Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 879 › Conversation 879-005
Nixon & Haldeman on Public Relations and Veterans Legislation
Wednesday, March 14, 1973 · 11:10 AM–12:25 PM ET · Oval Office · 1 hr 11 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to coordinate the White House's public relations strategy, focusing on managing upcoming veteran-related events, Prisoners of War (POW) ceremonies, and appearances by the President. They discussed the logistics of balancing high-profile social events with press access, specifically aiming to mitigate negative press while maintaining a controlled public image. Additionally, the pair evaluated the effectiveness of recent presidential communication strategies, debating the merits of televised press conferences versus speeches to Congress to regain control over domestic policy narratives.
- Public Relations
- Veterans Legislation
- POWs
- White House Schedule
- Press Relations
- Congressional Relations
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 21.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 9.3 MB
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 3% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.
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NARA Description
On March 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:10 am to 12:25 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 879-005 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 879-5
Date: March 14, 1973
Time: 11:10 am-12:25 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Public relations
-John D. Ehrlichman's recommendations
-Congress
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Presentation to veterans
Veterans legislation
-Donald E. Johnson
-Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW]
-Lobbying
-Programs
-Vietnam veterans
-Meetings with President of non-VFW veterans
-Problems
-4-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Unions
-Selection of participants
-Blacks
-Ordinary people
-President’s appearances
-Vocational educational centers
-Forbes Air Force Base
-Topeka, KS
-Veterans hospitals
-Meeting with Jobs for Veterans group
-Press coverage
-Prisoners of War [POWs]
-Focus of attention
-Employment
-Excess
-Opportunities
POW reception at White House
-Date
-H. Ross Perot
-Leslie T. (“Bob”) Hope
-Knowledge of details
-Perot
-Sammy Davis, Jr.
-Regional television [TV] dinners
-Publicity
-Show for President and POWs
-Press coverage
-Private party
-Exploitation
-Briefing by Haldeman
-William P. Rogers, Kissinger
-Wives
-Photograph opportunity
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Press coverage
-Disadvantages
-Press anger at non-admittance
-Hope
-Work with Les Brown
-5-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Organization of show
-Raquel Welch
-Ann Margret
-Davis
-Attendance by President
Subcabinet
-Briefing
-Format
-General background
-Ehrlichman
-President’s appearance
-State Department
President’s schedule
-Trader Vic’s
-Omissions
-Role of government speech
-State of the Union radio addresses
-Max M. Fisher
-National Association of Broadcasters [NAB]
-TV networks
-Station managers
-Conflict
-Clay T. (“Tom”) Whitehead
-Attendance at Bohemian Grove
-Rose Mary Woods
-Secret Service
-Press attention
-Lowell Thomas [?]
-Herbert C. Hoover event at Waldorf
-Wealthy audience
-Raymond K. Price, Jr. [?]
POW reception at the White House
-Ziegler
-Press attendance
-Entertainment
-Hope
-Press pool before reception
-6-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Private party
-Press coverage
-Handling of press
-Ziegler
-Reception line
-Hand shakes
-Vulnerability to press
-Exclusion of press
-Receiving line
-Early arrivals
-Tour of White House
-Music
-Organization
-Dinner
-Waiters
-Music
-Marine Corps Band
-Strolling Strings of the Air Force Band
-Entertainment
White House social events
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Lucy A. Winchester
-Stephen B. Bull
-Complaints
-Entertainment
-Invitation list
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s work
-Rex W. Scouten
-Loyalty
-Constance M. (Cornell) (“Connie”) Stuart
Visit by Nguyen Van Thieu
-Accommodations
-Cyprus shores [?]
-Private house
-Camp Pendleton
-Security
-Demonstrations
-Organization by Jane Fonda
-7-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Camp Pendleton
-VIP residence
-Staff accommodations
-San Clemente
-El Toro Marine Corps Air Station
-Camp Pendleton
-Location
-Demonstrations
-Washington, DC
-Spiro T. Agnew
-Handling
-Washington, DC
-San Clemente
-Schedule
-Dinner
-Mrs. Thieu
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-William Rogers
-Adele (Langston) Rogers
-Foreign ministers
President’s schedule
-Latin American trip
-Africa
-William Rogers’s trip
-Thieu visit
-Wife
-Foreign minister
-William Rogers
-William Rogers
-Attendance
-Adele Rogers
-Kissinger
-Attendance
-Thieu’s dinner for President
-President’s lunch for Thieu
-Mrs. Thieu
-Mrs. Nixon
-William R. Codus
-Activities
-8-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
John Ford dinner
-President’s schedule
-Head table reception
-Size
-Table hopping
-Dress
-Location
-Beverly Hilton
-Century Plaza
******************************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]
-Mrs. Nixon’s schedule
-Helicopter
-Dress
-Arrangements for dinner
-Rita De Santis
[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
******************************************************************************
President’s statements
-Speech
-Substitute for press conference
-Ehrlichman
-Format
-Substance
-Preparation
-Cabinet meeting
-Effectiveness
-Compared with press conference
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 11:10 am.
