Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 808 › Conversation 808-008
Nixon, Haldeman & Ehrlichman on Presidential Vetoes and Campaign Strategy
Friday, October 27, 1972 · 12:59 PM–1:29 PM ET · Oval Office · 20 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with various staff and visitors, including H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, to coordinate end-of-campaign activities and legislative priorities. Key decisions included the veto of the Older Americans bill and the strategic timing of further bill signings to maintain positive press coverage. The group also discussed campaign surrogates, including Senator Robert Dole, and planned polling efforts to gauge public sentiment on the Vietnam War and presidential approval ratings.
- Presidential Vetoes
- Campaign Strategy
- Public Opinion Polling
- Vietnam War
- White House Schedule
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 11.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 16.4 MB
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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How are you?
How are you?
Nice to see you.
Nice to see you.
All right.
I appreciate your taking the time.
You've got a picture?
This is really wonderful.
That's all right.
I was going to ask for a road map.
There is a box.
Oh, I see.
That's where you work.
I'll just leave it to you.
I don't want to give people lessons.
They'll build up, they'll build up, they'll build up.
Well, if you could take the taper and ship it around, I guess they will do that at all their local stations.
They can have reruns and so forth, because that's what we did it for, you see.
And then, again, be sure you hit the condition of all those stations.
Thank you.
I know what they've got now.
Okay, let's go.
Thank you.
Yes.
Mr. President, are you aware that Senator Dole will be coming in for five minutes and three.
He'll be appearing on Face the Nation this Sunday, a special next Tuesday, and then again on television, I don't know, Meet the Press and Fox.
Chuck's just been running in for a minute before your meeting.
He's been pumping it.
He's got all of it.
Dole just said that you're going to have to see the president in five minutes.
Yes, you can.
Just before the surrogate.
He wants to do it all over again.
He has a chapter that says, no, it's just been a great curve.
He's really gotten into gear since last week.
One thing we probably need to do, right, is find a way to get notified of leaders.
And if we get any picks, then we've got to be damn sure to let that in on something ahead of time, or else there's nothing to notify us.
Well, that's it.
We would respond to another issue, which is the point that they've made.
Well, you know, there's nothing we need to do.
We need to have somebody just call them and say if we simply responded to what was already out.
That's it.
We've got to at least examine the table.
We need to find a point.
But it's one that, well, of course, whatever it is, it's a classic number.
Did you finish your reading?
I did, went alright, then off.
Nine vetoes.
I'd like to change the decision on these two older American stills now.
OK. Deto them.
Yeah.
All right.
Is that all right with you?
Yeah.
OK. Well, then, that dictates going with a partial list tomorrow and a partial list Monday, because I think we ought to go with them on the same day we go with HRY.
Sure.
So it doesn't flop around loose.
Oh, I'm fine.
I didn't take too bad of those.
That's right.
That's right.
Good.
So we'll pick up some money back here.
OK, great.
Well then, we'll hold up a call.
We'll really keep this story going three days in because we'll do some of these three in the morning before we leave.
All right.
And then the other remaining segment.
We had to announce that we signed some of these this morning because the time had passed.
So I just read off the list that you signed.
There were monuments, the expropriations.
But I think it'll be all right.
I told him that you were up all hours of the day, and I supported you.
What time is the, you've got a, you've got a drop in the state of Ohio.
We have two that will drop there.
Now, I just heard you say Michigan.
How about, what's something out there?
Well, I had a bus coming out there.
I think that's just been done.
We could do a,
We could do parochial aid up there.
We've got to check the body and see what it is.
Why don't you ask Bobby here?
Yeah, well, I'll check.
But if Michigan's on, why would we want to get on there?
You ask him.
I don't think we can get home.
We'll be there late, so it won't be local.
It won't get any national.
So really, Rob, this is what we want to do.
You can reiterate, actually.
He wants to reiterate the blessings.
Well, I'm not going to make it in my remarks, but you should reiterate the blessing, and parochialate it with a little grand thing, you know.
Might as well, but never mind that.
It never hurts to, if a father says what you're going to say to him, that's that.
The way it was stated is, if you drop it, the president will not say it.
Fair enough.
I'll do it tomorrow, Bob.
Get it done by me.
And we'll have two statements for Ohio.
You don't think that going there stirs up the animals in Michigan?
Three days earlier.
Well, what in the hell is this if they're gonna stir up the animals in Michigan?
The last week of it was one of the best in the operation.
Just do it.
Go out and make it to the base station.
You think that's it?
Mm-hm.
Chance to do it?
