissinger
     -Popular interest
     -President’s opponents
           -Mankiewicz, Braden, Rowland Evans
     -White House response
           -Ervin Committee, Archibald Cox
           -Press release

National economy
     -President’s program
     -Congressional relations
           -George P. Shultz’s views compared to Bryce N. Harlow’s views
           -Watergate
                 -Walters
           -Joint Session
                 -Recess
                 -Possible reaction
                 -Export controls
                 -Phase III
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                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                          (rev. April-2012)

                                                               Conversation No. 448-11 (cont’d)

                           -Timing
                           -President’s reception
                           -Complexity
                           -Timing
                           -President’s reception
                                 -Watergate
                           -President’s possible meeting with Committee Chairman
                                 -Cabinet Room, East Room

      Ziegler’s schedule
            -Safire

      Watergate
           -Ziegler’s forthcoming conversation with Safire
                 -White House mindset
                 -Congress

Ziegler left at 1:20 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.

Hi, I'm Matt.
How'd it go today?
Did you breathe?
Or not?
You were breathing?
Well, you were breathing.
Oh, yeah.
Probably just the dabbling around and stuff.
I believe you.
Leaders did what?
You guys were doing fantastic.
Thank you.
Well, pretty high percent.
We've read that.
What about Jerry?
Well, Jerry, not nothing of any significance.
I asked him to comment on the G.E.A.
report that turns back on Jerry.
Jerry, you know, he said, you know, he saw that type of stuff.
I just want to talk to Bill about the whole problem.
I don't think they're two separate things.
I agree with the point of view in terms of making the purchase whatever it is.
But I won't get into a lot of the things.
The other thing is the GSA expenditures, which I think the way we proceed with that is just to have Samson, the GSA, for how we stand up and say, well, this is done.
This was done at our request, but we're going to have to get back to it.
Well, just to put it in perspective, the GSA received a service expenditure.
Yeah, exactly.
This game was already an issue, but when they released the figures, was it required to invite professionals?
I don't know if they already released them.
No.
But not in terms of the office content.
The offices?
What, the work?
No, that's what I mean.
As they released them, I think they put all of it in the contents.
Yeah.
But when we retired in the first fall of that, we weren't able to do that.
No, I'm glad that we stayed where we are today.
Let's have a conversation.
All right, if I didn't think about it, I'm going to go ahead and do it for you.
Well, I think it's more important just to talk to you, right?
I'm suggesting that I do it.
Yeah, I did it before.
I mean, I had some ideas for a little while before.
I've got Sapphire over there now, and I've got a little bit over there.
I've got that around here.
I've got a bunch of ideas.
I've got a lot of ideas.
I'll see what I can do.
I guess you should do it.
I guess you should do it.
I've got a lot of ideas.
And one of the other, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh,
There had to be a few seconds or two.
It's true.
It's possible.
It's wrong.
But there had to be a few seconds or two.
There had to be a few seconds or two.
There had to be a few seconds or two.
There had to be a few seconds or two.
I'm a little tired of it also.
I thought you treated most of them like that.
I'm glad you did.
The suspicion that someone had something, one person, I don't know.
They don't know that at all.
There is conflict with anybody treating them like that.
Oh, sure.
I got it.
Now we're going to go chill, chill, chill, chill.
He didn't have to leave the field.
He didn't have to burn.
I've burned a few hundred.
He didn't have to leave the army.
He didn't have to leave the army.
He didn't have to leave the army.
He didn't have to leave the army.
He didn't have to leave the army.
He's not smoking his pipe.
His hands aren't shaking.
Denied?
Denied what?
Two or three other people said.
He puts it in the context of what he denies.
Well, for example, he's called the workers' testimony.
He says, my Lord shall, as my Lord shall, which is consistent with my recollection, he said, I didn't say, go to bed.
And he said, now, how did you think about it?
I said, look at it.
He said, if you look at the problems, it shows clearly that every bullet point came from the same place.
And when this individual came to see me, it was wrong.
And then he said, what did he keep seeing me on?
Well, just by reference to the allegations that he made in his testimony, which is a part of what he said,
But the impact is very, very clearly that Dean was at the center of this thing.
That Mitchell, as he said, never talked, as he recalled, even to hold him in the nerve about these things.
Because Dean was the look, which makes a lot of sense.
It's true.
I think Mitchell's telling the truth.