Delivery
-Executive Office Building [EOB]
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 12:25 pm.
Presidential statements
-TV press conference
-Compared with address to Congress
-Necessity
-Control over content
-Address to Congress
-Ehrlichman’s evaluation of effect
-Domestic issues
-Crime speech
-Hard line [?]
-Vietnam
White House staff
-Political orientation
-Domestic Council
-Advice
-Softness
-Patrick J. Buchanan
Press relations
-Watergate, Donald H. Segretti
-Wounded Knee incident
-Repression and shield laws
-Press interest
-Buchanan
-Congressional consideration
-Bangladesh
-Foreign policy
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] negotiations
-Phase III
-Public interest
Congressional relations
-Importance
-President’s address to Congress
-Circumstances
-Topics of discussion
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Vietnam settlement
-Budget
-Inflation
-Clean environment
-Cease-fire
-Cambodia
-Amnesty
-Merit
-Compared with TV press conference
-Ehrlichman
-Effectiveness with public
-Response of Congress
-Applause
Press conference
-Vietnam
-North Vietnamese troop build-up
-Liberal hopes
-Joseph W. Alsop
-US defeat
-Future of South Vietnam
-Kissinger
-Public apathy
-North Vietnamese offensive
-POWs [?]
-South Vietnamese strength
-Alsop
-Analysis of North Vietnamese strategy
-South Vietnam’s survival
-Use of military force
-Domestic speech
-Necessity
-Ehrlichman’s opinion
-Scheduling
Congressional relations
-Congressional leadership meeting
-Pete V. Domenici’s reaction
-Ehrlichman’s report
-Work with groups by White House staff
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Chowder and Marching Society
-Haldeman’s meetings
-William E. Timmons
-Congressional leadership meetings
-Attendance
-Expansion
-Objections
Kissinger
Speech
-Work with President
-Audience
-Intelligence
-Format
-Text
-Personal touch
-POW wives
Press conferences
-Effectiveness
-Effect of hiatus
-Frequency, lulls
-Plans
-Alsop’s theory
-Flexibility of format
-Compared with Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Frequency
-Danger of overexposure of President
-President’s appearances, meetings
-Federal womens’ awards
-Patricia R. Hitt’s meeting with President
-Gains
-Meeting with John J. McCloy
-Value
-Length
President’s schedule
-Meetings
-Value
-Executives
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Length
-Saturday events for Sunday news
-Activities
-Announcements
-Publicity
-News stories
-TV coverage
-Sunday newspapers
Watergate
-Problems
-Segretti case
-News interest
-Amount, duration
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] case
-Ziegler
-L. Patrick Gray, III
-Testimony
-Questions from Congress
-Opening of Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] raw files
President’s appearances
-Ehrlichman
-Veterans bill
-Consumer protection
-Congressional relations
-Publicity
-Veterans bill
-Speech
President’s schedule
-Activities
-Frequency
-Cabinet meetings
-Congressional leaders
-Frequency
-Publicity
-Domestic Council
-Value of meetings with President
-Cost of Living Council
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Small meetings with President
-Value
-Counselors
-Cabinet meetings
-Value
-Ehrlichman
-Morale of officers
-Camp David meetings
-Social events
-Wives
-Subcabinet officers
-Dinners
-Wives
-Arrangements, location
-Finalization of schedule
-Congressional leaders meeting
-Value
-Bipartisanship
-Dinner
-Bryce N. Harlow
-Breakfast meetings
-Eisenhower compared with President
-Social events
-Theater
Watergate
-Segretti case
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Source of problems
-Lack of Republican support
-John W. Dean, III
-Invitation to testify
-Republicans
-Appearance of nonpartisanship
-Public posture
-Need for support for President
-Kleindienst
-Lack of support
-Talk
-Ehrlichman, Dean
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 879-5 (cont’d)
-Justice Department
-John N. Mitchell
-Kleindienst
-Gray
Kissinger
-Speech
-Planning
-Response of audience
Haldeman left at 12:25 pm.Also recorded on March 14, 1973
- 879-001 10:54 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Geoffrey C. Shepard, Vernon D. Acree, Albert Seeley, Paul Boulad, Robert Nunnery, Richard Hopkins, and Gustave Fassler met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:54 am and 11:01 am.
- 037-100 11:01 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:01 am and 11:02 am.
- 879-002 11:01 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:01 am and 11:02 am.
- 037-101 11:02 AM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John A. Scali talked on the telephone from 11:02 am to 11:03 am.
- 879-004 11:03 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 11:10 am.
- 037-102 12:25 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:25 pm and 12:27 pm.
- 419-021 12:25 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 12:25 pm and 12:27 pm.
- 419-036 12:25 PM · 9 sec — 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 12:25 pm and 12:27 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 879-005, March 14, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/879-005 (accessed October 5, 2026).