Nixon, Haldeman & Ziegler on Public Relations and Press Relations

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Oh, I wanted to tell you this, sir.

I think for about the next four weeks, because there's three of us on time this week.

Fine.

Except for Sadie.

Sadie, I'll do it.

I'll do it in a second.

And then I'll take care of the pieces in our interest.

All right, fine.

Let's just play it.

We've got a few others.

Also, I don't have our people.

They spend their time with people that give us more of a chance to do it.

to play our game, so we do see that's probably coming around to the other people.

I don't know, I couldn't be sure.

They all change.

When they do, it's just generally early when it shows.

Some don't, but get on them when they don't.

Is there anybody else?

It's that far.

Amazing.

Well, you know the most astonishing story in that whole thing, that's hardly been noticed, at least I haven't seen much on it, was one girl on that ping-pong team, 17 years old,

dropped out on the tour to go to Hawaii, China, because she had a date to meet a friend of hers, a girlfriend of hers in Hawaii to spend three or four days, and she skipped the China tour to go to Hawaii.

I saw that once, but it didn't happen.

I haven't seen any follow-up until I saw that that's what she was doing.

I can't imagine.

She probably only does two things in her life.

Police ain't bothering her.

Ain't what?

Is that what you mean?

I, uh, I now scale the, uh, today with mine.

I use the opportunity to...

Talk about, you know, nothing, no organization worthwhile in any administration.

This is the way you've insisted from the very beginning.

Remain static.

You're always constantly looking for different ideas, different ways to do things.

Always working with people.

I was able to get in a little bit because I was asked a question about, well, I thought you were cutting back on the public relations efforts of the administration.

And so I drew a parallel between the cutbacks in public relations activities, the films, the unnecessary activities, versus

the desire to develop a more effective public information structure, and that from the very outset of the administration, with the setting up of the Director of Communications Office and other things that we've attempted to do, you've attempted to do in the administration, all against one goal of informing the American people of your policies and so forth.

So I was able to draw that paramount.

And did you ever get wrong figures of hours that I had gotten?

Did you get that around, the hours that I had given you?

Yes, I have.

That's a very good point for all of our people.

And then I taught him vertically, you know.

I've had six hours, and by the time I do this, we're averaging a half hour every two weeks.

I refer to the hour before the panel of six at the ASV also that you would do this Friday.

I said the panel of six, editors, the representative from each one of us said that.

these guys always when you make an announcement like that they tend to to to or at least they make an effort to block it into some mysterious thing called public relations but what i attempted to do is to spell out the

Anything that is worthwhile, you must constantly change and assess yourself and evaluate yourself.

That's exactly right.

And I said that the President has been insistent on that, not only in the area of public information, but on everything.

That's a good point.

Within the government, if you will.

Well, when you stop to think, you stop to think a little bit about it, it's time to go back to the Senate this year.

Nobody can really say we haven't been extremely forthcoming in terms of service.

I mean, our three television guys, no old bar and no TV.

See, our three television guys, a half-hour televised press conference, and a 45-minute in the office press conference.

So let me hear that.

And our, with Howard A. Smith, one-on-one.

And our, with Sulzinger, one-on-one.

And our, with Barbara Roethlisberger, one-on-one.

and an hour with the women's press, a pool of six or one, and an hour with editors.

That's a hell of a lot of stuff, and that is much more useful if they stick with it.

Then they get it.

If you want follow-up, we've got it.

If you want a big show, we give you that.

If you want something in the office, we've given you that.

And if you want something for the writing press, we've given you that.

If you want something on television, we've given you that.

the very nature of the press, which I told him this morning, you know, you'll never be satisfied with what we're talking about as ways to, the president is communicating with the American people in various ways.

No, not at all.

But then I was asked, well, when is the president going to have a press conference with the White House press?

I said, when we have one set, we'll announce it.

And then I went through, we've had, you know, a series of them already.

We're at a number of suggestions that have been made, I said, in terms of

But communicating with the president is a doing thing.

I noticed that when Sigmund Delgertine came up with almost exactly the same proposal that I did on a selection of a pool.

That's right, that's right.

Ten basic people and draw money.

We may want to take it.

And while we may have got a basis for doing it, you can follow this thing.

Oh, I think the next one should be a White House group in here in the office.

Now I think I want you, if you will, and this will cool some of the sociophilicates, you can tell us who are the next, we'll meet them.

We'll arrange it, so you'll be in the very near future.

Now look here, we actually can announce this in advance, but we're going to give you one in the very near future.

I mean, just as soon as we get this one out of the way, you'll have a crack at yours.

Why is it we're planning to do that Wednesday?

Yeah.

Other words, right?

And we're making the plan next week.

Like you're talking about.

That's part of our scheme.

