Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 725 › Conversation 725-041

Ehrlichman & Ziegler on Public relations and Media strategy

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 · 12:45 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsEhrlichman, John D.;  Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation725-041 onTape 725 (tape position 03:53:36–03:54:25)StartTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 12:45 PMEndTuesday, May 16, 1972 at 12:45 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 725-041 ↗

AI Summary

John D. Ehrlichman and Ronald L. Ziegler met to coordinate messaging strategy regarding the President's upcoming travel and public perception. They discussed managing speculation surrounding the President's motivations, particularly concerning political optics in Texas and the administration's strategic objectives. The discussion concluded with a focus on controlling the timing and effectiveness of public disclosures to maintain narrative consistency.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 100.2 MB

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 03:53:36 into the tape and ends around 03:54:25.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.

3:53:36You've got a lot of, one thing that you could, that you could be, that I promise, and totally not now, is the idea, you know, that he's going back because of Texas, and he's going back because of the wall.
3:53:38So, of course, you can trust us.
3:53:40But you know that I am careful.
3:53:42That's the stage that we talked about in December.
3:53:45We talked about it.
3:53:47I want that very, very effective.
3:53:48Don't push it.
3:53:50Sure.
3:53:50Yeah.
3:53:50So that's the theory that we go into.
3:53:53This is something that we can read off a lot.
3:53:54Why didn't you have that?
3:53:58Well, you simply said there's going to be a lot of speculation about why the one leading the fact.
3:54:03The plain truth of the matter is that I had you mentioned at some point in the discussion.
3:54:07And that happens to be the fact.
3:54:09So now, you know, I can't stop your speculation.
3:54:13All I can say is it's true.
3:54:14Hold on a little bit, President.
3:54:15Would you like to...
3:54:18First say a few words, and then I'll follow you in.

NARA Description

On May 16, 1972, John D. Ehrlichman and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:45 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 725-041 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 725-41

Date: May 16, 1972
Time: 12:45 pm
Location: Oval Office

John D. Ehrlichman met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

      The President’s schedule
           -Delivery of an unknown item

Ziegler left.

Also recorded on May 16, 1972

  • 725-032 12:46 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:46 pm to 12:49 pm.
  • 725-033 12:49 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Knayet Karim, Samuel Hoskinson, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:49 pm to 12:53 pm.
  • 725-034 12:54 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Toma Granfil, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:54 pm to 1:01 pm.
  • 725-042 1:01 PM · 7 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:01 pm and 4:58 pm.
  • 340-001 1:12 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:12 pm to 1:13 pm.
  • 340-002 1:13 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Zosimo T. Monzon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:13 pm and 1:19 pm.
  • 340-003 1:19 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:19 pm to 1:20 pm.
  • 024-151 1:20 PM · 0 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:20 pm.

All 113 conversations from May 16, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 725-041, 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/725-041 (accessed September 18, 2026).