Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 670 › Conversation 670-016
Nixon, Ziegler & Haldeman on People's Republic of China and Busing
Monday, February 14, 1972 · 2:48 PM–3:04 PM ET · Oval Office · 14 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with H.R. Haldeman and Ronald Ziegler to coordinate press strategy regarding his upcoming trip to the People's Republic of China, including the production of a promotional film and the logistics of the presidential schedule. The discussion also addressed the administration's stance on school busing, with Nixon expressing a firm opposition to mandatory busing to achieve racial balance while critiquing the positions of political rivals. The participants decided to hold a leadership meeting to announce the China trip and opted to utilize the Cabinet Room for a more dramatic, televised presentation.
- People's Republic of China
- Busing
- Presidential Press Strategy
- Education Policy
- Public Relations
Audio
NARA Description
On February 14, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:48 pm to 3:04 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 670-016 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 670-16
Date: February 14, 1972
Time: 2:48 pm - 3:04 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler and H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Briefing for People’s Republic of China [PRC] trip
-Movie for press
-Haldeman’s previous conversation with Ziegler
-President’s instructions
-Narration
-John B. Connally
-White House theater
-Possible refreshments
-Television
-President’s opinion
Press
-PRC trip
-Hawaii
-Presidential briefing
-Ziegler’s role
-Movie
-Technical information
-Trade bulletin
-Schedule
-Trade
-Schedule
-Peking
-Busing
-Announcement
-PRC trip
-Busing
-Press conference
-Timing
Busing Conv. No. 670-23/671-1 (cont.)
-John N. Mitchell and Elliot Richardson
-Leonard Garment
-Need for action
-Courts
-Critics
-VietnamShow the rest of the log (60 more lines)
-Statements
-Racial balance
-Equal education
-Public opinion
-Haldeman’s view
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Courts
-Possible decisions
-Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-Quality education
-Balance requested
-Neighborhood schools
-Liberals
-Negro views
-Polls
-Percentage in favor of busing
-William F. (“Billy”) Graham
-Liberals
-Blacks
-White students compared to black students
-White students attending black schools
-Private schools
-Tokens
-Significance
-Ambassador to Chad
-George S. McGovern
-Statements
-Switch
-Edmund S. Muskie
-Statements
-William P. Rogers’s view
PRC trip
-Leadership meeting and departure
-Announcement
-Timing
-Barry M. Goldwater
-Democrat
-Gale W. McGee
-Goldwater
Schedule
-Breakfast
-Announcement
-Cabinet Room Conv. No. 670-23/671-1 (cont.)
-Ziegler’s view
-Advantages
-Live coverage
-Press
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Talk with Ziegler
-Talking paper
Ziegler left at 3:03 pm.
Rose Mary Woods
-President’s instructions to Haldeman
-Request for call
Haldeman left at 3:04 pm.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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No, we laid it on them today.
On that business of a picture, you talked about the movie.
Yes, just had a movie, and you know all of our machines.
You say, this is so-and-so, this is so-and-so, this is so-and-so.
But as much as possible, even...
No, I have a jasmine tea.
You better try it.
Oh, boy, no.
I would like that.
That would be perfect.
Go with the first one.
Mike, I don't particularly want to suck around on that.
I don't think you should.
I don't know.
I don't think you should be in there talking to your partner.
No, no, I didn't want to overstate that case.
I didn't want to overstate that case.
I'm not talking to that.
No, perhaps I overstate it this morning.
There's no problem with the press.
No, they're going.
Sure, they're happy.
They're happy that they're going.
I think that being the case, the only thing I have to do at any point is maybe fill in the movie and let you see what it looks like.
And provide them with the technical data that I have in the file of the race.
But I think your thing in Hawaii is fine.
There's nothing else really that we should get done.
You gave him a very general schedule, which we agreed on.
Yes.
That they'd read the rest of the telegraph?
Yeah, but I mean, there's nothing new in it.
Oh.
And the bussy thing handled well, because I ended up undating them with the other telegraph.
So we have, that should go to China.
I gave them that.
I didn't relate it to the trip.
We'll have some kind of a third little march on the way.
I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.
I said that you would have to.
And the key leaked out of it is that the president said the situation would not remain as it is, not remain as it is.
And then I referred to what you had said before in your previous speech.
Yeah, that's the story over the weekend, too, by, as a follow-up to the press conference on the, just the fact of having this meeting.
See, the trouble is that we've got a problem here where we have a mixture of systems that are going to spell it, but lose it against us with great conviction, right?
So the problem is why you can't do anything about it.
Why you can't do anything about it.
Why you can't leave it as it is.
So we're still, we're all wrong on that.
You've got to do something about it.
You've got to do something about it.
You can't say the other way with the courts and anything else that they want you to do.
The courts doesn't allow it.
The critics can stand out there and say the American people want out of Vietnam, want out of the Vietnam border right now.
They can stand up there and say the same thing about the fact that the American people do not want their kids to be bussed across town in order to achieve racial balance.
And that the American people want a quality of education.
You know, that's what you referred to in your demagoguery.
It exists 100%.
They don't give a damn about equality of education.
They want good education for their kids.
They don't care what anybody else's kid gets.
In fact, a lot of them say that.
A lot of them don't want to get out of bed that early and put their kids on buses.
Did you?
No.
Do you want to put your cute little blonde girl somewhere?
Of course not.
Do you want to go to a black school where they rape the teachers in the hallways?
