On June 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Stephen B. Bull, John D. Ehrlichman, Clark MacGregor, Frederic V. Malek, Lawrence M. Higby, Mary Swann, and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:32 pm to 5:50 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 531-028 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
But you'll have to, as the drums fell out, I have no time next, this week, I've got to keep everything open for you, first, okay?
So I can't, I can't do it, I've got to have that morning, Thursday morning, 9 to 11, I've got to get to our time, I've got to get to our time.
I'll let you know when I can see you.
Then keep writing up, you know.
than a non-teleprompter.
It's hard as hell to judge it because it's, the content is so much better on the non-teleprompter.
When you come up with your own stuff, it's infinitely better than, in fact, really, it's better than my own stuff.
It's hard to get around that, but what we did is we ran it a couple of times without the sound.
pure listening, a picture, you know, delivery style, rather than any hearing the words at all.
They're going to use the non-TV, non-teleprompter one.
It's better because of the words.
But from a, just, in the abstract, we're getting about the content of those things.
There's a, it's touch and go, really, between
whether it's better on the teleprompter or better off.
Mueller's conclusion is that you're better when you're not on the teleprompter, probably.
And for anything that's really important, you probably should
go to the work of not doing the teleprompter, where the content is really important.
If it's a pro forma thing that you're getting done, there isn't enough difference.
And you can argue the difference.
You can argue that it's better with the teleprompter.
Why?
Partly because with the teleprompter, you're looking right into the camera, which looks good.
You have less, you're more
You start to drive it home in a way more than you do when you're just talking.
And it has a plus as well as a minus factor.
You're not as relaxed, and you can see that.
But it's dang good either way.
The teleprompter doesn't detract so much that it makes a difference.
So instantly you watch that whole show, and that is a superb program.
to half out in the marketing.
He really is, he is just exceptionally well done.
Some guy that Marriott hired.
We've got a hold of the guy.
We're gonna use him for some other stuff.
It's just damn good camera work and editing.
Of course, he had to use existing stuff, but he's put it all together, and it makes just a damn good program.
No, they're getting free time.
Why?
On the balance well.
It's because it's public service.
It's Honor and Honor today, and hell, it's got, you know, went to vote, it's got to be done in crime one night.
So, it's market by market.
It's not over.
Oh, I see.
I think CBS may be carrying it on that one.
I hope somebody sees it.
Look at someone else's.
And it's this great Fourth of July show.
And I want to see the Marine Band and the Flyers and great shots of people, great Billy Graham and Frank Foreman and Keith Smith, Bob Hope and Jack Benny.
And a lot of great interviews with just plain folk, you know, chatting with the guy.
Talks about what a great country it is and all.
And suddenly, just offhandedly and very sincerely, he mentions that his son died in Vietnam last year.
then he goes right out of town and back to the country.
Kids, it's a damn good, it's not super patriotic, man.
Well, the teleprompter thing is kind of hard to do, but don't get sold on it simply because you know it's easier for me to do with a teleprompter.
And also, I guess you really get down to the fact that, God damn it, we've got to improve the writing around here, so.
I do think, though, that the way that I have said it, I said things that were more, that are going to bite more.
You know what I mean?
I have a few couple lines in there that people are going to remember.
That's when it's a little shorter.
It's a little punchier.
And, well, anyway, that's that.
Can't be done already.
I love it.
On a short thing like that, you can't go no longer.
You do look right into the camera.
You can only do that for something that you would obviously be looking right into the camera.
Booster is in Sapphire on July 3rd.
They're busy and I'll grab it.
Sapphire's doing that, you know, working with him on the script.
I see.
What do you think I ought to do?
Just read the damn thing until I kind of get 13 minutes in my head somewhere?
I think you can read it.
I think you can read it.
I would urge you to close straight into the camera.
take almost a rhetoric out of you and not try to improve on it.
You know what I mean?
I got a fellow, a fellow that's got certain idiosyncrasies in his talk.
It may not be the way they like to write it, but they, somewhere or other, it always weakens.
It comes out filtered.
Huh?
It's a hard thing.
I don't know about speech.
I think it's the most vicious goddamn thing there is.
I mean, every time I'm talking to him, I don't know.
I've never had any before, and I've got some now.
Oh, it's coming along.
It's coming along.
Andrew's probably is the best now.
