Nixon & Haldeman on Watergate and Public Relations

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What's your chosen ?

The, I guess it's sort of the mentality that .

Something works one time, do it again.

Are they going to use the Rose Garden springtime as an office?

It's better to do them all in the office.

Absolutely.

No problem.

I mean, that isn't going to make much difference.

Anyway, fine.

We must, we could only, this whole business, you know, about the operation of the cannon analysis.

and all the rest and so forth, is so reminiscent to me of the operation that went through at the end of 1970 and 71.

And I think the one thing that sometimes that you miss is something that you're choosing where, whether our whole staff, I guess, needs to be aware of, and that is that we do, I do a hell of a lot

You know what I mean?

I never miss events.

I never, you know what I mean?

I never, we do the nice little things and so forth and so on, and our problem, frankly, is getting it out there.

It isn't a question of doing things.

And also, we do get out there, but you know, they talk about the impression of the country, of whether the president is...

They may, they may, for example, set some of the best things to send these puppy all.

But my point is, and others, you can't be everything.

I think that the, I think this idea of you being a warm buddy-buddy stuff is not, will be so painfully image-built.

Except where it's natural.

And then our problem is it never gets out.

You know, there's an awful lot of it there.

We do a lot of that, don't we?

Yeah.

And to reach for it in the blatant way that forces it out.

Yeah, yeah.

Kills it.

And that's real.

All I can do, I mean, is we've done all here, but apparently we can't have all of this.

You know, my products are going to go to the restaurant, and go to the baseball game, and go to the corporation.

But what I meant is, I think, many times, the other thing, too, is that we are all so obsessed by reading that.

column or something like that.

And you can now make applications about that.

You could take Harris' rule on inspiring comments.

The president should 40% say no.

Well, that's very good.

Actually, that's about the way he puts it.

Well, usually it's a negative.

It comes out negative.

I think part of the problem is basically we have cabinet officers, we have White House senators, we have leaders that are exposed day after day to goddamn interesting stuff, and they just don't know how to get it out.

They try.

I'm sure they've tried a pretty good amount of things.

Which gets us to the other problem, which is the press problems.

That's the statement.

It's an argument.

It's the fact that they don't want to write that certain thing.

And they'll only write it when it's forced to happen.

Right?

Yeah.

In general.

Ridiculous.

Ridiculous reactions by...

the fact that I was nice to a nine-year-old child.

How many times can you see nine-year-olds, eight-year-olds, six-year-olds in this office or out around coming up?

So we zero in on them and talk to them and talk to them.

But nobody ever pays a goddamn bit of attention.

I think maybe our staff, but we know that's why.

I think there's a little...

Well, just a policy question on what we do on the Fed.

The vice chairman of the Fed has resigned.

And Arthur obviously has his candidates.

He wants to move Holland as the executive director into the vacancy and move Mitchell up to vice-chairman.

Mitchell is the Democrat.

Holland, the staff guy, is a Republican from Nebraska.

And all our people are for him.

Mitchell is a Kennedy Democrat who burns holes in very high

tactic in the past has meant not to take Burns' recommendations on the Fed.

The question is whether we want to take them this time.

Connolly's view is that moving Holland onto the board is a good idea.

He endorses that.

But he has reservations on Mitchell because he's too old and he doesn't think it's worth a fight, though, he thinks.

You know, maybe it's better to tell you it's not worth it if I told the kid, I said, take Burns' shot.

But if he wants me, I can't make sense of it.

If he wants me to take care of him, rather than having Burns, I'll make sure you do.

In other words, that he should be the people who should be calling the president, the president, and so forth and so on.

That's an honor.

Oh, okay, that's an honor.

I'm sorry.

We know that's an honor.

Apparently.

The other thing you do want to know is,

The vice president called and said, as he put it, livid with hearing about this Watergate story.

And he was livid with hearing.

That guy's been trying to build this story, show them at the LA Times for several weeks.

He's refused to talk to them.

And he says that, you know, there's a half of the story, but apparently he says something about it.

He says, well, it's false.

The vice president has told everyone that he's appalled.

all the way to White House.

He says he has not said that at all and that he does not feel that and that he said I was in the people in Arkansas when I met with the group on the basis very strongly that we're moving to get this resolved at the grand jury where it belongs that there's a real problem in throwing it into the surface of the Senate that that can be worked out in some way so that it doesn't get

I was very distressed.

He also said if we wanted to, and he's not sure whether it would be good or bad, he would be very happy to call in the press, make a statement, or do whatever we wanted to clear it up.

And he said, in any event, I wanted you to know where I stood.

And he said, the one thing I pride myself on is while you're the president, I would never say anything like this or do anything like this.

Well, I think I'll talk to him.

I mentioned this to him.

think about that.

I don't know whether it was a good idea or not to escalate it to that or not.

It might be, uh, to have that go in and attack the press or basically attack the accuracy of this thing.

See, it's, it's a plot.

They, I think, I would guess they overplayed it.

