Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 729 › Conversation 729-005

Nixon & Haig on Melvin Laird and Political strategy

Saturday, June 10, 1972 · 1:20 PM–2:23 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation729-005 on Tape 729 (tape position 00:36:02–00:40:56)StartSaturday, June 10, 1972 at 1:20 PMEndSaturday, June 10, 1972 at 2:23 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 729-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig met to discuss concerns regarding Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird and his stance on an ongoing, sensitive political or military issue. Nixon expressed a desire to move away from Laird’s current position and instructed Haig to coordinate with relevant staff members to quiet the matter. The pair agreed that maintaining positive reporting would be essential to successfully distancing the administration from this long-term liability.

Audio

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yes, I saw it, sir, and I think Henry had a good talk with Secretary Laird the day he left.
He's held a couple more for doing this.
Mellon was always there.
The point is, we all know there's a problem there, but the big thing that he doesn't have in mind is that he knows damn well it's going to go on for the rest of his life.
It's just not going to.
That was John.
Huh?
That was John.
He should have said, assuming it goes on, like, you know, we have high hopes and that.
We've got to have a way to get off of that hook.
What I'm getting at is, what do you think can be done now?
Well, Henry told him to back off of it.
And he said that he would work off of it as a,
as a worst case thing, decided a worst case.
And I think what he's going to do, basically, though, is work with the individual guys up there to get this thing quieted down.
Why don't you do this?
Would you mind seeing our fellows and say, and that's the big point.
As you say, it's decent and quiet on the worst case, but look at that big hit in there.
That's right.
That's another reason why we need to continue a little bit with the good report that we're getting.
Yeah.
Because we can get back away from that.
Yeah.
All right.
Great.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On June 10, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:20 pm to 2:23 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 729-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 729-5

Date: June 10, 1972
Time: 1:20-1:23 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

     Melvin R. Laird’s memorandum
         -Henry A. Kissinger's conversation with Laird
         -Laird
               -The President's instructions
                     -Clark MacGregor
               -Reports

Haig left at 1:23 pm.

Also recorded on June 10, 1972

  • 729-003 1:15 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:15 pm and 1:20 pm.
  • 729-004 1:15 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:15 pm and 1:20 pm.
  • 729-006 1:23 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:23 pm and 1:25 pm.
  • 729-007 1:25 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:25 pm to 1:28 pm.
  • 729-008 1:29 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:29 pm to 1:30 pm.
  • 341-013 1:32 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:32 pm and 1:40 pm.
  • 025-025 1:40 PM · 11 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 4:45 pm.
  • 025-026 1:40 PM · 5 min — unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 4:45 pm.

All 40 conversations from June 10, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 729-005, June 10, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/729-005 (accessed September 30, 2026).