Fine.
I'm going to run this weekend, Sean, this weekend, just partly to get a reading on the war thing, so we know where we're going with Gallup and Harris.
And you wanted to get that answer on the settlement thing, so you've got to get a couple of Vietnam questions.
And the last reading, you might as well get it.
yeah you might get that just to see whether how much whether we have to improve the president's actions or disapprove so but don't we don't go into this a convoluted but it's like a teeter-totter you don't need to do that i just want to get a feel of what the public votes is on the you know right after the administration
I don't want him to see it.
Oh, no.
That's just a cover that he writes.
Okay.
NARA Description
On October 27, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Gilroy Roberts, Clement C. Conger, unknown person(s), White House operator, Alexander P. Butterfield, Earl L. Butz, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:59 pm to 1:29 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 808-008 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 808-8
Date: October 27, 1972
Time: 12:59 pm -1:29 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Gilroy Roberts and Clement C. Conger.
Introductions
The President’s schedule
-Time for sketch of the President
An unknown woman entered at an unknown time after 12:59 pm.
The President's schedule
-Rose Mary Woods
The unknown woman left at an unknown time before 1:01 pm.
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 12:59 pm and
1:01 pm.
[Conversation No. 808-8A]
[See Conversation No. 32-74]
[End of telephone conversation]
Roberts's sketch
-Techniques
Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 12:59 pm.
The President's schedule
-Bill signing
Butterfield left at 1:01 pm.
The President talked with Earl L. Butz between 1:01 pm and 1:04 pm.
[Conversation No. 808-8B]
[See Conversation No. 32-75]
[End of telephone conversation]
Butterfield entered at an unknown time after 1:01 pm.
The President's schedule
-Bill signings
H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at an unknown time after 1:04 pm.
Bill signings
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 45s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
*****************************************************************
The President's schedule
-Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Roberts's sketch
Roberts and Conger left at 1:10 pm.
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 1:10 pm.
The President's schedule
-John D. Ehrlichman's request for meeting
-Legislation and vetoes
-Robert J. Dole
-Forthcoming appearance on Face the Nation, Meet the Press
-Charles W. Colson
-Meeting with campaign surrogates
Bull left at an unknown time before 1:15 pm.
Dole
-Work
-Colson’s view
John B. Connally
Congressional relations
-Notification of Republican leaders
-Pictures
-Possible telephone calls
-Response to news stories
Bull entered at an unknown time after 1:10 pm.
The President's schedule
-Ehrlichman
Bull left at an unknown time before 1:15 pm.
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 2m 16s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************
Ehrlichman entered at 1:15 pm.
Ehrlichman's schedule
-Briefing
-Legislation
-Vetoes
-Older Americans bill
-House Resolution [HR] 1
-Bureaucracy
-Timing
-Arthur S. Flemming
-Elliot L. Richardson
-October 27, 1972 announcement of bills signed
The President’s schedule
-Ohio
-Possible statements
-Michigan
-Busing and parochial aid issues
-Robert P. Griffin
-The President’s forthcoming remarks
Ehrlichman left at 1:20 pm.
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 4m 54s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
*****************************************************************
Polls
-The President's polls
-Timing
-Vietnam issue
-George H. Gallup, Louis P. Harris
-Peace settlement
-Bombing
-Approval of the President's actions
-Robert Teeter
-Announcement
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 51s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
*****************************************************************
The President's schedule
-Vetoes of legislation
-Vietnam War settlement
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Routing of memorandum
-Private file
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 1m 32s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
*****************************************************************
Haldeman left at 1:29 pm.Also recorded on October 27, 1972
- 808-006 11:41 AM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:41 am to 11:42 am.
- 808-007 11:42 AM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon and members of the Committee on the Health Services Industry, including Barbara Dunn, J. Alexander McMahon, Samuel J. Tibbitts, and James W. Haviland, as well as Herbert Stein, Donald H. Rumsfeld, James H. Cavanaugh, the White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull, met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:42 am to 12:03 pm.
- 032-074 12:59 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:59 pm and 1:01 pm.
- 032-075 1:01 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Earl L. Butz talked on the telephone from 1:01 pm to 1:04 pm.
- 374-017 1:34 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:34 pm and 2:40 pm.
- 374-018 1:34 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:34 pm and 2:40 pm.
- 808-009 1:34 PM · 2 min — Michael J. Farrell and United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:34 pm and 2:54 pm.
- 374-019 2:30 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:30 pm and 2:40 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 808-008, October 27, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/808-008 (accessed October 9, 2026).