Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 488 › Conversation 488-010

Nixon, Agnew & Haldeman on Anti-war protests and Media bias

Tuesday, April 27, 1971 · 7:55 AM–8:04 AM ET · Oval Office · 8 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Agnew, Spiro T. (Vice President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation488-010 on Tape 488 (tape position 00:39:05–00:47:33)StartTuesday, April 27, 1971 at 7:55 AMEndTuesday, April 27, 1971 at 8:04 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 488-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, Vice President Agnew, and H. R. Haldeman discuss the recent disruptions by anti-war demonstrators in the Senate galleries and the media's biased coverage of the event. The group analyzes the tactical behavior of protesters, including their plans to target Selective Service offices and train for future demonstrations. Nixon expresses frustration with the news media's portrayal of Republican senators' roles in clearing the galleries while Agnew updates the President on protest activity near government facilities.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Were you working out there yesterday when they raised trouble at the center?
No, I was down in New Orleans giving a speech at the Southern Gas Association.
I, uh, it's an interest-farm relationship.
And the floor?
And the floor.
Did you hear about the scene down in the basement?
That's it.
These bastards, uh, they, uh, you know, they had the...
power and move twice the kiln
But they said the galleries would be cleared and those would then be reinvented on their behalf.
And I agreed to move to rescind Butler's order.
And that was voted out apparently, and they cleared the galleries.
He didn't want to get in the position of poor old member Hoover and MacArthur and all that, arresting those poor bonus veterans in the 30s.
But now that they're out of town, these guys are just a ratty, ratty, as Russell Wong was in here yesterday.
He said, boy, I'm for you, what you're doing.
He said, stay your course.
Come on in.
I don't think you do have to.
people panic about things.
The Post did carry the story, but it's fascinating.
It's really unbelievable the way they do some of this stuff.
The Post carried the story, and they go through the whole thing, and then they get to the point where they say, and then Senator Buckley, who was in the chair at the time, ordered them removed.
Totally leaves out the
Senator Tower demanded that the galleries be cleared and Senator Humphrey refused to clear the galleries and only ordered the removal of those who had shouted.
Then they removed those.
Then some more shouted.
Tower again demanded they clear the galleries.
Humphrey again refused and only removed those who shouted.
Then Buckley took the chair and Humphrey went to the floor.
And Buckley then, Senator
clear the galleries, and then readmit those who are not demonstrators.
And that's what Buckley did.
None of that's in the paper.
All that's in the paper is that some of the demonstrators were ordered out by Senator Buckley, who was in the chair at the time.
Because they were, what, creating insurgencies.
Now, one guy shouted, shit, man, what about the kids in Vietnam?
Yeah.
and they can hear what goes on on the floor and they can see it.
and there were also some ineffectiveness in some of these nice kids.
but even at the level of this,
and start, you know, you go out of the residential neighborhood with us and start scaring people.
Yeah.
What is the situation over there?
Today they go to the selected service.
They were supposed to go at 7.30.
This morning I don't think they had any, according to my collection.
They don't start that early.
There was something scheduled for 7.30 because one of my agents said to me they didn't show up too early for it.
They shift around.
There's not a lot of them here yet, and there's not supposed to be.
See, what they're doing now is they're training tactics for next week.
So they're out, they go, each group goes to the area that it's supposed to block next week and hands out pamphlets and...
Instead of brotherhood, my brotherhood.

NARA Description

On April 27, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:55 am to 8:04 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 488-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 488-10

Date: April 27, 1971
Time: 7:55 am - 8:04 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Vice President Spiro T. Agnew at 7:55 am.

[A transcript of the following portion of this conversation was prepared under court order from
December 1978 through March 1979 for Special Access 8, Ronald V. Dellums, et al. v. James M.
Powell, et al., No. 71-2271. The National Archives and Records Administration produced this
transcript. The National Archives does not guarantee its accuracy.]

[End of transcript]

[H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at an unknown time during the transcribed portion]

The President, Vice President, and Haldeman left at 8:04 am.

Also recorded on April 27, 1971

  • 488-007 7:52 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:52 am to 7:53 am.
  • 488-008 7:52 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:52 am to 7:53 am.
  • 488-009 7:53 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:53 am to 7:54 am.
  • 055-003 8:04 AM · 1 hr 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, and members of the Cabinet, including John N. Irwin, II, John B. Connally, Melvin R. Laird, John N. Mitchell, Winton M. ("Red") Blount, Jr., Rogers C. B. Morton, Clifford M. Hardin, James T. Lynn, James D. Hodgson, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, George P. Shultz, George H. W. Bush, John D. Ehrlichman, Clark MacGregor, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., Raymond K. Price, Jr., Ronald L. Ziegler, Alexander P. Butterfield, Robert J. Brown, Robert J. Dole, Arthur J. Sohmer, Donald E. Johnson, and Malcolm R. Lovell, Jr., met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 8:04 am to 9:43 am.
  • 488-011 9:55 AM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:55 am and 10:05 am.
  • 488-012 10:05 AM · 11 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, James C. Fletcher, James A. Belson, Fay Fletcher, Ginger Fletcher, Mary Susan Fletcher, James S. Fletcher, Wallace F. Bennett, Clinton P. Anderson, Carl T. Curtis, George P. Miller, Olin E. Teague, James J. Fulton, George M. Low, Richard C. McCurdy, Helen D. Bentlye, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., Clay T. ("Tom") Whitehead, William E. Kriegsman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Thomas O. Paine met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:05 am and 10:16 am.
  • 488-013 10:16 AM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:16 am and 10:19 am.
  • 488-014 10:16 AM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:16 am and 10:19 am.

All 46 conversations from April 27, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 488-010, April 27, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/488-010 (accessed October 10, 2026).