And that gives us an idea that we can do teleprompter.
Yes.
Do you want to keep the money clear up to 11?
Yeah, I told him we could hang out for two hours and then I may see Captain Antigone after the meeting too.
Okay.
So that day, I just better keep it clear.
There's not nothing more important.
What are you going to keep from each other?
Well, see, that's it.
Yeah, I was just wondering this.
There were just a couple, but let me see if we can't get finished tomorrow.
I think we can tomorrow.
Incidentally, I'm not going to go tonight for the holly.
I'm going to go over there and take pictures of us with months and all that bullshit.
Okay.
I told...
I mean, after all, I've had pictures of red blood and blood.
This political thing, I'm not too keen on fighting it quite that much.
You know what I mean?
I think I'm not afraid.
Don't you think so?
Mm-hmm.
We just go overboard on that sort of thing.
Yeah, and this kind of black-tie pictures aren't good for political anyone.
I just don't think it's, I don't think it's that kind of an affair.
We don't have a picture of the blood there.
Let's get it done.
Thank God that's the last one of those, isn't it?
We've done our cabin thing.
We've done the CNS.
Yeah.
What else?
Well, I mean, well, for the whole life, whether it was, you know, where it was, we were going to come from the same amount.
We've got to, we want to try and do this National Park Dinner because we've got to move ahead and
Work something out.
No.
No.
We'd be at Yosemite.
What the hell was that?
I can't recall.
Well, something I mentioned to you.
We'd go in, do a dinner at the...
I don't know what they do there.
Awani.
Awani, and then you'd look at the parking next day.
Oh, that's something I would say.
Right, sir.
Because it wouldn't be that big a dinner.
I think probably it's a good idea.
I don't think they're... Do we have any parts for the FBI?
Do they have any graduation parts for the FBI?
Yeah.
Do they have them?
Do they have them, sir?
Yeah.
But we're going to do some sort of announcement on purpose tomorrow.
Maybe, well, it's a question that is, that's the Turkish thing, whether they do it tomorrow or Thursday.
I think it has to be a month.
You're working it out now that I do not sit down in the checkbench.
What did they do?
How does it work?
He just has to introduce us to him.
Do you want to shake hands?
Get a picture.
Okay.
Or is it good to have you with us?
That's all.
What was it?
What did you have in mind about the car picture?
What was it?
the 19th the end of the California State what was the purpose of the the purpose was the park visit was a to go into a national park but to use the occasion for going in going in for the inspection which you do the next morning to also have a
have a dinner with people that are for parks.
Well, didn't we find in our poll that people would give a goddamn about the park spot?
Yeah, it was.
On the other hand, there's a hell of a lot of people in the national parks.
They've got, this is a different kind of thing, because they've got a huge dinner, like a state dinner, practically, which seems to me is too much if you're going to do a
And what do we mean by that?
And what do we mean by doing a few, on average?
Most of the audience is putting in a few.
Yeah, you're right.
This gets all kinds of, you know, the park people, the operator operators, the National Resources Council, the state park directors, congressmen, interior types, university presidents.
Editors, Publishers, Conservations.
Wow.
I'll do that for you.
What's the, uh, is it really worth it?
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don't know if it's worth it.
I don
But it brings together all the park people, puts a real focus on the fact that you're looking at the park situation in a park that...
I'm not sure exactly how you handle it.
You enter in a... You spend the night in the park, and then what do you do with them the next day if you go look at the park?
See, I think it's interesting to do some looking around the park to talk to some of the people that are
that are camping there and that can be part of your presence in the people business.
It's that group of people.
There's a hell of a lot of people all over in parks through July and August.
At Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
They called you 70 years back.
25.
13, 14.
No, 13.
I'm taking off those eggs.
Taking off the 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 12.
6, 8.
Okay, well you said to give the 12 to our makers.
It's 15.
Fine.
Let me do it 14, 15, 16.
Down in there.
I don't know if you're talking now about the announcement on the 15th.
I talked to John.
He asked me to check with him on what he thought on the format at the Midwest media briefing.
to say his inclination is to that you should at that point make a statement on the papers depending on the papers that would be not that would just set the thing in perspective why we did what we did how
Let that be it.
That doesn't mean I have to go on and gas it.
I would make a revenue share and all that sort of thing.
Another brief is you do that.
