Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 524 › Conversation 524-001
Nixon, Haldeman & Bull on Pentagon Papers and National Security
Thursday, June 17, 1971 · 7:55 AM–8:06 AM ET · Oval Office · 10 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman met to coordinate the administration's public relations strategy regarding the recent publication of the Pentagon Papers. Nixon emphasized that the White House should focus exclusively on the fact that the documents involved previous Democratic administrations rather than his own, framing the leak as a broader national security threat rather than a partisan issue. The President directed staff to push this narrative through House allies and press secretary Ron Ziegler while insisting on a bold, aggressive stance against the New York Times.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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I'd like to get the floor to think of why don't you have
He's got some hard stuff.
He's supposed to see Henry I.
He's supposed to see Henry I.
He's supposed to see Henry I.
He's supposed to see Henry I.
I'm not sure it's going to take as much time as it looks like.
I'm not sure if it will run out.
There's all that much we want to do.
Well, they're all going to stay there for a certain amount of time.
So we're positioned pretty well.
There's the one point that I think Ziegler could do this, but I'm not going to make any others today.
And Rogers has not made it either.
The point has not come true that this, I just want to say this is mostly an off-bar high.
This involves the previous, the Johnson-Kennedy administration.
I haven't seen that one place.
It doesn't get through.
It says the war administration.
Don't you agree with me?
I read this stuff today, and there's some written arrest over there, and I read also, and you can't, it's all blurred.
This isn't as if we were trying to do it.
There are no documents from this administration at all.
Could somebody get out that one, please, paragraph today?
I've told that now 17 times, and nobody's done it.
And Ron says it.
I know, and he says it in two subtleties.
He says it in two subtleties.
He's got to just say, let's understand, this is no problem, and it involves it.
And the other point is,
He's got to get that information from defense and from state with regard to Korea and World War II.
He's not asking, no, he hasn't got it yet.
He says they have not received declassified all three.
How many documents are there that are not declassified and how many in World War II?
That is the point we see, Bob, that classification involves the relations with foreign governments, the relations with sources.
In other words, it closes up the source close enough, but it's related to foreign governments are jeopardized.
It also involves relations with advisors.
And so that's that.
If that could get out, I think that, I think the main point is, does not involve us.
We don't give a damn about it.
We have nothing.
Get every speaker in the House just to hit that line today.
That's what the fight is all about.
We don't care what the times does.
I think the main thing that I see with our position is lack of focus.
are not, just don't make 18 points.
Make one.
One is that this does not involve us.
Two, it is the responsibility that the president is doing this, even though he's protecting four Democratic presidents.
It involves the papers and confidential documents of four Democratic presidents.
It's not a partisan matter.
President Roosevelt
Does that come true?
See my point?
Wouldn't that be a good point for me?
You see, we've got to get across the point that it doesn't involve us.
Otherwise it looks like we're covering up on the war.
I was really getting at the question, I don't think there's any glimmer of that appearance, but that's the thing we were concerned about.
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that the disclosures of these things help you politically, regardless of who you run against next year.
I mean, that's the kind of thing the press will play that is making the point that it is and doesn't recover enough.
Got it.
You got it.
I want to make this, I want to do everything we can to destroy the times on this issue.
You see, it isn't a question of whether or not, well, it's going to hurt Democrats or Republicans.
God damn it, it hurts the country, Bob.
And the time, that's got to be accurate.
That's the point we're making.
I was speaking to your other point of the fact that it doesn't matter.
Well, that's my point.
It doesn't involve us.
See, that raises it for the higher level.
It raises us.
It does involve the country, whoever is president.
It involves the presidency, it involves our sources, it involves the ability to conduct a government.
That's what I meant.
Now I'm rightfully speaking to go out at any time today.
Just have you put it out there.
This won't do any harm.
Have you go out today.
Last night, I heard he sent me a note and I talked to him last night.
He wants Mitchell to delay the grand jury, which he said he was going to talk to Mitchell.
I'm not sure that he ought to.
And it just may be as well to let it go down.
John, we've got to play this boldly.
I mean, and we've got to take risks.
We, I mean, I just don't want, I don't, I just want to be sure that John is aware.
In fact, I'm not.
He's going to be.
Here's what you're going to run into, because I know how it was with the sanguine in his case.
