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Conversation 854-037

TapeTape 854StartTuesday, February 13, 1973 at 1:41 PMEndTuesday, February 13, 1973 at 11:59 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.Recording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon and Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler met to discuss media strategy, focusing on controlling the narrative regarding White House staffing changes and press relations. They specifically addressed public rumors concerning the departure of Secret Service official Robert Taylor, with Ziegler defending the administration's version of events against press inquiries from journalists like Helen Thomas and Dan Rather. Additionally, the pair discussed the repatriation of prisoners of war (POWs) and the importance of highlighting the POWs' reported support for the President to bolster public perception.

Press relationsWhite House staffSecret ServicePrisoners of War (POWs)Public relationsMedia strategy
AudioNARA Description

On February 13, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:41 pm and 11:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 854-037 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 854-37

Date: February 13, 1973
Time: Unknown after 1:41 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

       Press relations
                                       -52-

            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                 (rev. August-10)
                                                        Conversation No. 854-37 (cont’d)

       -Photograph opportunities
       -Bulletins
               -Wire
               -Comments on trade
               -Hijacking story
                      -Leaks
                      -Congress
                      -William P. Rogers
       -Bolstering of appointees
               -Donald H. Rumsfeld
               -John A. Scali
               -George P. Shultz
       -Listen to people talking
               -John D. Ehrlichman and Shultz

Public relations
        -Flying flag
               -Lyndon B. Johnson’s mourning period
               -Statement for President
               -Executive Office Building [EOB]

Press relations
        -Ziegler’s press briefing
                -Robert H. (“Bob”) Taylor
                       -Departure
                                -United States Secret Service [USSS]
                       -Helen Thomas’s story
                                -Accuracy
                       -Transfer
                                -Promotion
                       -False impression
                       -Rift with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                       -Dan Rather’s question
                       Public interest in story
        -Rogers
                -Truculence
                -Publicity
                                                 -53-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                        (rev. August-10)
                                                              Conversation No. 854-37 (cont’d)

                       -Edmund S. Muskie
                -President’s press conference
                       -Conflict with Press
                       -Johnson
                                -Work with press
                                       -Frank Cormier
                                       -[First name unknown] Kilpatrick
                                       -Conflicts
                                       -Ebb in relationship
                -President’s telephone calls to Prisoners of war [POWs] wives
                       -Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton, Capt. James A. Mulligan, Jr., Col. Robinson
       Risner
                       -Respect for POWs
                               -Statements
                       -Press queries
                               -Confirmation
                       -POWs
                               -Admiration for President
                                      -Mrs. Mulligan

       POWs
                -Interest in domestic politics
                        -Clark Air Field
                        -POW camps
                -Straw vote for President
                        -Story from Philippines
                -POW grapevine
                        -North Vietnam
                -President’s conversation with Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
                -POWs return statement
                        -Neil Armstrong’s moon statement
                        -“God Bless America”

       Delivery of statement

Ziegler left at an unknown time after 1:41 pm.
Transcript (AI-Generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

