Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 497-005
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 1971 at 12:07 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/497-005

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[57:18] I think you ought to, for the other reason that they're supposed to sell you.
[57:46] What I'd like you to do, Bob, is that you really need to focus on your girlfriend.
[57:53] And I can't say this to you for a minute.
[57:56] I want you to use Skelly more.
[57:57] Have you ever talked to him, William, about your ideas?
[58:01] Skelly more.
[58:03] Why don't you get a...
[58:08] Early man, Schultz, and I.
[58:10] Move the program, you understand?
[58:13] We can help a lot of people.
[58:18] and they've already been doing it, right?
[58:19] And yet it's a hell of a thing that we ought to really, really, really jump in on.
[58:24] All through this government, this family, this family.
[58:28] But there must be ways that we can turn on tires a lot of things.
[58:31] I don't know.
[58:33] The parks, the people, the water.
[58:36] What else we got?
[58:37] We're gonna react to it.
[58:40] We have some to share.
[58:43] Oh, we've got our, you know, LEAA, we've got, and God damn it, I've got a name for you all.
[58:54] We may get some breakthroughs.
[58:56] We're getting some breakthroughs.
[58:59] We just called the marijuana industry the other day.
[59:06] Some possibility of a breakthrough with jerky apparently.
[59:09] He did.
[59:09] He had it very close in his speech.
[59:12] I saw that it was in his thoughts.
[59:23] It's a great thing that we have a president who acts the way he believes he should.
[59:31] You know, it was a great plan.
[59:33] I had a suggestion to somebody.
[59:35] We did it ten minutes ago.
[59:36] We're out of time.
[59:37] Now I'll get some others to do the same thing.
[59:40] We're out of time.
[59:42] I started writing this and seeing how the paper drove Mitchell for an office season.
[59:46] People were dating this journalist, a journalist.
[59:48] They thought you were dating the wrong guy.
[59:50] This poll center just takes my shots at people.
[59:52] This is one poll I predict that kind of has to affect how people get to the city.
[59:56] It's a surprise to us.
[59:58] We do it all that way.
[59:59] We do it all that way.
[1:00:01] We do it all that way.
[1:00:01] We do it all that way.
[1:00:05] We do it all that way.
[1:00:07] We do it all that way.
[1:00:09] We do it all that way.
[1:00:13] to pay for the demonstrators, which you know is a clear goddamn failure.
[1:00:18] Right.
[1:00:19] And let's get this around and really broker this one like you've never brokered anything before.
[1:00:24] I give it to every dose.
[1:00:27] Again, I'm really quite excited about this order.
[1:00:31] I didn't put it in the news.
[1:00:35] But I agree.
[1:00:36] I think you may have hit the one that, you know,
[1:00:43] I wish we could do something where you could take it out of NASA.
[1:00:46] Well, no, it's where you could put it in NASA.
[1:00:48] Take it out of NASA.
[1:00:49] The thing to take it, cancel the rest of the program and say, well, why not with the space lab in Mars?
[1:00:56] We're not going to do any more of the landings.
[1:00:57] That's right.
[1:00:58] We're going to take all that money, which is, you know, $500 million or something.
[1:01:01] We're going to put it down as long as possible.
[1:01:04] I've been sure we'll run the track that we've been on because
[1:01:08] Well, you look at it and you're not surprised.
[1:01:12] Death has surprised me a bit.
[1:01:13] People in Texas are opposed to the space program.
[1:01:15] Everybody is.
[1:01:16] Everybody is.
[1:01:18] They're all against SST.
[1:01:19] In fact, they've got to sell it.
[1:01:21] Well, they're all not being opposed to the space program.
[1:01:23] Well, but we are.
[1:01:25] We're doing too, I think, too many sums.
[1:01:28] Well, we don't have too much money.
[1:01:31] You already go to the departments of people.
[1:01:32] I'm not going to tell you that letting London Moons tomorrow isn't going to add all that much.
[1:01:36] I tried to time house to start the space lab and the station.
[1:01:40] I think the London and the Moon thing, see what we can do in terms of the bugging out.
[1:01:44] I mean, now they all go squeal around, but I mean, you've got to put the money...
[1:01:50] I hear you with astronauts.
[1:01:51] What it is, you know, it's like this.
[1:01:53] What the hell with the astronauts?
[1:01:54] That's a half a dozen, you know, a couple dozen astronauts.
[1:01:56] But there's a lot of other people with them.
[1:01:58] That's a lot of people.
[1:01:59] But they can, some of them can ship to water and some of them can ship to...
[1:02:02] I want to know a couple things, too.