You do that.
And you go on and do that on the TV.
Do it at 6 o'clock.
Their time, which would be 7 o'clock.
In other words, hit the news hour.
News hour TV.
He thinks that's better than a Q&A.
He says if you get into a Q&A with them at this point, they are going to be very concerned with that subject, obviously.
They won't ask about anything.
Because of the court decision, their best guess now is that that won't come down until Friday.
So it would be very much on their minds.
And he thinks that's the time to make, and let it come from you, make a basic statement on the, putting the whole thing into proper perspective as to where it fits.
Who's going to prepare that?
Better get it began.
He's working on it now.
Well, get it began and do some writing, so it isn't so bland.
John can do the law, you know.
And one of his people, you know, they can do that, but...
Unless you can do some writing.
You want us to read the statement?
Or does he want to read it?
Well, that's the kind that would be great if you could do it without reading it.
You could work it out, do an outline, and make the statement.
Because it isn't that tight of a thing.
You don't have to worry too much about timing.
Oh, I didn't worry about the timing at all.
And you go to the press conference in California on the 15th.
Well, would you put the announcement in?
Oh, yeah.
I'm going to skip a couple of them.
We'll do a press conference.
We'll come back and watch it.
I didn't know that.
I guess if I were to work on that, that's what I'm going to have to do.
Well, maybe somebody is all right, I guess.
I guess it is.
We're going to start bouncing around the country doing those things.
That's one of the things that's like that.
Right.
Yeah.
I'm trying to get you in to do the National Association of Counties in Milwaukee on the 21st, but there's a very good reason not to do it now.
We've got a, there's a, they've scheduled a big meeting of the, yeah, one of those people's coalition things in Milwaukee at the same time.
It is a deliberative thing.
Yes.
Why?
I thought I was going to.
Probably.
I don't know.
Not necessarily.
It may be.
It may just be because it's a, you know, they're going to hit that mean.
That may be part.
No, we haven't at all.
We turned it down.
We had it on the back burner for a while, and we turned it down.
We had turned it down, but we were considering reopening it, and we dropped it.
But then we...
I don't mind reopening it.
I just don't think it's a hell of a good forum.
Well, that is the kind of task.
The kind of thing we're looking, not looking for.
I don't think we're looking for that.
Let me suggest this, that in terms of your scheduling, that you ought to start probably filling in some things now on a kind of a basis.
I mean, Billy Graham thing, the other you can commit, and then you can build other things around them, just so we don't pop too much around the country.
And we'll...
Right.
Yeah.
We've got a general pattern.
We can start, you know, I want to, one side, I don't know, because I've already, I think we should do a little bit of an answer.
Let's get it out of the way right now.
I want to go to the answer at a later time, though.
Do that over 100 weeks and see what Miami and Maine do that weekend.
Pick the Billy Graham thing.
The Mike Manfield thing.
Sort of look around for something in the west there.
Don't incidentally, I wouldn't use to think of this schedule, but be sure that we pick up all the ballots from our 50 states.
We must try to get them.
We haven't gotten that.
We haven't been to either of Maine or New Hampshire.
We've got to bring two arms.
And we've got to be more aware of what we're seeing.
Wyoming, I said.
We haven't been to Wyoming.
Montana.
Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and Oregon.
Not able to do that.
Michigan, I can't find anything that we've done in Michigan, so I'm sure we haven't.
That's all it says, sir.
They didn't have it on the list, but I'm sure it belongs on there.
Great place.
Well, the idea, what we would do is build the trip around one event, or maybe two in a day, and then look for the spontaneous stuff that you fill in with.
Right.
We'd go to a place for a reason, and then you do something different.
On this business of the, and tomorrow, don't put anything in before the FBI graduation.
I'll try to, see I've got there, and I'll have to prepare some marks for that.
That's better.
I've got a couple of people.
Right in Kishi.
Of course, if you want to anticipate it.
Yeah, I think we, Conaghy.
Conaghy's pretty, Conaghy's
According to John and Stephanie, Moore does not feel we should drop the... Or maybe the other guy got the wrong signal.
Good.
I'm glad to hear that.
Because I have great respect with my children.
More things, incidentally, than in your statement, that you ought to move on the declassification thing also.
You ought to make the point of that on January 15th.
Currently, the committee
that's working on that is ready to make their recommendations so we can make them.
