Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 725 › Conversation 725-030

Nixon & Haldeman on John B. Connally and Resignation

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 11:49 AM–11:57 AM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); White House operator; Nixon, Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan)Conversation725-030 on Tape 725 (tape position 03:41:03–03:46:30)StartTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 11:49 AMEndTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 11:57 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 725-030 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to strategize the press narrative surrounding Treasury Secretary John B. Connally’s resignation, specifically aiming to preempt speculation linking the departure to the recent shooting of George C. Wallace or Texas political dynamics. They discussed the content of the President’s statement, emphasizing that the timing was pre-planned during a January meeting in San Clemente rather than reactive. Additionally, they touched upon the personal transition for Nellie Connally, comparing her reluctance to leave Washington with the Nixons' own past experiences with relocation.

Audio

Download MP3 · 7.6 MB

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

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 03:41:03 – 03:46:30

part B, 1:39:12

725a.mp3

725b.mp3

725c.mp3

NARA Description

On May 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:49 am and 11:57 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-030 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 725-30

Date: May 16, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:49 am and 11:57 am
Location: Oval Office

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

      John B. Connally
          -Resignation as Secretary of Treasury
               -Press briefing
                     -Duration
                           -Reasons
                     -President's statement
                           -Evaluation
                           -Content
                                 -George C. Wallace
                                       -President's offer of services

                                -Connally
                                      -Tone
                                      -Tenure
                                           -December 14, 1971
                                           -January 1972 meeting in San Clemente
                                           -Extension
                     -Speculation on reasons
                          -Wallace shooting
                          -Texas election
                          -Wallace shooting

      Press
          -The President’s view
          -White House approach

      Connally
         -Resignation
               -Feelings
               -Idanell B. (“Nellie”) Connally
                     -Living in Washington, DC
                     -Compared with President's return to California
                     -The President’s view
                     -Haldeman’s view
               -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon's knowledge

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time
between 11:49 am and 11:54 am.

 [Conversation No. 725-30A]

      [See Conversation No. 24-149]

      [End of telephone conversation]

      President's Moscow trip

President talked with Mrs. Nixon between 11:54 am and 11:55 am.

[Conversation No. 725-30B]

      [See Conversation No. 24-150; one item has been withdrawn from
       this conversation.]

      [End of telephone conversation]

Haldeman left at an unknown time before 11:57 am.

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.

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).

Yeah.

Oh, I think that was good.

That gives you a damn good .

I think that was a way to handle a nice offload key wave.

Right.

Well, but it was good to cite some specifics.

I mean, you know, December 14th is the year it was up, and then to the January meeting in San Clemente and staying for the, you know, six months and all that.

I think it puts it in a... Sure.

I think where it's not...

They will try to tie it to these events, and it's good to lay some basis so that they can, you know, try to tie it to the...

to the wallace center to the texas elections from off the card the texas election but the wallace is hard we can't we know that well we didn't pick this up right out of wallace i mean that should be an event but uh let it be what they want they're all such a god damn right you should so they'll just do what we want now we'll come up with it we always have to worry about it we'll do the best we can

I already think you could be regretful, you know, when you see that she doesn't like you about them.

But Molly doesn't, though.

She was so undelighted, kind of sneaking.

She can't hide it.

She doesn't even try to, you know, I hate the man.

Like, she's just, I don't like the way you look.

And she was just, you know, she's kind of like the part of the whole, you watch her, you watch her.

So sometimes it's a little conscious part of it, you know.

I don't know, maybe the person's grown up.

I think she might be.

You know, with me, though, it was terribly difficult to get back to California.

Yeah, but I think she's been here longer.

I've been here longer.

Well, and you're... Women are different, for one thing, and I think she's different in a way.

That's right.

I think she's just really... She's got her feet in the ground.

She loves to dig in the soil and plant trees and all that sort of thing.

Be with her and chill out.

Chill out.

All this stuff just doesn't, she's not caught up in it.

She isn't interested in it.

That would be a problem.

Well, she is interested.

She's a damn direct part of it as far as politics and all that stuff.

A lot more than most.

You know the...

All right.

Also recorded on May 16, 1972

101-009 11:03 AM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Cabinet officers and staffers, including John N. Irwin, II, John B. Connally, [David] Kenneth Rush, Richard G. Kleindienst, Rogers C. B. Morton, Earl L. Butz, Peter G. Peterson, James D. Hodgson, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, John A. Volpe, George P. Shultz, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George H. W. Bush, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Henry A. Kissinger, Peter M. Flanigan, Clark MacGregor, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., John A. Scali, Herbert G. Klein, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Ronald L. Ziegler, Alexander P. Butterfield, Charles W. Colson, Frederic V. Malek, Robert J. Brown, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, Ezra Solomon, and Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:59 pm.
725-039 11:03 AM · 14 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:30 am.
725-027 11:30 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:30 am.
725-028 11:31 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:31 am to 11:35 am.
024-149 11:49 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:49 am and 11:54 am.
725-029 11:49 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:49 am to 11:56 am.
024-150 11:54 AM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 11:54 am to 11:55 am.
725-031 11:55 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John B. Connally, George P. Shultz, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:55 am and 12:03 pm.

All 74 conversations from May 16, 1972 →

Nixon phone call with Colson on George McGovern and Vietnam War June 29, 1972 · 27 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Butterfield on Henry Kissinger and Resignation December 7, 1971 · 32 min
Nixon & Ford on Watergate scandal and H.R. Haldeman May 1, 1973 · 2 min
Connally, Kennedy & Haldeman on Candidate protection and George C. Wallace May 15, 1972 · 3 min
Nixon, Connally & Rossides on George Wallace and Candidate security May 15, 1972 · 3 min
Nixon phone call with Connally on George Wallace and Busing July 26, 1972 · 5 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 725-030, May 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/725-030 (accessed November 2, 2026).