Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 552 › Conversation 552-005

Nixon & Haldeman on Bohemian Grove and Public Relations

Friday, July 30, 1971 · 1:10 PM–1:20 PM ET · Oval Office ·9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation552-005 onTape 552StartFriday, July 30, 1971 at 1:10 PMEndFriday, July 30, 1971 at 1:20 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 552-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss the cancellation of the President's planned visit to Bohemian Grove to avoid unwanted media scrutiny and potential tax implications for the club. They also address a communications breakdown regarding the unauthorized release of a presidential letter to a Soviet cosmonaut’s daughter, which had gained significant media attention. Finally, they touch upon Vice President Spiro Agnew’s scheduling habits and plan a follow-up presidential call to NASA officials following the lunar landing of Apollo XV.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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You didn't say so.
You can't have a three.
You can't have a three.
They need the pressures of the club.
You can't have a three.
I guess the pressures, because it, well, I know in those clubs that anybody does anything that all the old members don't know they do.
They race out of a golf that was a horrible challenge.
Because if somebody appears in bright red pants or something, then 13 old members come in and say, nobody's ever played in red pants on our course.
You know, we've done a lot of work to walk through the locker room.
And he's going to handle it.
What do you make of the speech?
No problem.
He said there's no problem on the setup here.
And he will announce it on the basis that I repeated it and he played it back to me.
So he's got that.
Dick Moore called him over in here and Ron talked to him.
Moore said on balance the right thing to do is not to come.
Good.
He said there is
It's going to be a big hit, and most people here are very excited about it, but there is a little undercurrent.
Plus some undercurrent about what it was due to our tax status, and, you know, they'll start looking into the club and all that kind of stuff.
I mean, they hit on a tax thing, I think, a few years back.
How will this change the tax thing?
Just causing, calling attention to the club, just the glare of publicity.
Well, good.
You've got a visual.
I've got a visual.
Not Connie.
He's at a luncheon, but I have a call from Tony's office.
Good.
All right.
So I've covered him.
On the Russian, little Russian girl's letter, it's an example of people doing their job too well.
When the letter came out, Alex, as he does with other stuff, he was an assassin over at a client's office.
Oh, shit.
Just that far out.
And Alex sent it out on a personal interview?
Yeah.
Well, no, he didn't do that.
That's right.
But he was doing, you know, it was a color type thing.
So it was, they thought they had a, which they did.
It was a sensationally good story, but it was one we didn't watch.
They could have done it much better.
I mean, you know, if you were going to do the damn thing.
Well, you couldn't have done it any better than what you got on CBS last night.
Anyway.
But then Client wrote out,
without asking anybody.
That's right.
And that's what's wrong.
It's our process of releasing.
And Herb thought he was doing a good job, I'm sure.
I haven't gotten to him, but I see a note about him thanking Alex for getting the thing to him.
Is it Herb's smart enough to realize that that is a foreign policy going on?
He doesn't see it at all.
He just likes to make this.
I'm listening.
No, I'm sure.
See, when he, Alex sends it to Herb, thinking Herb's going to make the decision whether to put it out.
Herb gets it from Alex and figures, well, if I've got it, it's something we want to get out.
Because we, there are lots of things like this, we jump on them, and why don't you ever get this stuff out?
And, uh, so this one, they moved it.
Good, then, how did Alex look at that idea?
He must have, oh, how did he know that he, how did he get a copy of the letter at Roseville?
He wasn't at it.
Apparently it was in your outbox.
Uh-huh.
We all know.
I wrote the letter by hand.
I handed it to Hay and Hay took that letter and delivered it personally to the bringer.
Then they had a copy of it for your file that was in the outbox or something.
Did you ask for a copy of it?
No, sir.
What they had is a typewriter.
It's identified as a copy of a handwritten letter.
Sounds tight.
We'll get control of it.
It's a...
Well, it was done for the best of motives, because we've been pushing hard for looking for that kind of thing, you know, and making sure that we do get some credit for some of the things you're doing.
Well, I'm not going to give you help, but I'm sure you can get a hold of the system.
I think it's not, well, it's just that it's only a question.
I don't want to be too...
Why do we have Clyde doing that sort of thing?
Is that what he does?
Is he supposed to do that sort of thing?
Clyde, Sapphire, they all do it.
They work in different ways.
They talk over how to, this doesn't work, but this is such a big one.
You've got a Cronkite with a major bloody, you're never going to get a bigger audience or a bigger play for it.
Apparently it was just superbly done.
I think it has to be explained.
I do think it has to be explained to the Russians.
They'll never believe it.
They'll never believe that you can have control over something like that.
One of the people in the office saw him.
He was so moved by it that he told Motor Company.
But if not all that important, just tell me what you had in mind.
He can handle it any way he wants.
It wasn't intentional.
And then I was totally surprised and said to Richard, you know, I want to see the hair on this thing.
So he was reluctant about it.
He said, you know, it's too bad because most of the people here are just silent through
I think it's just great that it's happening.
All that Bob is, and they're right, is focusing our attention on the damn place and the problems and the good and the negatives and the health and the fire.
I've got to see the Vice President at 1.30.
Good.
Okay.
Perlman called in to make an appointment in his office.
The earliest he could see him was Tuesday.
John said, okay, but if possible, I'd like to be working to schedule a day.
I called two hours later and said, I'd like to see everything.
He said, well, I'm sorry.
I chose a generation attitude, but here it is.
Not really, that does.
For Christ's sakes, you know, when I was vice president or any kind of anybody from the White House who called, I'd seen that day.
I'd fool around.
I know it was important business.
But you know, you've got to face it.
This fellow, I think, is basically a
He's got a streak of smallness in him.
That's his problem.
I mean, I hate to agree with the press on anything, but I'm afraid they see that, you know.
Don't you?
Yeah.
They see that he's got a lot of class, too.
He's got a lot of class.
He's got a lot of, he's got his, and that's all there is to him.
That's it.
He's got his articulate, classy, and aloof, and all the rest.
But my God, he's got his kind of personal personality.
Street response is unbelievable.
It really is.
It's just too damn bad.
That's right.
Well, you have to go talk to him.
I'm just suggesting that you look at it.
No, no, no, no.
But they landed at 615 tonight on the boat.
What we think you ought to do is wait until they've landed.
Then we'll let the pletcher and ask them to place a call to you informing you that they've landed on the boat.
Then we can put out that, yes, you talked to the pletcher, he's informing you, and all that sort of thing.
We heard right after we passed the computer.
And that's the same thing that we briefed by earlier.
I should have just called up the departure control and get the call.
No time.
It should come back.