[1:02:05] I, uh, Saksby mentioned the fact that they are moving 1,500 people from Wright, Patterson, Air Nation of Florida.
[1:02:12] And if they're in both years, moving days,
[1:02:19] I was trying to send this to McGregor about that, and they both said, we're out of our freaking minds that we've got a thing going there.
[1:02:24] And the point is that Roe appropriated $27 million to build it, and we let the federal government have it for nothing, and it's moved to Detroit.
[1:02:33] And why are they moving to Detroit?
[1:02:35] Who the hell is making these decisions?
[1:02:38] The federal government doesn't get it.
[1:02:39] This is a matter of designation.
[1:02:41] Who invented AIDS?
[1:02:42] We do.
[1:02:43] And why did Volpe use the name of Florida?
[1:02:47] Well, he hasn't yet.
[1:02:48] No, I don't think so.
[1:02:49] I think that's Florida.
[1:02:50] I understand.
[1:02:51] Florida, as Jim was saying, we're out of our minds.
[1:02:53] Florida's important to us.
[1:02:55] Texas, I mean, Oklahoma, which is the other one under consideration, is important.
[1:02:58] But Ohio's more important.
[1:03:00] Ohio's, with the congressional delegation, with the way we bring the taxes, has to be around to work with us.
[1:03:05] And with the electoral votes, Ohio is the place to go.
[1:03:10] We've got to do it.
[1:03:12] And I think you can win Florida for another reason.
[1:03:13] Sure.
[1:03:14] That's the point.
[1:03:15] We've got to go on Florida.
[1:03:17] Florida's going to get plenty.
[1:03:18] I mean, they're going to get the boom of tourism and good times and everything.
[1:03:23] I think Florida will do all right.
[1:03:26] Listen, I'm not surprised that's the reason, but I didn't know about this.
[1:03:29] No, he didn't.
[1:03:30] He just said that.
[1:03:31] He just said from a political standpoint.
[1:03:33] He said, I just think it's a mistake.
[1:03:35] And he says, I just don't think you ought to.
[1:03:37] I don't want the right actions.
[1:03:43] Goddamn Defense Department.
[1:03:45] Now you see, now the White House is supposed to watch those things.
[1:03:48] Somebody's supposed to watch.
[1:03:49] Who in this government is watching such things, Bob?
[1:03:51] Catholics, you can't watch all of it.
[1:03:53] You know, that's the only way.
[1:03:56] The congressional guys are watching.
[1:03:58] Well, get on top of it.
[1:04:01] Do something regarding it.
[1:04:04] You don't have to.
[1:04:09] I think this kind of thing, captain watching can be very helpful, but the real key is to put, is to replace Ernie Webber with a public blood guy in there.
[1:04:18] I think we've got to insist on that.
[1:04:22] Just go out of that way.
[1:04:25] Because that's the guy that could be just the watchdog.
[1:04:31] There's nothing to sit here and look at how these things are managed so as to do us the most good.
[1:04:37] Get one and nothing else.
[1:04:39] And that has been in these people.
[1:04:41] I don't think, Bob, that it's really, that you really can do it on the basis of.
[1:04:49] Okay.
[1:04:51] Why do I have to do it without sitting down and talking and so forth and so on?
[1:04:54] I think what you say might is maybe you do a great number of them at one time or some damn thing.
[1:05:00] You know, I have talked to them.
[1:05:01] Maybe that's better than bringing four or five, you know.
[1:05:05] How do you select four or five general counsels?
[1:05:08] Well, you can do this.
[1:05:09] You just do it on the basis of asking the appointment, and then see if you can get up to five, four or five new applicants.
[1:05:16] I think you're all out of time.
[1:05:19] I don't know how much.
[1:05:25] I'm not sure about that one.
[1:05:27] I don't know.
[1:05:29] I don't know.
[1:05:32] I don't know.
[1:05:33] I don't know.
[1:05:34] I don't know.
[1:05:35] I don't know.
[1:05:41] The known absentees.
[1:05:44] The 15 others that are... We've got a better idea than the majority of us.
[1:05:51] I'm not believing that much is going on.
[1:05:55] You could be, but that's...
[1:05:56] It's a big deal.
[1:05:59] It's a big deal.
[1:06:00] Ideas, slogans, so forth and so on.
[1:06:04] It's a...
[1:06:18] Hit it a little on me.
[1:06:20] It's okay, that's it.
[1:06:20] Keep the person's toes up and don't take a breath.
[1:06:25] That's it.
[1:06:26] That's it.
[1:06:27] That's it.