Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 638 › Conversation 638-008

Nixon & Haldeman on Washington Redskins and China diplomacy

Wednesday, December 15, 1971 · 11:55 AM–12:02 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation638-008 on Tape 638 (tape position 03:04:05–03:14:34)StartWednesday, December 15, 1971 at 11:55 AMEndWednesday, December 15, 1971 at 12:02 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 638-008 ↗

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discussed press strategy regarding the Washington Redskins, specifically focusing on the team's turnaround and potential media coverage. They also coordinated the President's upcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China, evaluating various stopover options to minimize fatigue. Ultimately, they decided to prioritize a stay in Hawaii—potentially Maui—over California or Guam to allow for better relaxation and climate, while shifting the formal departure ceremony to Washington, D.C.

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This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 03:04:05 into the tape and ends around 03:14:34.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
3:04:17No, I'll have to do them at the end.
3:04:22Sure, I'll take time before I have to prepare for this meeting.
3:06:40There's the sports on it.
3:06:43The color started to be.
3:07:03If you were on, you could understand this.
3:07:08You know, he's a sports fan.
3:07:10Sure.
3:07:10What I meant is he could talk to somebody about the turning point of the Redskins season.
3:07:17They all say that privately, you know what I mean?
3:07:20But you think it's a nice story?
3:07:21Yeah.
3:07:22After this thing, the turning point of the Redskins season.
3:07:26And the idea that maybe that one of the guys should have that game ball or something like that.
3:07:32I said, I don't want it.
3:07:34I just think it's not good.
3:07:36Who could you give that to, Bob?
3:07:39Or maybe he's the best one to do it.
3:07:45Ron is going to put this together.
3:07:47He can do it, but he's not going to put the time.
3:07:50Let me play a little bit.
3:07:51I'm happy to talk to him.
3:07:52Yeah, I'm too sorry.
3:07:55I think it's better he probably get more on it, because Scali and Runner are working awful hard on this other story.
3:08:03Marge, at a turning point in the season, Marge talked to Nick, to Alan.
3:08:11Nick is an ideal man to write.
3:08:12It is really a dramatic story, what that team has done.
3:08:23They're split out.
3:08:24It's the greatest excuse to coach a team without questions.
3:08:27It really is.
3:08:29To beat the ranch, they're a good team.
3:08:32They've got more, frankly, they've got more horsepower than the Redskins.
3:08:38They've got more shot.
3:08:39It's your story and you're fired up.
3:08:41What you can do is get done.
3:08:46I talked to Rogers about this meeting.
3:08:48He said, fine, you should do it.
3:08:51He completely agreed you shouldn't have foreign affairs and keep it separate.
3:08:56He did say, if you had the chance, that it would be good for you to make the point, even to this group, Congressman,
3:09:03economic wasn't the only thing that was covered.
3:09:05We had already a successful meeting with Pompidou and the other advisors on the whole range of those relationships back and forth and all.
3:09:18I said you had been pushing the guys this morning on exactly that point.
3:09:21I didn't say Henry had, but Henry did make that point on the plane yesterday.
3:09:27And they are working.
3:09:29It's inevitable.
3:09:30The hard story out of it is the money.
3:09:33So that's what's going to override it.
3:09:42But he's got that.
3:09:49And he's a leader.
3:09:50And Sam will come.
3:09:56It's a good thought, if I hadn't been there to tell them about the mission.
3:10:07I'm sure you wouldn't have been.
3:10:10People could have realized, look, that kind of meeting was a very, a very tiring meeting, and it's no true in the heart of the city.
3:10:17But I reason to get prepared for the Chinese side, and there's some way we could...
3:10:23maybe take a little more time, progressively getting out to the damn place.
3:10:28I'm sure we need a day in California, that's for one thing, even though it'll pop down.
3:10:35The goddamn Crest could go another way anyway.
3:10:37They don't have to fly tandem with us.
3:10:41Where else would we stay other than Hawaii?
3:10:43Hawaii, you see, isn't much of a break either.
3:10:48But what looks like the best time, what we're going to recommend,
3:10:51is to go on Wednesday to California.
3:10:56Spend Wednesday night there, and all day Thursday and Thursday night.
3:11:00So you get two nights in California.
3:11:02That's only three hours, otherwise.
3:11:06Well, if you keep that three hours, then you go on Wednesday.
3:11:11Could I suggest that maybe the better thing is to fly to Hawaii and do it there for two days?
3:11:16All right.
3:11:17I'll tell you why.
3:11:18Then you've got six hours.
3:11:20That's right.
3:11:20On the way.
3:11:22The only reason for California is it's an easier place for you to relax.
3:11:26But if we could get, I won't relax a whole lot.
3:11:30I mean, being left alone really is the point.
3:11:32No, but if we got to Hawaii and used the rock-collar house, you know, that I, and I won't do any swimming or anything.
3:11:40I can drive to the beach if I want to take a swim.
3:11:44The other thing that was sort of a factor, I don't think it's terribly important, is we could have a bigger send-out kind of a thing from California.
3:11:52Which had some sort of appeal.
3:11:56Hawaii you won't get, you just don't get much of a crowd thing.
3:12:01I got moved twice then.
3:12:02I got spent a night in California.
3:12:08Then a night in Hawaii.
3:12:13And then what we had was two nights in Guam.
3:12:16Because that's your...
3:12:19And you have that nice, that's a good house there.
3:12:22If I stayed there?
3:12:23Yeah, the Nimitz house.
3:12:26That's where I stayed before.
3:12:27It's not a bad place, not a bad place.
3:12:30It's also not bad symbolism.
3:12:32That's right.
3:12:33The wild doctor came from there.
3:12:39That's right.
3:12:39Okay.
3:12:40I wonder, you know, if...
3:12:43I don't know, California then maybe is a better partner.
3:12:47Still the Hawaii partners.
3:12:50Spend the night in California.
3:12:51Then fly to Guam.
3:12:52Then fly to Guam.
3:12:53Then fly to Guam on how long the flight will take.
3:12:56Longer.
3:12:59It's a long flight.
3:13:00And then sparkies for Hawaii may be being better.
3:13:03As a matter of fact, we, I think, have to re-deal with weight.
3:13:07That, in a certain sense, is late.
3:13:10If we could do Hawaii, I don't think we'd worry about the scent of Hawaii.
3:13:17It's going to be all that difference.
3:13:19We'll have it here.
3:13:20We can have a scent out here.
3:13:25We can do a formal departure from here.
3:13:29That'll run, you know, we always think that doing it in California helps in California.
3:13:33And yes, we find everything we do in California gets a bigger ride.
3:13:37No, we get a bigger ride from here to here than in California.
3:13:40That's right.
3:13:41You just don't do it.
3:13:41That's right.
3:13:42How many times they're perverse on that.
3:13:45I think Hawaii is better, all right?
3:13:48I think we ought to do it.
3:13:50And that breaks the thing.
3:13:51Six hours.
3:13:52Spend two days in Hawaii.
3:13:55And then you also have the advantage of better weather there.
3:13:59You can get outside, get some sun.
3:14:00That's right.
3:14:01I hadn't thought of that.
3:14:03I'm trying Hawaii.
3:14:04And incidentally, you don't have to just think of the Hawaii color place on Hawaii.
3:14:09Maybe there's a better place.
3:14:10Maybe to go to the, you know, Maui is a place.
3:14:12Take the hotel, not take Mauna Mauna in.
3:14:15and take one of the private houses, if there's some private houses.
3:14:17I'll tell you at the end that you could, with a beach.
3:14:20Yeah, there's one private house with a beach.
3:14:23I think Maui has a greater deal to me rather than being in a rockfall place.
3:14:29You know, a rockfall place is off.
3:14:31It's not on the beach.
3:14:33That's right.
3:14:33If we could land in Maui, I don't want to be, I don't want to be in that goddamn hotel on a walk.
3:14:40Yeah, that's just, you just, you have a huge group of people there.
3:14:43Everybody's outside waiting to take your picture.
3:14:45Yeah, that's, that's a bad, it's no way to walk.
3:14:47It must be a private house.
3:14:49Okay, let's do it that way.
3:14:51Fly to, fly to, uh, fly directly from Washington to Hawaii.
3:14:57Spend a couple of days.
3:14:58Then fly along, right?