NARA Description

On July 30, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:10 pm to 1:20 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 552-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 552-5

Date: July 30, 1971
Time: 1:10 pm - 1:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.                       Conv. No. 552-4 (cont.)

     The Bohemian Grove
          -Haldeman's conversation with Walter Baird
          -Cancellation of the President's visit
               -Old members
               -Speech
               -Wording of announcement
               -Richard A. Moore
                     -Discussion with Ronald L. Ziegler
                     -Tax status
          -John N. Mitchell, John B. Connally

     The President's letter to cosmonaut's daughter
          -Release
               -Alexander P. Butterfield
               -Herbert G. Klein
                      -William L. Safire
               -Effect
                      -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS] news report
               -Klein
               -Nature of letter
               -Butterfield, Klein
               -Rose Mary Woods
               -Delivery
                      -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                             -Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
               -Klein's role
                      -Safire
               -Walter Cronkite's report
          -The Soviet Union
               -Reaction
               -Haig, Henry A. Kissinger
               -Reaction
                                              21

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. 10/08)



     Spiro T. Agnew
          -John D. Ehrlichman
                -Schedule
          -The press
          -Attitude

     Apollo XV flight
          -Time of landing on the moon                               Conv. No. 552-5 (cont.)
               -James C. Fletcher
               -Presidential call

The President and Haldeman left at 1:20 pm.

Also recorded on July 30, 1971

  • 007-040 12:09 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 12:09 pm to 12:10 pm.
  • 552-004 12:31 PM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:31 pm to 1:04 pm.
  • 552-006 1:20 PM · 5 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 267-006 1:24 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:24 pm and 3:04 pm.
  • 267-007 1:24 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:24 pm and 3:04 pm.
  • 267-008 1:24 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:24 pm and 3:04 pm.
  • 267-009 1:24 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:24 pm and 3:04 pm.
  • 267-010 3:04 PM · 54 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:04 pm to 4:00 pm.

All 45 conversations from July 30, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 552-005, July 30, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/552-005 (accessed September 18, 2026).