Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 538 › Conversation 538-006

Nixon & Haldeman on John Mitchell and Media relations

Tuesday, July 6, 1971 · 9:25 AM–9:50 AM ET · Oval Office · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation538-006 on Tape 538 (tape position 00:41:31–00:42:42)StartTuesday, July 6, 1971 at 9:25 AMEndTuesday, July 6, 1971 at 9:50 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 538-006 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417178441 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discuss the scheduling of a follow-up telephone call between the President and Attorney General John Mitchell regarding his upcoming travel plans. The conversation also shifts to an evaluation of recent television news coverage and the administration’s strategy for managing media relations. Nixon directs Haldeman to gather feedback from staff regarding the effectiveness of their outreach and to coordinate future efforts in shaping the network narrative.

John Mitchell
Media relations
Television coverage
Public relations strategy
White House staff coordination

Audio

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NARA Description

On July 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 9:50 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 538-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 538-006

Date: July 6, 1971
Time: Unknown between 9:25 am and 9:50 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

     John N. Mitchell
          -Scheduled departure on trip
          -Forthcoming telephone call from the President

     Television coverage
          -Ronald L. Ziegler’s views
          -Use by networks
                -Comparison to other Presidents

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

But be sure to check with Mitchell to see when he is leaving, actually.

And tell him I'd like to call him tomorrow.

Talk to him on the phone from San Clemente.

And now the other thing is, did you have a chance to talk to people about that coverage yesterday?

And do you think that's a good idea to follow up the way we were talking last night?

What did others think?

What does it mean?

Was he...

But what do you think, though, that he didn't believe that it did deserve a better shape than it got?

Even though all in all, a positive story.

But just, is your point, your point, though, that it's so well taken that God didn't pretend to be anybody else and had orgasms?

No.

Yeah, and they didn't use it.

Now, do your best.

Also recorded on July 6, 1971

538-001 8:59 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:59 am and 9:10 am.
538-002 8:59 AM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:59 am and 9:10 am.
538-003 8:59 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:59 am and 9:10 am.
538-004 9:10 AM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:10 am to 9:25 am.
538-005 9:25 AM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 9:50 am.
538-007 9:25 AM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:25 am and 9:50 am.
538-008 9:50 AM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:50 am to 10:00 am.
064-003 10:00 AM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon and steel industry leaders and union representatives, including George P. Shultz, Roger S. Albrendt, Stewart Cort, Edwin H. Gott, Fred G. Jaricks, Frank Nemec, John O'Connell, Thomas Patton, J. Warren Shaver, William J. Stevens, George A. Stinson, C. William Verity, John Wall, Walter J. Burke, Joseph P. Maloney, Bernard Kleiman, Elliot Bredhoff, I[lorwith] W. Abel, John B. Connally, James D. Hodgson, and White House photographer, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 10:00 am and 11:19 am.

All 17 conversations from July 6, 1971 →

Nixon & Ziegler on Media relations and Governors' conference February 23, 1971 · 1 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Safire on Press relations and Public relations strategy February 26, 1973 · 1 hr 2 min
Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Media relations October 7, 1972 · 11 min
Nixon, Hodgson & Bull on Television coverage and Wedding June 14, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Mitchell on Pentagon Papers and National Security June 15, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Watergate scandal and John N. Mitchell May 10, 1973 · 7 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 538-006, July 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417178441). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/538-006 (accessed November 2, 2026).