My partner has asked to see you for 10 minutes this week, too.
Friday.
All right.
We have this problem, John.
Come in.
Well, it could be that you can't just
Is Mrs. Nixon mentioning to you this is Mamie Eisenhower's 75th birthday?
No.
This is...
I can't do everything.
The American women in radio and television are holding a Diamond Jubilee Gala to commemorate Mamie Eisenhower's 75th.
No.
And it's to establish the Laney Eisenhower Scholarship Fund at Eisenhower College in New York.
They've asked that you and Mrs. Nixon serve as honorary chairmen.
She's agreed, but asks that we give your concurrence.
I think that's all we have to go back and say yes, but you will not attend.
President cannot attend.
That's got to be absolutely clear.
I cannot attend.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Al, are you, I want to be sure that we're going forward on that study, I mean that action I asked on immediately checking to see who has queue clearances outside this government and start getting them shut off.
It's only on the basis that we're changing the classification system and that we're, at the present time, just shutting them off.
Do I have it?
Oh, good.
Yeah.
Brookings.
Does Brookings have a contract?
Sure.
Well, Brookings doesn't have any contracts that I ever approved.
Now, God damn it, I want to know how that got by me, if they have one with Brookings.
I really want to know.
If it was done in this administration, I want to know why.
I want to know who signed it, who approved it, okay?
On Brookings, because I gave specific orders in January 1969 not to do anything with Brookings.
re-examine their own they reduce the number of people who have access to classified documents that's right a million a million people have access to top secret documents don't you see the problem it's unbelievable it's ridiculous
Let's get at it.
Just change them up and tell them we're going to read.
And then I want recommendations to cut that to 100,000.
No, 10,000.
You understand?
Let me get the numbers straight.
10,000.
Now we're going to have a new top secret classification.
Also, I'd like you to give me how is the top secret, secret, so forth, done?
Is that set up by law?
By executive order?
Can they regulate it?
without going to the Congress?
All right, give me a memo around that.
I want to know.
And we'll change the classification.
What I want to have is a new classification.
And I'm going to lend it to people that need it.
And let these other little shitasses have their $100,000.
I don't care if they can see all the stuff that
We've got to have a new classification for documents that are really secret.
We've got to separate the cats from the dogs.
Now this has got to be done now.
And I want you to crack the whip on these bastards.
Okay.
I made it simple.
I said everybody in the State Department,
The Board of Regents of the University of California.
Every member of the Board of Regents and every member of the staff of the Regents has a key clearance.
Oh, because of the... Because they do the Atomic Energy Commission.
So we go out and...
It's ridiculous.
The Regents go charging after them.
We should have people around here that have these types of things.
I don't think it's marked on the secret anymore.
I'm going to change the classification in this place, too.
Just remember, I once talked about this long ago, that's how the President's list or something, and Henry, you know, mulled it around about the goddamn thing, and we didn't do anything, and now we're leaving the world.
Well, the stuff they put out there is just ridiculous, you know.
Oh, top secret, my plans to go out to the Senate will be top secret.
Well, and then they go, because that doesn't work, they now add all that stuff, you know, those things, you look at them, you know, it says...
Top secret, no dis.
No, I don't.
I is only, exclusively I is only.
I just need a good clearance.
I need one where we're just simply going to say, need to know, or something like that.
We call it need to know.
And, uh, basis on that.
I'm just sick of this business.
I am really, uh...
I know exactly what I said in that cabinet room.
If any of these cabinet guys think that they're going to get an easier mark with me, don't ever bring them in here, because I'll tear their damn ass off.
That's what it's going to be.
I think it's good for them to hear that, too, that you, you know, you speak.
You know, they know that.
They used to know that.
As I said, in the Adams period, nobody ever dreamed of coming to Eisenhower about some jackass son as they come in here.
They're going to know it now.
A lot of them do.
But they'll know that.
But after that meeting, they'll be sure, won't they?
They will be sure.
No doubt, it's great for them to know I'm all for it.
I just think it's good with the discipline of the author.
Did you tell Peterson that he could have the other call?
You didn't, why?
I wanted to talk to him.
I wanted to talk to John for one second, which I did.
And he, interestingly, he said Marty Anderson would not be
at all good for the Peterson job.
The problem with Anderson, he's working on, he wants, he's trying to get it back here.