Well, it's quite an active morning, isn't it?
Every photo opportunity we have bulletins flashing out on the line.
That's great.
The bulletin, the comments about trade.
Yes, sir.
The bulletins of the hijacking story.
It also builds these people up.
which I wanted to do when I was in the back, I wanted to build it.
I got to get it reinstalled and scalloped and all the rest of it.
Scallop sections, they've got to know that it's straight from the top.
Sure.
And, uh, what's the name?
Right up there.
Schultz.
I was thinking of that device, having a, I don't have to use it very often, you can't overuse it.
What are your feelings about that?
You don't have a statement yet?
No, they were, I told them that we're meeting about 3 o'clock now, so they should be ready for you to review at 2.30.
I'll be at the DOB.
I'm glad you're doing this today because the briefing was just one of those.
What do we have reading today?
Well,
I briefed, and they pressed on this Bob Taylor thing.
What's Bob Taylor going to say?
Well, he's leaving, you see, the White House detail as head of the Secret Service.
And Helen Thomas ran a story that said he had been fired by Holden, and that there was a rift.
I just took her on directly and said that she had not checked the story, and I thought it was him.
I said, the fact of the matter is that Bob Taylor has been
After four years, there was a Secret Service did an assessment, and as was done throughout government, he was offered a job as supervisor within the head of the protective assistant secretary, which is a promotion.
And I said, this story was written by Helen Thomas, United Press International, leads a false impression, and that is that Bob Taylor was fired because of a rift with Bob Haldeman.
And I said, it is incorrect.
And then he ratted at me, he said,
Ron, what are you going through this charade for?
You know the fact of the matter is that Bob Holliman and Taylor didn't get along.
And I looked at him and I said, Dan, you can call it a charade if you want.
But I said, let me tell you what the facts are.
And then I went one fact, two facts, three facts.
It was one of those types of violent error that you read between Taylor and Holliman.
No.
Most of the country didn't give a damn.
Not a bit.
No, not a bit at all.
These guys are just living in their own isolated world.
Well, they haven't been creating conflict.
Some days they, they, they, they just get this way.
Conflict, yeah, they create conflict.
But now, I mean, I can't.
One of the days they are, uh, but I just take it.
I'm up right or something.
Even if it's all good.
He called me angry last night.
He said he just left.
He said, well, we've done exactly the right thing.
Goddard, we should call his name again.
No, you don't need to.
He's gone, anyway.
It's amusing that you have to deal with that situation.
It's obnoxious.
Uh, he doesn't like to get in the car, but he's got some like publicity on him.
Like, he's got a muskie on him.
He can float it.
He can catch on.
But, uh...
It does show you that now and then you have to show a spark.
That's right.
You have to show a spark.
And that's why that press conference I had, by having a little spark, I'm sure it's going to get some people to go this far.
I mean, but they, but deep down, they'll write for a while, and whine and itch, but they know it's true.
That's right.
Don't you agree?
Yes, sir.
And I'll always know that the time when Lyndon Baines Johnson was sitting in the White House and he talked to Corn Mary and Gilpatrick about it, the time that Lyndon Baines Johnson was serving them scotch in his office, spending hours with the press, worrying about them, seeing them on an individual basis, they were putting color out of here by the carload, is when his press relations went to the lowest ebb during that period.
I don't want you to mention this, but I also heard this morning called the three wives, Ben Floyd and Mrs. Mulligan.
Right.
Right.
We will not do that, all right?
What we will do is, because it comes up, because I mentioned on the left, on the chat side, when you say yes, when you say yes, they ask you about, well, yes, the president did call, called a three-year problem, but the presidency told us, well, yes.
So he gets me in a position that, all right, that, what about both sides of the problem?
That's not, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're,
I'll tell you the other day.
The other day?
Well, they're very interested.
They are reading.
This is what I've been saying.
The other day I told her.
He shouldn't have the same version of the president.
Because what he must have gone through with all his opposition in order to get them back.
Did you see, I don't know if someone showed the virus story to you, but the report out of Clark Air Force Base is that the POW camps, people in the POW camps kept pace on what was happening politically in the United States.
As a new POW would come in, he would fill them in on what was taking place in the presidential election and what was happening domestically.
There's a war story out in the Philippines this morning that they had a straw vote during the presidential election.
that the POWs had a strong vote and that you won, a strong vote, handily, et cetera, amongst the POWs in North Vietnam.
But that was an interesting little insight that I made.
So the guys who were there for six years and seven years were very much aware of the things that occurred, not because of what the North Vietnamese were telling them, but because they knew the new POW would come in.
So it was an interesting learning.
Well, that is a story that will even double the pressure.
It's, I told her, it's an accident.
I said, it's an accident.
I said, yes, it's like, you know, it's like our, the owner of a strong setter.
I didn't want to set it to fire, but anyway, it's, you know, you said one of the schools started to land, and I said, I mean, I can't, but the way it's set up, you've got to find that multi-moment, so you've got to listen to everybody in the room, and you should never forget that story.
That was really, what happened?
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