Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 866 › Conversation 866-012

Nixon & Kleindienst on Executive Privilege and L. Patrick Gray

Thursday, March 1, 1973 · 10:52 AM–10:56 AM ET · Oval Office · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kleindienst, Richard G.Conversation866-012 on Tape 866StartThursday, March 1, 1973 at 10:52 AMEndThursday, March 1, 1973 at 10:56 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 866-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst discuss strategies for handling congressional oversight and the handling of sensitive investigative files, specifically concerning L. Patrick Gray's confirmation process. Nixon emphasizes the importance of protecting the executive branch's confidentiality and warns against succumbing to pressure from the press or individual congressmen to surrender sensitive records. The President stresses that while officials should appear cooperative, they must avoid establishing precedents that would allow Congress to bypass executive privilege in future investigations.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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So, I talked about that.
Well, I think some of these, you know, when people do jobs, you know, you do your daily jobs.
You work at such a small campus, but now and then, it's nice for the people to sit back and see the big campus.
You know, when they prepare, you know, when they prepare for marketing and so forth, they want to be discussed.
how a rhythm sharing is going to work.
These guys can give a shit about that.
They don't want to hear that from me.
Don't you agree?
But I don't know.
I don't know.
Do you think so?
Don't quit this crap about priorities.
Oh, he is an ass.
Yeah.
I got there.
I got John Deacon.
I've been.
I'm working with Mrs.
I got Meyer.
That's our hat.
Go ahead.
I got five friends.
Yeah.
Well, the main thing is that don't let him get in a position where he feels that he has to, in order to get confirmed, that he has to go so far.
One thing he should not, I guess, is that he discussed it with you.
I should point out, I know nobody's taking the trouble to read what I said about this case, that at the time, if you read my speech in the Congress, that's where I covered it, at the time that we got into the case, Truman issued an order to a clerk, who was that Tom Clark, the Attorney General, to deliver the FBI, that they were not cooperating.
In the entire course of that investigation, the FBI closed its doors completely.
But my point is, that was espionage against the United States
But we've crossed that bridge.
And if he goes so far as to say he'll get the members of Congress, what's he going to say when Bella Hobson says, I want to see the files with regard to the investigation of the riot in Miami or the Black Panthers?
You see, there must never be no individual congressman, no committee, nothing should ever identify files.
Okay.
Good.
That's right.
That's right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Right.
Oh, I mean, I'm not suggesting that we do it criminally because we've crossed that bridge.
But I'm simply saying don't let urban police boys have a double standard.
i'd say all right i'll look here boys uh we are we're aware of that and uh if you realize what we've been up against over the past let's remember this administration being more cooperative than anybody else anyway well uh but the other point is that i think you ought to uh
And I knew we should talk to Baker and Irving and be sure that Baker's back.
He's a good stick, you know.
I mean, he's clever, but he's got to remember that he's got to be about us because he's so anxious, you know, to get themselves to being, you know, looking like great and powerful investigators.
Well, mine's the other side of
Well, he wants to be all right.
He wants to be all right.
He certainly has nothing to gain to go in the other direction.
Remember Ralph Landers?
I mean, those who think that they can go.
Remember Ralph?
He became a hero with the Washington Press Corps because he went after Joe McCarthy.
He destroyed Ralph.
That's what it does.
You can't take the little party apart.
I don't mean for that to cover up, but I do mean that it's a giantness just to pander to these Washington reporters.
This is the thing you've got to look back and say,
Don't do it.
He's got to be very, very good at it.
Yeah.
Right.
Well, you understand.
That's the main thing, I suppose.
Because you see, Pat may not, he doesn't have a political sophistication that you've got.
You say, now, Pat, don't be driving to this and that.
I want him to be totally forthright.
I want him to be totally forthcoming.
He's got to establish the image of a lawman and all the rest.
and the newspaper, and the column, and the editorials of the Eastern Press.
If you go that far, then you've lost.
Because they do not want you to do the right thing.
They want you to do the wrong thing.
See?
The other way.
Okay?
All right.
No, no, no, at any time.
But I say that I'm deliberately limiting my communication only with these computer conferences.
And I am never open to that.
Oh, one other thing that I think happened.
And I'm going to get to David, who could play it a little bit differently.
I don't think he should indicate the course of these both times.
He said he had reluctantly turned the files over to the White House.
Well, obviously, but I ordered Dean to conduct an investigation.
Good God, he's got to make the files available to the Congress.
Can he do it to the President?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, well, if I find you, I'll order an investigation.
And all that's okay.
That's all I want to say.
Good.
Okay.
Good luck.

NARA Description

On March 1, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:52 am and 10:56 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 866-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 866-12

Date: March 1, 1973
Time: Unknown between 10:52 am and 10:56 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Richard G. Kleindienst.

[See Conversation No. 37-17]

Also recorded on March 1, 1973

  • 037-015 10:51 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:51 am.
  • 037-016 10:51 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:51 am and 10:52 am.
  • 866-006 10:51 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:51 am.
  • 866-007 10:51 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:51 am and 10:56 am.
  • 866-008 10:51 AM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:51 am and 10:56 am.
  • 866-009 10:51 AM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:51 am and 10:56 am.
  • 866-010 10:51 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:51 am and 10:56 am.
  • 037-017 10:52 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 10:52 am to 10:56 am.

All 53 conversations from March 1, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 866-012, March 1, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/866-012 (accessed October 1, 2026).