Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 494 › Conversation 494-008

Nixon & Haldeman on Public Relations and Press Relations

Saturday, May 8, 1971 · 1:55 PM–2:40 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation494-008 on Tape 494 (tape position 03:00:56–03:09:38)StartSaturday, May 8, 1971 at 1:55 PMEndSaturday, May 8, 1971 at 2:40 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 494-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon dictates a memorandum to H. R. Haldeman regarding the administration's public image and the necessity of projecting stronger, more decisive leadership. Nixon expresses frustration with how the press portrays his administration, specifically regarding demonstrations and his handling of domestic policy, and instructs Haldeman to coordinate with staff like John Scali to counter narratives of indecisiveness. The President emphasizes the need for public figures like Spiro Agnew and John Mitchell to take a more aggressive stance to solidify support for the administration's position against disruptive demonstrators.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 106.9 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 03:00:56 into the tape and ends around 03:09:38.

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
3:02:36What's that?
3:02:37Nobody.
3:03:19to include a number four, which would have answered my, uh, error.
3:03:30That was true.
3:03:32To, uh, error just about right.
3:03:38And it's, uh,
3:03:44In other words, get the same question on with regard to the president that we have with regard to the police forces.
3:03:59Paragraph.
3:03:59I want to reiterate my questions to you this morning.
3:04:09Search for a way, and not just through, and not just through background receipt, or identification with the, that is, the identification of our end, our end, against, uh, disrupting demonstrators.
3:04:48through statements by Mitchell, Agnew, and congressmen, as well as congressmen and senators.
3:04:59Two, we have tended to be pristine, hard, so close to the question of press corps.
3:05:09We tend to get the worst of both worlds.
3:05:12Ten statements which take the
3:05:17Those who support the demonstrators do not come on strong enough to attack our own forces.
3:05:28It's one of those issues where people see it pretty much in black and white terms.
3:05:37Good guy, bad guy issues.
3:05:40Particularly TV.
3:05:44of support for, as they are quite aware, the worst position we could be in.
3:05:49From here, for context, this is a problem we have on a number of issues.
3:05:59It knows very well my standard, but they realize that my position may be unpopular on the
3:06:14The story is in a way that might appear to be strong one way or another.
3:06:23What it really gets down to is the craving of people for strong leadership in places like this.
3:06:34I think it has.
3:06:37And some months ago, much of which he has retained up until this time, that he appeared firm and outspoken and agreed with all of his positions.
3:06:51I tend to pick them off.
3:06:54And this is when I get to hit the head on the press conference, which cannot be more than once a month.
3:07:02I can correct this on a well-informed issue.
3:07:05It was interesting to note that the press, uh, played it up the first time I made the point at Williamsburg, thinking it would probably hurt us, but then realizing that it was having the opposite effect, totally ignored the point when I repeated it again in the Chamber of Commerce, once in the medium of whatever possible.
3:07:33that he will not take a strong position one way or another.
3:07:43He's dodging the public, et cetera.
3:07:45This is not true, but they also know.
3:07:50That's why it hurts.
3:08:05I want you to have a closer look on this paper in Scali.
3:08:16Use your judgment as to the extent you want to discuss this matter with Scali.
3:08:21If you have a need to close off on the press, close parentheses the problem.
3:08:36is that we have not really recognized, underline word, recognized the problem.
3:08:44So, let's begin here and see what we can do to strong and true oppression of our own leadership and purpose on the sea.
3:09:01To add to that,
3:09:04The problem in general is related to other issues.
3:09:06We've been clear and decisive, very decisive in this conversation about the possible and in these discussions that we'll be clever people in the press who may be our opponents necessarily, and that we're not, to fight us straight out
3:09:36They will discuss it in such a way, an image of indecisiveness and weak leadership.

NARA Description

On May 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:55 pm and 2:40 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 494-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 494-8

Date: May 8, 1971
Time: Unknown between 1:55 pm and 2:40 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President dictated a memorandum to H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

[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]

     Washington, D.C. demonstrations
         -President's position

     Leadership
          -Agnew
          -President's press conferences
                -Welfare issue
          -President's Williamsburg speech
          -President's Chamber of Commerce speech

     Press
          -Charles W. Colson, Ronald L. Ziegler, John A. Scali and Haldeman meeting
                -Scali's position
          -White House handling
                -Image of President
          -President's opponents
                -Image of President
     Leadership
          -President's foreign and domestic accomplishments
                -Press

     Public opinion polls
          -President's position vis-a-vis Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy on law and order
          -Public opinion

Also recorded on May 8, 1971

  • 494-004 10:33 AM · 2 hr 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Ronald L. Ziegler, John D. Ehrlichman, White House operator, and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:33 am to 1:12 pm.
  • 002-124 11:45 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:45 am and 11:49 am.
  • 002-125 11:49 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 11:49 am to 11:51 am.
  • 494-005 1:12 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:12 pm and 1:35 pm.
  • 494-006 1:35 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:35 pm and 1:40 pm.
  • 494-007 1:50 PM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 1:55 pm.
  • 494-009 1:55 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:55 pm and 2:40 pm.
  • 002-126 2:40 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:40 pm and 6:50 pm.

All 13 conversations from May 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 494-008, May 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/494-008 (accessed October 3, 2026).