And then we'll have a full televised restaurant.

So we plan on one of those within the next...

your information and give some case discussions and then say, now what do you think about it?

Why don't you do that?

You know, this is just a little tease right off the bat.

He can say what I like, but then he can go back and tell the police what he's going to do.

The White House, the office press conference, they like those the best, and that takes care of their needs and what they need to do.

tomorrow.

We won't give them the date, actually, because we can't get it out.

Then we'll have a televised press conference.

Probably in three weeks.

Two weeks.

The televised press conference is next week.

Two.

Next weekend.

Two weeks from tomorrow.

The televised press conference in Russia.

I said that he would not be a spokesman, but that he would add a new dimension and perspective that will make a contribution to the administration on that basis because of his experience in the news.

Over the years, they said, well, have you come to the conclusion that after two years you needed someone from the newspaper and broadcaster?

I said, not necessarily, but based on the attitude of the president,

wants to constantly reassess, assess how we're doing things, and this is a part of that.

See, they try and go back to, well, is he being brought in because the Pentagon brought that pipe out or because Jerry Friedheim used mobile maneuvering?

And I said, look, we make mistakes in the administration.

Mistakes are made in the administration.

I said, but one man doesn't solve that.

It's an attitude, and that's what the president's talking about is an attitude.

So I think that's fine.

Okay, we're live.

Let's see.

Well, I, uh...

I trust that my conversation with Henry gets across with that.

The main problem there is that he has got to talk to Scali.

He's got to level with his father.

And you know what Henry finds hard to do?

Not everything.

For example, I told Henry he's not going to tell anybody about the prospection of Simon.

Nobody about the prospection of Saltery.

Because that's too dangerous.

We cannot have that meeting.

See what I mean?

I wouldn't have that with only anybody in this job.

Now, when we get Berger along, then we can talk about it.

See?

Yeah.

Once we're sure, if we are to become sure, before it's announced, we'll talk.

We cannot talk about it all of a sudden.

But it's speculated now.

When it becomes firm, speculation becomes firm, and you're starting on implementation, then you should know about it, because he can be damn helpful in how we set it up.

That's right.

But Henry will go into the China thing, which is good.

I think it's worth trying.

If I can add a day, I mean, I should say, it may be too much of a stunt.

That's what I wonder, is you fly all the way across the country to watch a parade with a bunch of Marines.

It seems to me you have to do something else.

And then you do that while you're there.

If there were another reason to go back to California, close it up.

We can try to do it by the weekend of the 24th.

We can't move the chamber to the 2nd.

We have to.

But I don't think that's the weekend to do it.

But that reading looks like you ran, you know, there was a big demonstration and you ran out.

No, but actually going to Camp David is fine.

You don't have to be here.

I will be at Camp David.

Everybody knows I'm going to Camp David for the weekend.

So that's, uh, getting a pull right now.

The thing apparently has been announced for the 21st, which also creates a problem.

What has it been?

The, uh, the riot?

No, the, uh, Marine...

I think maybe we ought to have somebody else go out there and make a big deal about it.

Maybe that's another possibility.

Well, I had a note coming in from Colson Sampar when you raised the question on doing something more on the next market.

Oh, yeah.

That they had already been working on, which was the idea of...

having fun last year, write you a letter that would say, last year on April 28th, you made a prediction, then pointing out what had happened, the gain since then, and how much someone would have made, and then saying what 31 million stockholders and their families would like to know now is this, what's your advice on April 1971?

Thank you for reminding me of my advice a year ago, and I took a little flak about it for a few weeks.

And the same president should make market predictions, except in general terms.

He said it should be a very good year.

I would expect a group of men who still find this a good time to invest.

Perhaps I take some of my profits and put them toward the purchase of a new home or a new car.

That kind of decision would be good for the consumer, the working man, the investor as well.

Checking on this next year, too, everybody else will.

You know, some of that sort of, there were things like that.

Did you get the figures?

Okay, I've got no command to you that they, the low was, the election day marker was 949 the day after, 49.

The inaugural

The market was 931.

We're close to that already.

The low was 631.

It dropped to exactly 300 from the inaugural to the low.

And it's quite conceivable we'd be back to the 931 within the next few days.

The 931 then is the figure we should aim at, right?

931, because that's when we took over the administration.

about a year ago that we never reached 931 when I was there.

When it was 631?

631.

The fantastic fortunes of the day.

The fantastic fortunes.

I'm not sure that the letter will go, that's a little tricky.

But I don't know anything better.

I just think the story has got to get out.

I think it's a hell of a good story.

It would have ridden the hell out of me if it hadn't happened.

It did, as you know, this New York Times piece, the next market-proven paragraph, they're doing another piece on the one place for the one year date on April 28th.

That kind of thing.

