Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 642 › Conversation 642-004

Nixon & Haldeman on Staff meeting and Guest list

Monday, January 3, 1972 · 8:15 AM–8:45 AM ET · Oval Office · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation642-004 on Tape 642 (tape position 02:10:09–02:11:16)StartMonday, January 3, 1972 at 8:15 AMEndMonday, January 3, 1972 at 8:45 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 642-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. "Bob" Haldeman discussed the guest list for an upcoming staff meeting focused on domestic and legislative programs. They debated the inclusion of various senior staff members, ultimately deciding to exclude Ronald Ziegler and Robert Finch from the meeting, while confirming the attendance of Charles Colson, George Shultz, Peter Peterson, Donald Rumsfeld, Clark MacGregor, and John Ehrlichman.

  • Staff meeting
  • Guest list
  • Domestic program
  • Legislative program
  • Personnel decisions
  • White House staff

Audio

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This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

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Position in tape: 02:10:09 – 02:11:16

part B, 8:02

642a.mp3
642b.mp3
642c.mp3

NARA Description

On January 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:15 am and 8:45 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 642-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 642-4

Date: January 3, 1972
Time: Unknown after 8:15 am until 8:45 am
Location: Oval Office

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

     The President's schedule

          -Forthcoming meeting with staff
               -Charles W. Colson, George P. Shultz, Peter G. Peterson, Donald H. Rumsfeld
                    and Clark MacGregor
               -Ronald L. Ziegler, John D. Ehrlichman and Robert H. Finch

The President and Haldeman left at 8:45 am.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.

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).

NixonChuck and, and Peterson, Rumsfeld.
HaldemanAnd Ziegler, Shultz, Ehrlichman, Finch.
NixonNo Ziegler, no Finch.
HaldemanNo Ziegler, no Finch.
NixonNo. That's, that's--
HaldemanPeterson,
NixonYeah.
HaldemanColson, Shultz,
NixonRumsfeld and MacGregor.
HaldemanMacGregor, okay.
NixonYeah. That's a group.
HaldemanOkay.
NixonIt's purely on the congressional side.
HaldemanEhrlichman?
NixonNo, wait. Wait a minute. Rumsfeld is on the economic side, that's right.
HaldemanRumsfeld, and, well Shultz and Peterson are too. It's the, it's the domestic program as well as the legislative program.
NixonAll right. Well, put Ehrlichman on it, but not Finch and Ziegler.
HaldemanOkay.
NixonNo, I don't see any need to have either one.
HaldemanOkay.

Also recorded on January 3, 1972

  • 642-002 8:02 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:02 am and 8:15 am.
  • 642-003 8:15 AM · 35 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:15 am and 8:45 am.
  • 642-005 8:45 AM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:45 am and 9:02 am.
  • 642-006 9:02 AM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:02 am and 9:07 am.
  • 642-007 9:02 AM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:02 am and 9:07 am.
  • 642-008 9:02 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:02 am and 9:07 am.
  • 642-009 9:02 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:02 am and 9:07 am.
  • 642-010 9:07 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard A. Moore met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:07 am to 9:14 am.

All 84 conversations from January 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 642-004, January 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/642-004 (accessed November 2, 2026).