I figured.
I figured.
I figured.
I figured.
I figured.
I figured.
Well, at some point, they got exposed as the worst of the available eagles.
They may not be able to do anything because they're the worst available eagles.
is to have, is to try to do something.
It's the best thing, to let it go.
You know, and basically, is to have hope that the courts will do better, and all that kind of shit.
The courts will get older, John, and the courts are gonna screw us.
Especially the lower-level courts, while we are in Europe.
That's where all of that, that's the timeline.
That's the court, that's the problem.
They are the proposition.
But you know, John, that I want the so-called Nixon court to come out five, or six, or three, or nine, you know, per bussing.
The issue's going to boil them down to .
No massive busing, OK?
No massive busing to achieve the race and balance.
Support the quality of education or good education for all.
Then how much busing is involved?
The question is not quite put too well.
I don't know if that's exactly right.
You got the right answer.
But especially presented by the Libs polls.
There's no poll that shows the majority of blacks in favor of busing.
No ballot poll.
And the liberal who sends his child to a black school, you know, to a school which is
I'm not necessarily black, but in a school that is not totally qualified, we'll tell you about it every time with a great feeling of self-sacrifice.
And a great piousness about it.
They don't see it as a life charge.
That's right.
They want to go back.
They don't see it as a life charge there.
And it's broadened this experience.
Children miss something when they don't get to know the other person.
You get to know your son enough.
Please, you know, please don't give me that crap.
I mean, I know better.
I had no, I want black kids to be in the school.
That is important.
But don't tell me it's good for a white kid to go to the inferior school.
Well, most of the lads agree with you because they send their kids to private school.
It's all bad.
It's all good.
It's all good.
And all the private schools have the token blacks so they can say, oh, yeah, we're black.
We can't be all black.
A black teacher, a black coach, or something.
They have a fairly good strength in the black students, too.
They've got to protect that.
The ambassador checks.
I've got a question for you.
I'm on the screen right now about the busing thing.
They know that I'm on the right side of the page.
Look, what the crap, what are they saying about my government switch?
They're all, he was there at church.
He turned around.
They weren't screaming out there.
They sort of took it down.
A couple of them came up.
They know damn well busing is not what this country wants.
The people, a lot of them didn't get into busing with us.
We said, look, we're for it.
I wonder what Muskie's going to say about it now.
He's on each one of them.
They all want an opinion now.
So Muskie, you see, is a thoughtful statesman who doesn't rush rationally into preconceived decisions.
He gives thought and consideration to the non-priest man, places carefully, and issues a deliberately considered opinion at the proper time.
Well, the best description of him as the London Biller, I refuse to have that.
You see, he's considered to be very, very informing around the city.
Well, the focus, the focus is on turning up.
When do you think we should announce the leadership meeting?
After Wednesday.
After Wednesday.
And the departure.
And I think we should put it all at the end, not build it up, but see what we can do before that.
And then you can announce before that.
You're not saying, why don't we come?
Right.
Who is in by the person?
I'm going to invite a couple of people.
I know you can go on.
You might have made an admirer and asked who is not on your committee.
Do you understand?
Who has the...
I heard it's Mike McGee from the KFB.
He's not on the committee.
I know.
I don't know how you meet him.
I don't know how you meet him.
I don't know how you meet him.
But it would be very good.
That's balanced.
They were pushing for it.
Maybe that would be better.
Maybe it might have been better.
That's good.
We haven't announced the privacy yet.
Nope.
I thought you were giving me first advice.
I don't think .
Why do you think the cabinet room is a much better form than the breakfast room?
Because we, you know, it's just the cabinet room, the medium cabinet room.
Walking out of the cabinet room, it's very dramatic.
The live coverage on the parking.
Every second day, we'll be virtually on live coverage.
All right.
You get a little energy and figure out something.
I can say, and I suppose I should do most of it.
I'm trying to get some pure water playing.
I pray for you.
I pray for you.
I pray for you.
I pray for you.
It's racking up and apparently that's the word for it.
But it is under way, but it doesn't happen.
She doesn't have it, but they have it.
You can turn it on.
No, it wasn't on.
Okay.
Also recorded on February 14, 1972
- 670-014 2:25 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:25 pm and 2:48 pm.
- 670-015 2:25 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:25 pm and 2:48 pm.
- 670-017 3:04 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:04 pm and 3:05 pm.
- 670-018 3:05 PM · 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Slaheddine El Goulli, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, James L. Buckley, and Thomas C. Korologos met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:05 pm to 3:45 pm.
- 670-019 3:45 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:45 pm and 3:47 pm.
- 670-020 3:45 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:45 pm and 3:47 pm.
- 670-021 3:47 PM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:47 pm to 4:07 pm.
- 670-022 4:08 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:08 pm.
Related conversations
- Nixon phone call with Eisenhower on Busing and School Segregation February 3, 1972 · 3 min
- Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Busing and Education policy March 12, 1972 · 30 min
- Nixon, Richardson & Kleindienst on Busing and Legislative Moratorium March 17, 1972 · 1 hr 47 min
- Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Acceptance speech and Education policy August 19, 1972 · 3 min
- Nixon phone call with Haldeman on neighborhood schools and busing August 10, 1972 · 3 min
- Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Busing and Education policy August 19, 1972 · 3 min
Cite this conversation
Conversation 670-016, February 14, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417180801). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/670-016 (accessed November 2, 2026).