We do a lot of circulating of this one.

You said it was 7-24.

Yes, it was.

That's why I said it publicly.

Yeah, I also said it at the same, after that group.

That's why I picked up my pick-up line.

Yeah, later that meeting with the stock market people.

The anniversary of that day is damn important.

Well, this was the group of Wall Street leaders.

It was on April 28th.

The meeting of the group of Wall Street leaders, Bob, was at the Campo here.

Which was April 30th.

It was in an office press conference.

April 28th, actually you will find, you see the April, uh, Sapphire, look at that, it's finished up.

The April 28th thing was in an office press conference.

I don't know, not all, but, no, in a meeting in the cabinet room with some businessmen.

I think actually they were cattlemen, cattlemen or, uh, it was some sort of a farm type group.

That's what that was.

Uh...

But when the market was 631, that day, the morning of that day, the day before it was 631, and that crowd came in, and that day came back 18.29.

That is the day that I want to pick up, and let's think that is the day.

That's when I had the money last year, and this year, and a whole bunch of years later.

Well, Conner will be back in September.

That's good.

That's fine.

Okay.

The schedule means you need to be in September.

They thought you might want to take him on a boat.

It's supposed to be in the Eagles today.

Conner, go out and work.

Work.

Catch him later.

He'll be over there.

a week from Sunday, and we have those nice, beautiful evenings.

I have a little feeling, I have a little feeling that the going out and welcoming on that occasion is holding it up a bit, but maybe we react too often that way, you know, when a thing like this started.

That's funny because Henry responded to all of the welcome home of the people, sort of aligning yourself, aligning yourself.

You're saying, oh, we're proud of these men.

But we need to get new events here and there that show the troops coming home.

Because you keep saying they're coming home, but nobody ever sees them coming home.

That's right.

And a parade saying the division has returned.

That's why it says it's the first Marines.

It says it, but it is the 21st.

We're stuck with that.

Well, it didn't seem to be changed.

That's what's going to happen.

It's the 21st itself.

You can't do it the 21st.

The 30th would be the best time for you to stay out there a little bit and make it look like there was a reason to go out.

It's not a bad idea to last that 30th and stay out there for a week.

Be gone during that May day business year.

We can come back to the White House Correspondents.

You can do your press conference on the 28th and then leave on the 29th.

I think we ought to get back here.

I'd like to get back here later.

So I've got a full day's work to catch up with.

He did tell us, he asked us about it, he wanted to help us today.

I was just down there thinking, I'm back.

He said, is there any idea that might be out there on the western White House?

Paul Bunker at that time, or Abrams or somebody?

Or is that just bringing more attention to the war?

I don't know.

That's the problem with it.

But welcoming these guys back is the right way to bring attention to the woman's young.

And I can say a little something and say we're proud of you and we appreciate you, sir, as well.

You give the unit an expectation, put it down on their flag and encourage the return.

And symbolically, it's a big step in winding down the war for spending, spending by our men.

We're welcoming them back.

I don't want to go again, David.

We have church on Sunday.

Okay.

We ran into, we run into a lot of problems, as I was afraid you would, in terms of this, would come DOW and then together.

Yeah.

But just don't tell me about it right now.

Yeah, the other alternative, which looks like a possibility, if we want to do it, is Ambassador to the Philippines.

Question of whether we want to go?

Sure.

Why not?

Fine.

Ambassador to the Philippines.

Yeah.

Who we got there now?

Byron.

I've always seen him.

He's a damn good ambassador.

We can move him up someplace.

Move Byron in charge.

I'm sure that's a good idea.

But why not put Byron in as assistant secretary for Southeast Asia?

Is that what you mean?

would play our game to an extent.

God, I don't know what the hell Porter's going to do.

Put Porter in jail.

The machinery ran away without getting approval and ended up with a notification to Ruby Peterson that he has been

You selected us as your appointee as UN Day Chairman for 1971 and it's past the point of no return.

I don't care if you're UN Day Chairman, just so I'm not involved and you aren't.

Okay.

And we just don't want anybody to know that it got done in the right way.

We've got it behind the sign.

No problem.

It's past the point of no return.

Sir, the research thing, I did not raise it with Larry, push it with Larry.

I raised it, and he says June, he's committed to June, and he understands our problems, and I just think we better let it go.

We may actually get rid of him this way in June.

It would be nice to get rid of the guy.

Okay, that's all we want to know.

We are at the point where they would like you to meet with the president or the Farm Bureau.

All right.

We have fine cure therapy.

Sure.

Bring him in.

Basically substitute.

Bring him in.

Dr. Tula would like to see you.

We put him off last fall after he went to a trip.

He wants to bring Leonard Bolling in with him to President Monroe College.

Well, they won't be making a speech or something.

