Conversation 691-004

TapeTape 691StartTuesday, March 21, 1972 at 4:57 PMEndTuesday, March 21, 1972 at 5:07 PMTape start time00:41:54Tape end time00:55:22ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob");  Bull, Stephen B.Recording deviceOval Office

On March 21, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:57 pm to 5:07 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 691-004 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 691-4

Date: March 21, 1972
Time: 4:57pm - 5:07 pm
Location: Oval Office

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

     The President’s schedule
          -Meeting with Manea Manescu
          -Background materials
               -Length
                      -Dwight D. Eisenhower
                      -Meeting with [Nihat Erim]
                           -Meeting with George P. Shultz
                      -Preparation time

     The President’s possible trip to Poland
          -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
          -German Treaty
          -Soviet Union
          -William P. Rogers
          -Turkey
               -Refueling
               -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
               -Visit by the President
               -Iran
               -Istanbul
               -Ankara
          -Henry A. Kissinger
               -Talk with Haldeman

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 4:57 pm.

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

These are still really too long, aren't they?
Although I suppose you can call them any less than that.
Most of these people now do a pretty good job of outlining that thing so you can get to it.
I'm very pleased with the settlement.
I think they're off to the same end.
They're better than they were.
I mean, you know, Eisenhower got a bad record to hate for insisting that everything had to be up on the page.
I don't know why, because he got that one.
That's the only way you can discipline them.
That's the only way you can discipline them.
And frankly, it's all the time you have.
Discipline them.
How much time have you got?
And these people got a real-life life this morning.
What the hell?
When I met the Turk, when I didn't meet the Turk, who was to know that he was the Schultz of the crisis, and I had seen him for an hour, so that took out an hour and a half.
I was not as prepared as the Turk as I was.
I took five minutes.
I got it with five minutes.
But if I could have got a damn boat, and what the hell good is that going to do me?
See my point?
And also, it's good discipline, because people say, here's the things you need to do.
It's important.
Less than anybody can write a paper for 30 pages, or a speech for 30 minutes.
Damn few can write it for 15, or 10, especially, or five.
But we do well.
We do well.
We work hard.
I don't remember.
Well, I see that, so the reason that they had Hague is because they stopped talking about Poland.
He's thinking it through.
He thinks that that's his problem.
He thinks that it has to do with the German treaty and that they're trying to get the Russians behind it.
That's what he thinks.
That's what Adam's saying about the Turk.
Well, he said that would be better than Poland.
The problem with the Turk is NATO.
Well, because he told NATO we weren't going to do, we weren't going to stop in NATO.
So we're not going to stop at the capital.
But you just stop there.
You see, you're in Iran.
Then you can stop in Turkey for three or four hours.
That's what I'm speaking of.
Three or four hours, but not overnight.
Yeah, see.
And then go on.
And the hell is to stop there.
I don't think Russia knows.
Yes, they know.
So I would stop in Ankara, not the capital.
Yeah, Al said he thought he ought to have Henry call you about Poland.
I said, hell no.
I said, don't have Henry call me.
You just figure out what you think.
And let's talk about it.
He hasn't decided to go.
He's just raised the question.
Why won't you call me about England?
I don't think we're going to go to England.
I don't know how it would work out.
I don't know what to do.
We're always going to do the best we can.
It's going to be about three or four minutes, for instance.
What is it?
Do they help some of them?
No.
I haven't talked to them in the last couple of hours.
It wasn't in the mid days.
No, they're not?
No, we weren't.
It was extremely loud.
Now one thing, if we don't get the pandas soon, which we may not, they may not be ready, and even if we do, I just wonder if they can do it, if we want to think about letting the pandas make a tour across the country on their way to the Washington Zoo.
It could be a hell of a thing to have them land in L.A. and have them work their way and have an air-conditioned display van made for them.
Let them work their way across the country and let kids be let out of school to see the Panthers.
I'd drive them and do them in a downtown area or something, a central exhibition place of some kind.
You could put it in a self-contained van so the kids could file through and see them
We've got to be careful if there's any danger to that line, or if anybody's going to raise that line.
They're already rushing the tourists, but I was just going to work out this parking and get more facilities.
Did I always say that right?
I always say, uh, I was earlier than you when I was on the bus.
I think so.
Yeah, on the road and so forth.
You know, I thought that, Bob, I thought about that.
Somebody asked, I'm grateful.
You know, he'd stay there, he'd stay there, and then turn around.
What the hell?
I was just like, complete turnaround.
I was thinking if I did that, I was just thinking if I did that, they'd crucify me.
He's, it's become so much his stock in trade that apparently he can do it and everybody just kind of smiles.
And you jump up and shout about it, and they all come along and say, well, that's Hubert.
He says, you know, he didn't understand what you were saying on the TV, and after he studied it, he realized it was not what he thought.
After he studied it, he found out it was a hell of a lot more generous than I said.
As you know.
I was interested to know that, you know, what was the first thing that you used with editorial writers?
Bullshit.
And again, the rest of the thing, I felt that I did not show my concern about the rights and the rules and the rules of life.
I wonder if, and we'll work on the center section of the speeches, I wonder if in voting about that, they might say, let us all, they said use this opportunity, let us all, remember, let's live together and work together on it.
There's a lot of that in one of the early
Well, the first half, I just cut it out and I just called Rick or something and said, as you know, there's a segment of people that want to hear that all the time.
And I'm supposed to be depressed about that.
But did you get a feeling from hearing that speech that it was unbalanced?
No, I didn't.
I thought it was...
I was worried the other way.
I thought it was very balanced.
I was concerned that you were going to do too much of that in the relevant...
Apparently, we didn't go too far in the election.
No.
And they had... the people got the message.
How was he going to do it?
Of course, that was only in the middle.
He came back at the end of the other theme again.
But it did, I was beginning to wonder if he had gone, got too much of the Garland and Price kind of view.
You mean about the concern about the kids?
Yeah.
Educating them where they are.
Is that what you mean?
Educating the kids where they are?
Yeah.
You talked about busing being at least an equal opportunity in building there.
If you really want to come down to it, if you're talking about race, hatred and division and threats, there is nothing that contributes to it more than busing.
That's the point.
You've got to get busing out of the dialogue.
You know, that's part of the trigger.
He is a master.
Why do you put him?
You don't have to stick with me.
I speak about those games.