We can get Anderson back if we have something specific.
The reason John was doing that was because you had indicated you wanted Anderson back.
I wanted that so very much.
They don't have any for him.
Well, John's view is that the thing to put him in is what he's had, and Harper's sort of doing, which is really defining and working on the campaign issues.
In other words, the domestic policy guy for political, you know, you know, he'll be more political than Harper.
Yeah.
And Harper, Harper, he's, yeah, that's right.
That's right.
He really is.
He must be the Harper's...
Harper's an excellent man, but not a partner in this water.
I think it would be damn good for John to have Marty in as his, if we get John, he's actually the right.
Oh, he's the political man, the domestic consul.
He is the political man.
He's the guy that rides her on the political input, not government.
All right, so you're going to plan to go to Camp David for the 4th?
4th and the 5th.
I think you should, because they have the fireworks and stuff here.
You'd better, you ought to be someplace.
All right, you sure as hell don't want to go to the Washington?
4th of July celebration.
Is there one?
Oh, yeah.
Washington.
No, sir.
but since I'm just going right to California and to Kansas City, it wouldn't make any sense.
Camp David's better.
If you don't mind, another weekend in Camp David.
Oh, I don't mind.
You've got to work on this.
If you're not sure you've got a safe, I've got to work on that.
It's as good areas to be in.
It's the very thing I want to do.
Excellent.
Excellent.
Maybe we're a camp ruler sometime.
I don't know.
Well,
How long does it take?
I don't want to do it then, I don't, because I don't.
I understand it isn't a good place just to go stay.
I'd just like to maybe go out there sometime for dinner and fly back.
How long does it take?
Forty-five, forty-seven minutes.
By helicopter.
Almost a mile.
Forty minutes.
And I said, it's the same as the campaign.
Oh shit.
And they cook a meal there again.
Oh shit.
Or is it just sort of a place with woods?
Yeah, I have not been involved.
It's a stream, a nice stream, and it's quite, you know, rusty.
And there are several cabins.
And the president's cabin is a good-sized cabin, reasonably well put together.
It's not as nicely furnished or finished off and all.
It just can't be.
But it has running water and electricity.
There's a television set there.
Plumbing.
All that.
But it's just sort of a little hideaway.
And then there are a couple other cabins.
The Finches and the Flanagan's have taken their whole families, the two of them all together, and spent the weekend up there.
Whitaker takes his whole family up there.
I still wish some way I could handle this Chinese thing more closely.
Henry gets a little bogged down with what Cheyenne is saying, you know, and what is the perfect plot.
And I constantly tell him, I said, Henry, the perfect plot may be
come out right in 1974.
But all that matters is not what we do, but what we say, and we've got to say something.
And it's got to be goddamn important.
He said, well, we announced a summit in principle in 1987.
The Chinese visit in principle.
That is important.
I still don't know.
I'm sure the percussion's hated.
We know about it.
Some of it.
You just have to bite the bullet, son.
Why are you trying to get the hell over there?
I don't know.
I'm concerned about the story.
I'm trying to, you know, raise it as much as I can.
It's like a fire, like a skyrocket.
You know, I'm expecting for you.
I did not, I did not mention or question that.
He didn't give any of the whole story about the ambassador, but he gives a damn.
He said, don't you worry.
People read that.
It's like Periscope.
They don't ask you about it.
I can't blame anybody.
Nobody in the White House knew anything about it.
And Henry Kissinger's going to go, you know what I mean?
It's an evil obsession, too, that he thinks, my goodness, everybody's going to watch it.
He goes, I want you to bring in the ambassador.
That if anybody would have noticed it, they would have.
But...
He's got a perfect answer.
He said, well, they've been speculating about all sorts of things.
You know, they might be going to somebody else's mind.
You know, it's a fun show.
Still gets back.
Still, I agree that maybe the state didn't deliver it.
You know, they're quite a little bastards.
But it's too subtle.
That's going to be knocked off.
You watch.
You watch.
It's going to work for a while.
It's going to work from now on.
All right, gosh.
Let's play it awfully hard.
Right here.
I'm sat with you.
We're shooting a message, and John said this.
We'll be in the banks and came in to see him.
The airbag, after the meeting, called him and said, we didn't leave.
He said, I miss things.
He said, we think this is a very good thing.