No, I was not going to tell them.

They want to tell you about Dr. Bolling's trip to Moscow.

Which to me, the thing we ought to do on this is have them, have them see one of Henry's people and then let them bring, bring them in for a handshake with you at the end of that, which gets you, gets, if you put him on, you're going to have to see him sometime.

If you do this, I think that he'd get out of the way.

I might go see him.

Go here.

Okay.

Or I'm sick of him though.

I don't really have to see him now.

He's not over at the moment.

Charlie Ryan wanted to come in for a minute to present you with a copy of his book on international law, which I haven't seen any reason not to give him.

Sure there is some reason.

Sure.

But not to.

New book on it.

Yeah.

New book.

New work on international law.

And he's suggesting on our dinners for the morning pastures that we do, we're going to do an Asian dinner and a European.

No hurry, no hurry, no hurry.

He was suggesting Europe in October and Asia in November to get them over with this year.

But he raised the problem of the Near and Middle East and South Asia.

And he's suggesting that we throw Greek, Turkey, Cyprus, and Israel into the European dinner.

Right.

And put India, Salon, and Nepal in the Asian dinner.

Sure.

Then he's suggesting an additional dinner for Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Arab states.

I won't give him an additional dinner.

Now can't they be throwing them at Asians?

Go ahead.

I don't know.

I just haven't got time for another dinner.

Just do it next year.

I just don't want to eat one of these two.

Yeah, just break it down to Europe and... Just don't have a dinner with the... Just put the damn world on the middle and let them all come in.

It just gets another event off.

You have to put the Israelis in a different dinner than the Arabs, but you don't want them in Europe.

It's much greater being in Europe.

And we have the others.

I asked if we could start a meeting at some point with the 10 most influential harm publications and the 10 most influential business publications in our discussion with the editors.

We've got those lists if you want to go ahead and set those up.

But why don't you just consider that among the other things on our way to .

It ought to be done.

Sometimes they ought to come in and you give them an hour with one and an hour with the other.

They could have a feeling it's going to look a little different.

So I think it's part of things if you've been working the schedule over a period of time where you do that.

In other words, if you allow other things at 5 o'clock that aren't quite as important as that, so I just do it.

See, I'll have the dinner for them.

I mean, I'll meet them at 5 o'clock.

And Hardin should give a dinner for them at night, see, and let him use Blair House, see.

And then I'll have a, and then they can stand and use Blair House for dinner.

But I'm going to use Blair House for their dinners.

I think that's good.

I think it's an influential group.

It's like when I get it back to, I can't tell you how strong I feel.

We've got to get as many people as possible in with Mitchell.

But hardcore.

I don't know who our friends are in the house, and I want to see that list.

And I want ten guys in the house.

whether we have five incentives or six or what.

I think it's eight.

Eight is good.

McGregor agrees with you about that.

It's good.

And then, I don't know the political people.

There must be a...

I think the workers.

I do have a very brief, just in the office, and the only thing, swearing in for Bob White, the head of NOAA, because it's our agency, the city, White's brother.

Sure, it would be a little lying.

Excellent.

That's our, I think it's easy to consider that, I guess, now.

I don't know who thought it up, but that Mr. Termskew thing was about the best thing I've done for some time, because he's a good man.

I never thought it up, Mr. Termskew.

I can't understand why.

I've never met the man.

But he just got carried away.

He said, you know, he wanted to give you the award.

He said it a long time ago.

And we've been trying to work out if, you know, he's on there.

So apparently so.

I got his award.

For inspection and search.

It was his idea.

He said, I'll give you what I have.

Absolutely great.

That's about it.

Thank you so much.

That's so much better than having him and then the cotton queen and a lot of others.

But it's just, have one, get that little one, that one, and have a little, you have one tomorrow, every day.

I need somebody to have two, if you have a hellish pressure.

We don't really have two.

One a day though, I never mind.

Even a day of a press conference, I'll have one.

That's an amazing thing the guy wanted to do.

I've got one of our certificates for his leadership.

He's been making speeches before drugs and so forth.

I think that's a very significant part of his leadership, giving an example to young people, particularly the people of Congress.

Oh, you know, Peter Gladigan, it might be that you ought to sit in with him on that, okay?

Right on.

It seems that R.A. Sanchez, who was, yes, the senator, the magnus, I wrote him.

Somebody had to meet with him or something.

Actually, Erland and I would like the attention for a minute or two.

So, John, can you host me to finish up Jerry?

Or before, we'll start up before.

Oh, we just need a minute.

Go before, why don't you come in?

Okay, very well.

We'll go over to the other side.

On the other side.

Thanks, Charles.

You decide.

Nixon, Haldeman & Ziegler on Public Relations and Press Relations

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on April 13, 1971

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