Now, also, he said, did he ever discuss it with the president?
He said, on that occasion.
He said, well, what about March 22nd?
He said, what we talked about on March 22nd.
He said, exactly right.
He said, quite frankly, how to deal with this committee, how we would, what I would say, what others would say to deal with this committee.
He said, that was a discussion on March 22nd.
And he said, in no time did he ever, he said, to his knowledge,
And also, the knowledge that he has, based upon any discussion, any one of them, can he testify in any way whatsoever that the President is aware, that Reagan was aware, that Blanchard and Reagan was aware, that he had to be followed, and where the government could march in.
How did he handle the panels?
On the defendants, he said, there was a point of view to double it.
He said to keep the whip.
Quite frankly, he said, we've all had a point of view to keep the whip.
Not to allow, not to volunteer in that.
This is President Biden's point of view.
Not to volunteer in that.
Because it may, as he said, go into some of the White House horror stories.
Because he felt that if he volunteered a lot in the investigation by the man, it would be very embarrassing to be a candidate and to the White House because it would reduce some of his other activities.
Right now
In terms of the fonts, he didn't get into any specifics of the fonts.
I was the one that asked him.
But when he follows the same procedure, he followed it.
He said, yes.
He said, I was aware of the group that you testified to.
That he was going to get it.
But he said, it is wrong for you to say, or for you to draw the impression that we sat and co-churched the group that you testified to.
He said, the meetings were more that he came to tell us what he was going to say.
He said, that was a compliment.
So he admitted being aware of the burglary before, but he put it in another comment, which makes him very relieved.
But indeed, you know, that doesn't even matter.
I didn't say it's not me.
I didn't say that.
I didn't want to do it.
It was a very young people who were alive.
And they came up to me and asked me, what's your name?
And I said, Judy.
And I was like, I don't believe it.
And I was like, I don't believe it.
And I was like, I don't believe it.
And I was like, I don't believe it.
And I was like, I don't believe it.
And I was like, I don't believe it.
I was like, I don't believe it.
and what will happen to him with that next breath.
And I think it just stuck on for a long time.
Wow.
Mitch was the first man to stand up to Daddy.
I mean, I think that was a problem.
You know, one of your old dogs, you know, you're going to test him on the end.
And all the poor coffee, of course, you had to have coffee with him.
You mean Dagg?
Did Dagg try to get around all of you?
Well, of course he did.
It was pretty good.
But you know, we're very clear on it.
We went back and forth, and we discussed with Mr. Dagg just what you said.
At one time, he said, you know, the hard portion of the Spanish festival, most guys don't do this, but let's just go with it.
And he said, Mr. Dagg, you know, we know what the whole of that thing is, and we'll get the accurate side of it.
That's my job.
That's the best record I've ever had.
Oh, my God.
I didn't believe that.
As I understand it, that's the best record I've ever had.
The grand jury was a great addition to our party.
The prejudice against the Jew was
U.S. Attorney for Special Interquestion testified on Monday, which was a pardon from the subject of the grand jury investigation.
Therefore, the grand jury will make their conclusions and do their conclusions based on...
Intensive question.
What are you doing?
I'm trying to enter a lock that didn't work.
That's what I'm trying to do.
I wasn't.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
Right now, it's all of the people that have had their say first.
And all of the political debate is praying for the weak.
For the old person.
The strong thing.
I'm talking about the strong individual that I heard.
They, quite soon, as they are, are going to lie and say, I didn't see that.
I didn't hear that.
How about it?
How about it?
How about it?
You see, in the black and white areas, Mr. President, the people who are testifying on election, white and black, the rest, we're giving to the community straight truth.
Whereas the other guys who were testified, up to this point, were putting chains down and twisting to testify.
Sure.
Now, there are lies, isn't there?
That's right.
Lies.
We were calling out to the committee, trying to leave them a group.
A group.
A group.
A group.
A group.
A group.
A group.
A group.
A group.
Well, that's not what we wanted.
But we'll see.
I'm glad they had one.
They're all having a good call.
Now they can't believe the movie.
Well, let's not doubt them.
There's a very important role to play.
I'm hard of hearing to hear you out there.
I knew it was the grave the last time I saw you.
The school outside.
The plan is never ready.
The strain on that is the same as the strain on the two federal organizations, both federal and the U.S. federal.
I don't know what it is.
I don't know what it is.
I don't know what it is.
That's the last thing we have to say, but I think I know how we are going to do it for a few months.
We have to do it.