We're going to plant some.
We're going to create some dummy things, you know, put some plants in the department, smoke out the bad guys who leak stuff, and then we'll really know how to move in and clean them up.
John reached to his desk and pulled up the National Journal where they had
transportation had battled a whole bunch of stuff that was under decision or something, and he pulled out and handed it to John and asked him, why don't you just fire it?
He said, did this.
He said, saved the trouble of planting anything.
So John spoke and sputtered to Hugh.
I said, of course, what really happened there doesn't make any difference.
But nevertheless, it was a whole field of poetry.
economic, national security.
That's right.
Contributed to foreign policy, economic policy.
National security.
Two big issues.
What does that seem to be, Watson?
What does that report show?
Someone else may have told you I didn't.
Oh, Alex raised that yesterday, yeah.
And you're meeting with a stack of people on that.
this whole economy theory thing, then I think it's got to be very interesting.
Or do you want to do it one by one?
I want to do it a couple of different things, but the key to that is you just do it in your good time.
We had a discussion on the way to California.
I won't have any time to do it until then.
But going out there, we can talk about it.
September, you're at the NSC launch.
I'm gonna cut it down.
All right.
Yeah, but it just never stops.
Chelsea, the adventure starts once you come back.
He's great.
Maybe he's finished.
He knows better than that.
He didn't say.
Not really.
That's the first one he did.
You work on that too.
I want the classification system changed.
We even talk secret craft, but I want a new designation.
That's the only way to do it.
We can't just change the editor.
They're too useful.
But I want a new designation.
Maybe president only or
And he moved it back to the confidential secret and top secret.
They had about eight classifications.
He put it down to three, which is where it ought to be.
It shouldn't be in our lunch.
But you're right.
You can't redefine top secret.
Top secret is also top secret nothing, which a million people know is top secret.
What you ought to have is a thing, a presidential classification.
that it's limited to specific people that you identify.
It has to be the parents of some dude.
Nobody can set up the parents except you.
The people who have that parents, and they would be your top five or six staff people, plus the originating author of the document.
In other words, a memo from SANS to you on Japanese textile negotiations could be classified by this classification by SANS.
That would, and SANS would be able to see that, but it would be limited only to the guys at that level.
There's a way you can do that, sir.
And require it to be declassified if you wanted to show it.
Classified back down to top secret.
I had all that stuff, you know, yeah, I get stuff now that somebody over here, you know, or Alan or something will write something up with top secret on there.
I don't know.
I was talking with Harris that the economy, you know, in one of these periodic sort of quasi pessimistic, not very, but quasi, not buoyantly, with the, all the shacking on the paper, war, the Mansfield Amendment and the rest and so forth, that, and that with us holding the,
Gallup is about 49 to 50 in that period.
All right.
We're 54.
I mean, so we're 50.
Harris is 51 to 49.
But that didn't happen to people.
Pretty solid thing.
He said, that is just really phenomenal in a sense, if you want to really look at it, due to the fact that the negatives once removed are bound.
It's like letting air out of a balloon, isn't it?
It goes up.
Right on.
No, because we were going to get all curious.
Of course, there are other things that could bring it down.
I must say that we... Well, it's hard to imagine what they...
I don't think that would bring it down.
Probably would.
Well, it would scare me.
That's a strong guy, isn't it?
I think you're going to have a tough, it's hard to find things that will bring it down.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Yeah, yeah.
So, Mr. Coles is still in his meeting.
He just called for Hodgson to come on over and take another 15 minutes for Hodgson and then plan to come down soon.
That was tomorrow, wasn't it?
It was just the evening.
Oh, okay, okay.
Getting an update on the door.
I forgot to say if I don't want him to make an end run on this thing now.
You just asked John.
I want to make sure there's no end run here on that next relations board council.
He wanted to check with you on the NLRB council.
Schultz is apparently running Hodgson in here.
Are they, have they tracked with you on this?
They have.
Right?
Right?
Okay, so they're not, they track through you and you're ready to have a talk to the president?
Is he running?
In France?
I don't know what to do about it.
I just thought we wouldn't know anything about it.
Okay.
No, no, Plasky has a story on the papers at the Russian Embassy, which we didn't want to get out until after the court case, but he's already running something.
First, his anathema to the Teamsters.
and would not be actually confirmed on the Hill.