The men here are going to be concerned.
Why do we have to raise this issue?
Why do we have to get the war in front of patients?
Why do we fight the times?
Why do we appear to be repressing all that sort of thing?
And they'll say, and they'll get a little jittery.
We'd better pull back now.
It wouldn't be well.
It wouldn't be great if this went away.
The point is, it's here.
It wouldn't be great if it went away at all.
The point is, you want to fight it, because this involves security.
It involves the media that's in that paper.
I don't want people around here to think that this is just a little stuff, you know?
It is.
It's goddamn important.
Most discussions have been classified, but...
The sun will come out when you say you're done.
Nothing more about what I should have said.
Everybody can't believe it.
If God kept you in bed this morning, they'll leave you behind in bed this morning.
and be sure to keep track and be sure to like those today, you know, so that we can help you out.
NARA Description
On June 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:55 am to 8:06 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 524-001 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 524-1
Date: June 17, 1971
Time: 7:55 am - 8:06 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
President’s schedule
-Rochester trip
-Florida trip
-George P. Shultz
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Barry M. Goldwater
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Meeting with unknown Prime Minister
Pentagon Papers
-Administration response
-Ehrlichman
-Ronald L. Ziegler's statement
-William P. Rogers’ statement
-Involvement of Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy administrations
-Ziegler
-Declassification of Korean War and World War II documents
-Department of Defense
-Department of State
-Role of classification
-Relations with governments, sources, advisers
-Administration involvement
-Coverage by House speakers
-Emphasis
-Nixon administration non-involvement
-Involvement of four Democratic Presidents
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Harry S. Truman
-Johnson
-Kennedy
-Appearance of administration cover-up
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 7:55 am.
Bipartisan House of Representatives and Senate meeting with President
-John C. Stennis, Vance Hartke and two unidentified Congressman
Bull left at an unknown time before 8:06 am.
Pentagon Papers
-Hubert H. Humphrey position
-Effect on President's election prospects
-Press
-Coverup
-Impact on country
-Effect on New York Times
-Administration involvement
-Involvement of the Presidency
-Other involvement
-Nelson A. Rockefeller statement
-Effect
-Ehrlichman
-John N. Mitchell
-Action regarding grand jury
-Delays
-Need for bold action
-Alger Hiss case
-Need to fight Times
-Issues involved
-Security
-Other thoughts
Schedule
-Rose Mary Woods
The President and Haldeman left at 8:06 am.Also recorded on June 17, 1971
- 062-001 7:55 AM · 1 hr 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon and bipartisan Congressional leaders, including Harrison A. Williams, Jr., Roman L. Hruska, George D. Aiken, Allen J. Ellender, Milton R. Young, Strom Thurmond, Warren G. ("Maggie") Magnuson, Carl B. Albert, [Thomas] Hale Boggs, Gerald R. Ford, Albert H. Quie, Emanuel Celler, Richard H. Poff, F. Edward Hébert, Leslie C. Arends, F. Edward Hébert, George H. Mahon, Olin E. ("Tiger") Teague, Paul G. Rogers, William L. Springer, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., William E. Timmons, John D. Ehrlichman, Jeffrey Donfeld, Ronald L. Ziegler, Herbert G. Klein, and Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 3:37 pm.
- 524-002 8:06 AM · 29 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:06 am and 9:48 am.
- 524-003 8:06 AM · 14 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:06 am and 9:48 am.
- 524-029 8:06 AM · 4 min — Manolo Sanchez, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:06 am and 9:48 am.
- 062-002 9:48 AM · 1 hr 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon and members of the National Security Council, including Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, William P. Rogers, Melvin R. Laird, John B. Connally, Gen. George A. Lincoln, John N. Mitchell, David Packard, Richard M. Helms, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, Gerard C. Smith, Philip J. Farley, John N. Irwin, II, Martin J. Hillenbrand, Henry A. Kissinger, Dr. K. Wayne Smith, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt, and William Newton, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:48 am and 11:59 pm.
- 524-004 9:48 AM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:48 am and 9:51 am.
- 524-005 9:51 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:51 am and 9:52 am.
- 524-006 9:52 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Dwight L. Chapin met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:52 am to 9:55 am.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 524-001, June 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/524-001 (accessed October 22, 2026).