You know what, really, really, what do they call them in that, uh, where do they call us?
Uh, I don't know.
I don't know what I mean.
What, why does that, any, any of us in the country have any, uh, any, uh, any, uh, any, uh,
We have a lot of excesses coming back from the other telephone.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
They don't have it.
The energy is good, of course.
I mean, we could, uh, they might have taken the Vietnam War, and they're gonna get the, uh, domestic terminals out of the face of the earth and say, you know, we can't drag the moon so fast.
Oh, why do we have to have a moon?
I mean, we can anticipate that.
Michael, let's just wait.
Hold on a second.
Uh, there were all the Democratic partisans on the Hill.
Of course there were.
Because they didn't want the Republican Party to do it.
But they did.
They reacted to exactly what the Republican Party did.
Exactly what the Republican Party did.
And where did they stand?
More present.
More Democrat.
Yeah.
And I'm not sure if I doubt that the Republican Party were down on their feet.
But they're fighting to say that they're present.
Well, sure.
I'm not sure.
But they're fighting to say that the Republican Party were down on their feet.
I'm not sure.
But they're fighting to say that they were down on their feet.
But our reaction must not be, uh, too, uh, too wild for us.
So, I guess we gotta do that, you know, and we gotta hold the staff, you know, the psychology of all these things affects, you know, uh, what we're supposed to do.
Great job.
Thank you.
I think we have to anticipate what direction they're going.
I think we have to rest our case and our position for what is going to happen.
That's exactly precisely what it is.
on the other hand we should have pressed our keys understanding the system requires big butter and even cox ah what that is
I think the direction is clear.
Of course, it's clear.
We're both just as you described it.
We all tend to respond and react to things that are impressive.
We're also not full of satisfaction that we are not.
We don't have the satisfaction to react to things like that.
I expected to be out of heat, but it was sheltered all the way, and I had to replace your power.
Please do not leave.
I'd love to relax you for a little bit, but I'm going to try to set you up for a little bit of a break.
But before that, I can put those all on you, sir.
We're going to relax you for a little bit.
We're going to try to set you up for a little bit, but I'm going to try to set you up for a little bit.
Let me put it out there for you right in front of us, right out of the gate for you to see.
And then, right at this particular time, let me put it out there for you to see, right in front of us, right out of the gate for you to see.
And this, this is such a calm feeling.
And I'm sorry for the noise.
That is going to be natural.
Irish.
Irish.
And, at third place, before noise poverty is not realized, anything else?
What's going to be the effect?
You see, rather provocatively, I would say that I always seem to think you're not a soldier.
It would be easy for you to call someone out for it.
I can't really lie to you, but you're not.
You also can't do that without me.
We have to remember a lot of things.
That's right.
If you go to a draft session or a conference or a program, call up John and say, I'm practicing.
I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it.
Yeah, do something.
Before I leave the meeting.
First of all, I'd like to thank the Congress for
I don't think you should look at him like this.
I think he's going to be a receptionist.
So I don't think you should look at him like this.
I don't think you should look at him like this.
But I don't know if you should know at all.
I don't know the reason why.
Ron, talk about this.
I mean, at this particular summit, you cannot look at the flags and the barrels.
I think that's right.
Because, first of all, they wouldn't respond to your appeal.
It's taking too long.
I just don't think they will.
They work in different hospitals.
So I want to be there to go on a meeting and show their responsibility.
So I can prove to them that everybody's going to be okay.
So we call it a camp, and the other people call it a library.
It's not different from what you call it.
But that's the other thing.
We're not going to call it a camp.
That's really what the team is trying to do.
I should've...
I should've known that I was part of this, so...
It's a great conversation, man.
Oh, yeah, man, that's fine.
Um... Eric, do we know your grandpa?
You know, I'm sure he's here.
Yeah.
I feel like we should do the fire alarm and do the... We're doing the conversation.
We've got to have something to say.
We're going to have to do it.
Oh, you got to get back.
They're not coming for you.
Oh, you're a church.
Right.
They're not coming for you.
They're not coming for you.
Well, let's just get out of here.
People are coming for you.
And you might as well indicate to that party that you're coming for them.
What's going on?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Oh, okay.
I just want to make sure that all the energy is here to go on.
I appreciate you carrying this out to me, but I'm totally obsessed with it.
We're going to do this.
Thank you.
And, uh...
This is Thomas Brown.
We're going to do the rest of the ones up here.
We'll do this one later.
Yes, sir.