On December 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:55 am to 12:02 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 638-008 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 638-008

Date: December 15, 1971
Time: 11:55 am - 12:02 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

     Press
             -Sports
                  -George E. Allen
                  -John A. Scali
                  -George W. Romney
                  -Washington Redskins
                        -Turning point in season
                              -President’s visit to Redskins Park, November 23, 1971
                  -Richard A. Moore
                  -Ronald L. Ziegler
                  -Scali
                  -[Forename unknown] Bethe [?]
                        -Forthcoming article
                  -Allen
                        -Praise
                  -Los Angeles Rams

     President's schedule
           -Meeting with Congress
                 -William P. Rogers

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

                -Georges J.R. Pompidou
                -Henry A. Kissinger
                -Money
                -Nathaniel Samuels
            -Upcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                -California
                -Press
                -Hawaii
                -Guam
                -California
                -Hawaii
                      -Nelson A. Rockefeller house
                      -Length of visit
                -California
                      -Send off
                -Hawaii
                -Guam
                      -Nimitz house
                      -Guam Doctrine
                -California
                -Hawaii
                -Guam
                -Wake Island
                -Formal departure from the White House
                -Los Angeles Times
                -Hawaii
                      -Weather
                      -Accommodations
                      -Maui
                      -Rockefeller house
                -Guam
                -Oahu
                      -Commander in Chief, Pacific [CINCPAC]

Haldeman left at 12:02 pm.
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Conversation 638-008, December 15, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/638-008 (accessed October 11, 2026).