Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 803 › Conversation 803-022

Nixon, Haldeman & Ziegler on US-Soviet relations and Vietnam negotiations

Wednesday, October 18, 1972 · 3:21 PM–5:43 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation803-022 on Tape 803StartWednesday, October 18, 1972 at 3:21 PMEndWednesday, October 18, 1972 at 5:43 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 803-022 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with H. R. Haldeman and Ronald Ziegler to coordinate the administration's upcoming schedule, including meetings with Congressional leaders and campaign travel logistics for Kentucky and Michigan. The discussion shifted toward significant foreign policy concerns, specifically reviewing US-Soviet trade, maritime, and Lend-Lease agreements, as well as the status of ongoing Vietnam peace negotiations. The participants evaluated political messaging and organizational strategies, emphasizing the need for disciplined scheduling and timely execution of executive briefings.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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We don't want trees.

God damn it.

Ten of a lot of people agree with this.

The Americans agree with this.

They agree with the bond amount.

That's what they are saying.

They are there to set a man free.

They are there to set a deal with us.

That's what they are saying.

I don't have any time here.

Well, I don't think so.

My thing would be a little different.

Okay.

All right.

I'll try to explain, explain this by the box.

I'll have it moved.

But if it's 4 o'clock or 4.30, I'll have it here.

This is the last one.

This is about this internet.

This commercial is on hell.

If we were to, if we were to, I'm saying, Bob is an American.

I think that's everybody's favorite brand name.

I'm thinking that we'll move that, if we have a composer,

Well, we have a bird that falls in our arms here.

Oh, yeah, that's what I've been wanting to do.

You know, he was a Michigan operator, but he buys the Louisville, Kentucky thing.

And I said, if we just did that, that's it.

Go out Wednesday night for a night rally, night meeting.

And I invite you to watch the game, folks.

I think we're going to do a good thing.

Would that be the problem that you raised?

He said, well, it would mean it at least halfway.

But it would at least 50% be the problem that I raised.

And I'm not at all sure it should be that way, 50%.

Well, he says he's a reasonable man.

Colson is frank.

He said he was probably going to lose his way on vacation out of town.

He couldn't concur.

Chuck said he couldn't concur more strongly with the Colson Hull position.

He put up a winning game.

He did nothing to upset the campaign.

The last he heard was the one shot in Michigan.

I have a good hockey kind of game.

It's so low-key, and now, that it's because he has them, and frankly, every game he's had, there's a lot of them.

There is, maybe, never seen this, and Chuck's got a little bit of a problem with that.

But on this, I might be able to do all that.

These are all scheduled ideas, and we have to make the decision to help solve them.

Now, these incidents, the ideas on scheduled meetings are not good because they have no judgements.

But right now, it's very important that you make sure that you can have a judgement meeting.

You can have a judgement meeting, but you have to be on time.

You can't have a judgement meeting just because he doesn't know what to say or not.

You have to be on time.

Roger, you're behind me on this.

This is...

I don't think they are.

I'm sorry.

Well, they have children.

They can't go.

NARA Description

On October 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:21 pm to 5:43 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 803-022 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 803-22/804-1

Date: October 18, 1972
Time: 3:21 pm - 5:46 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Ronald L. Ziegler.

         US-Soviet Union relations
            -Maritime agreement, trade agreement
            -Lend-lease agreement

         The President's schedule
             -Forthcoming meeting with Congressional leaders
                 -Location
                      -Blue Room
                           -Photograph session
                      -Map Room
                      -Executive Office Building [EOB]
                 -Timing

         US-Soviet relations
            -Trade agreement
            -Maritime agreement
            -Lend-lease agreement
                -William P. Rogers's briefing
                -Peter G. Peterson

         Meeting with Congressional leaders
            -Blue Room

Ziegler left at 3:23 pm.

         The President's schedule
             -Clark MacGregor's view
                 -Michigan
                 -Kentucky
                      -Louis B. Nunn
                      -Rally

                                        (rev. Nov-03)

                          -Ashland
                               -West Virginia
             -Charles W. Colson’s view
             -Conversation with Bryce N. Harlow
                 -Colson-Haldeman position
             -Kentucky
                 -Michigan
                 -The President's radio speech
             -Cabinet, Cost of Living Council [COLC], Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] meetings
                 -JCS meeting
                      -Vietnam
                          -Rogers

        Vietnam negotiations
            -Possible settlement
                -Nguyen Van Thieu
                     -Position

This conversation was cut off at an unknown time before 3:47 pm.

[An unknown portion of the conversation was not recorded at this time while the tape was
changed]

Also recorded on October 18, 1972

031-119 2:37 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr., and Gerald R. Ford talked on the telephone from 2:37 pm to 2:39 pm.
803-017 2:37 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:37 pm to 2:39 pm.
031-121 2:39 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
803-018 2:40 PM · 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Nikolai S. Patolichev, Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, William P. Rogers, Peter G. Peterson, Peter M. Flanigan, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfeldt, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:40 pm to 3:16 pm.
803-019 3:16 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:16 pm and 3:20 pm.
803-020 3:16 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:16 pm and 3:20 pm.
803-021 3:20 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:20 pm to 3:21 pm.
804-001 3:21 PM · 1 hr 45 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Alexander P. Butterfield, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Rose Mary Woods, unknown person(s), Alexander M. Haig, Jr., White House operator, and William E. Timmons met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:21 pm to 5:43 pm.

All 86 conversations from October 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 803-022, October 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/803-022 (accessed October 10, 2026).