When you read what Goldwater said in his, in his monitor interview, they, of course,

overplayed that he didn't go he didn't put it in the in the way that it came out with Barry says stuff that they could use and they did and Armstrong's thing was drawn for a clear out and the way that like the New York Times played it they didn't get to the point that she said sure it's a problem but we're moving to resolve it I have full confidence you know when it's cleared up it won't be a problem they left out that part

He said he's trying to find out.

I said, maybe it was.

If it is, I'll find out.

I'll get it.

He says, you've got it.

I said, I bet you won't find it.

I'll bet the guy made it up.

But you sure got to check it out and see what he said he is.

But if we want it to hit, he's standing by it.

If we want to use it to be

His point was, this gives me a chance if this is the time and the way we want to do it.

I've got a basis now for coming out and slamming on the distortion of all of us.

Good.

Marvin Esch did his congressional record on the floor yesterday.

He didn't get one line at any point in the morning.

Did he resign or stay in?

I think he just put out a statement, but he blasted the press.

He did it in terms of, and he blasted Bob Walters of the Washington Star News, you know, by name.

And the article was totally irresponsible.

And then he said, unfortunately, Walters' article was more responsible than most.

And then he hit McCarthyism and the despicable era of the 50s.

I don't really know anything about that.

Certainly, they are good acts of stuff.

We've got to get good spiritual things.

Right.

That's all we've got.

I think you're right about this.

Right about this.

I guess that makes no sense.

It's not going to work.

It might be good or it's bad.

I don't think mine and others are good.

It's too bad.

It's bad because he is good.

He is good.

He knows how to work with various people here.

That's all.

He can't be the only one in the world.

No.

It's always that way.

He's apparently one of the best.

No, not the best.

I'm just joking.

He's probably the best.

Look at who uses him and what he's done for him.

Right.

He's got the feel.

He's got the touch.

That's just... That's just funny.

That's just funny.

He could even borrow the money.

He could borrow the money and pay off the $150,000.

And they stalled it, they worked every which way to try and untangle it for over a year now.

Well, it certainly got the Congress up around it.

Yeah, it was worthwhile.

I think so.

I just told Tim that I had it this morning.

I said, no, let's not do it again.

I said, you're going to overdo this.

I did not make it.

I didn't want to write letters every time.

I'll be just in.

I will do that.

Well, then it pales on because they take all these guys.

I saw guys that I've seen four or five times over this year.

Now that's a little too common.

A little too common.

Right?

Yep.

But that was a good thing.

They thought because they were happy.

Sure can.

What about you?

All the ones you've seen four or five times are ones that are pretty solid guns.

So that's good to get.

Good to get them instead of the bayonets.

Right.

I was glad to see you were strong in this.

I mean, I guess when we cleared it up, it was just, you know, it's one of the things you're going to be absolutely certain of the role of that jury on this.

A lot of those guys are, you know, they want to be sure not to create any problems.

And I know.

That's why we went over it with him ahead of time and told him not to come any up.

He knew he was supposed to sign it.

He says, I don't know why, but just the guy was bearing down on me.

I grew up myself to think in terms of 350 all the time.

He said Silver was very, or Silver, they play a double role.

He said, fine, he said you'll want to clear that up with the grand jury.

We'll let you run in there early, get you in first thing Monday morning before the press piles up.

Clear that up.

Now the other guy will get on, as Gordon says, and go through a big rhetorical thing.

You know, do you mean to say that you possibly... Well they've got to make the case, don't they, before their crimes, after their crimes?

Well, yeah, partly.

And I said to Gordon, so what difference does that make?

And so the guy indulges in rhetoric.

Who's going to know it except those black people that are indulging in the rhetoric?

So I think he got better at clearing it up, although he was concerned about doing it.

Yeah.

And to that end of my talking points with Peter and Peter, I noticed the problem with Jones.

Where Jones and I think where's Schultz?

I would really, I mean, the Labor Department is so goddamn difficult and so forth.

I really like to leave that to you.

Let's show us if there were Jones.

They want to name Jones.

But, uh, and then he could be the bad guy rather than have Jones be the bad guy.

I think that's what I find.

I'd like to see it happen that way.

It's a different way.

The problem is in the ones where Schultz agrees with Brennan.

Because he's fighting, you know, he's on the front line.

And then Jones feels we're making a real mistake.

I guess the answer is just go ahead and make the real mistake.

The real estate may not be that important.

That's right.

It may not be that important to go to a fight and bleed and die more.

Well, you got an example of Bureau of Loader Statistics right now, where they're pushing Chisholm.

And everybody is, except Colson, who says it's the worst possible of what we could make.

And Chisholm, so Jones is trying to hold the line to get them to reevaluate that on the basis of the Colson.

I'm concerned.

Well, Colson could get you rannin' on that.

You should talk directly, right?

Can't I?

Yeah, I'll tell Colson to go talk to his friend, right?

You know, he's our guy here.

He's like, look, he's just his own friend.

I don't wanna have you shootin' that shot.

Well, that's the point.

Colson can hit right in exactly that way.

You don't goddamn do it, man.

That's right.

Talk directly.

Junk's can.

The White House can.

See you later.

Sure.

Nixon & Haldeman on Watergate and Public Relations

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on April 13, 1973

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