They're checking another guy now named Nash, who sounds okay, and they haven't cleared with me.
They've cleared with me, but I was told that it would be absolutely murder on the Hill.
Nash?
Yes, Nash is their man.
He's the general, present general counsel of the, he's over in the Labor Department now, right?
I don't know.
John didn't know anything about him.
He just said...
The thing he was concerned about was Burris.
He covered the Burris side of it.
He talked to Johnny Rhodes.
Rhodes said, that's fine.
I understand.
I didn't think he'd get it through.
And Hodgson was covering Burris' other supporters.
Somebody just told me you couldn't take an action to kill us on the Hill.
The senator or somebody or...
McGregor, please, for home.
I'll buy that smell, because he ticks on a lot.
That smell, I'll keep going.
I'll keep going.
I think the thing he was asking about right now, because he's got some people coming in, is the NLRB council appointment and the problem of Nash.
Is there a problem with him on the Hill?
Someone raised a red flag on him.
It wasn't you.
Okay, let me check this other thing, and I'll get back to you.
Okay.
He says there's no problem that he knows of, and he said he has an Explorer patch on the hill because he was told not to.
Yeah.
But there's been some talk, and he has no problems.
He also said he had a report for you on that.
Do you have any readings on NASH or NLRB?
Any negatives?
They won't block him, at least.
Okay?
So you have to read him.
The only thing is, he doesn't have the strongest support on the Hill of Furrows, has he?
But he's generally favorable.
Industry and business readings are good.
And I understand he's got some separate checks on him.
They're all good.
They either won't applaud the appointment, or they won't applaud it.
They won't.
They will not be able to.
I should have thought to call him first because he is all, he just stays on top of them.
Great, great, great call.
See, that's the kind of a guy I'd like to have handling these papers for us.
More balanced than Houston.
Yeah.
Well, I'll talk to...
They want me to call the bear out of the conference.
I told them, if I put it in the broadcast operator, they'll take it to the conference.
So you want to do that.
Well, what is it, Leo?
What do they want me to do?
Call the office and ask them to call me?
Okay.
He says he's got something that, remember, I don't think he did.
He was just telling me he was just sending it.
I don't think he's got it done yet.
He said he'd give it to me.
There you go.
There's a piece of paper.
Let me have him wear the hammer and just get it.
Well, I understand that the Congressman is in the conference, and I don't want to call him out there in the conference, but if you could just get a note to him before they adjourn, or if he could just step out and give me a call, I'd appreciate it.
It's about a matter they're talking about.
I don't know if you have an officer who would do that.
Probably not.
It'd be really true.
Could you imagine Polk doing it?
Robbie?
Polk would have his secretary call and say, I'm going to do it.
I don't know if you've heard about it.
You didn't express that even Bill Rogers said that.
Mr. General, please.
Well, that's a bunch of bull.
Rose used to pull that trick on me.
Maggie comes on and she says, we can put Mr. Holland on, please.
I said, I'm on, Maggie.
I'm always on.
And she goes, just a minute, Mr. Holland.
But he understood that he'd get his tit in a hell of a ringer.
I understand that right now you aren't going to be ready until the court may not come in with a name until Friday.
I had a case down there, I couldn't get any information, so I thought maybe you fellows do something.
I didn't.
Who told you that the clerk wasn't going to follow all this stuff?
Who told you the clerk wasn't going to follow?
Well, the clerk was, but John Hurley said that their best guess was something, right?
Nobody knows.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Thanks.
Now that sounds like a casualty to an armed conflict since World War II, but that's Korea and everything else.
Maybe the courts are going to come out with some horrendous decision about war.
They get into that, good God.
One of the other things is that, well, they must never, well, they better not give them the peace name, but it's one of the sinners' will, I'm sure.
But if it comes up, we'd have them come out our way.
And they did.
Yeah.
Well, it's so wrong, you know.
Yeah.
Now, of course, we've got our plans all set.
As I understand it, we've got to go gung-ho now on this Ellsberg, regardless of what this court does, right?
And the statement should be ready to go and so forth.
And I'm not concerned about that.
The other side of that line is that we're, if you make a moderate hand, we're going to make a, we're going to give an incentive to every little son of a bitch in this government to run out of the place and ran on us.
Good.
All right.
You mean to scare somebody?