Conversation: 904-008
Prev: 904-007 Next: 904-009Start Date: 25-Apr-1973 9:21 AM
End Date: 25-Apr-1973 10:46 AM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Wilson, John J.; Strickler, Frank H.; [Unknown person(s)];Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On April 25, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, John J. Wilson, Frank H. Strickler, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:21 am to 10:46 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 904-008 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 904-8
Date: April 25, 1973
Time: 9:21 am - 10:46 am
Location: Oval Office
-9-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
The President met with John J. Wilson and Frank E. Strickler.
Watergate
-Wilson and Strickler
-Experience
-Knowledge
-Funds for defendants
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Conversation with John W. Dean, III
-Use for money
-$322,000
-Delivery to Frederick C. LaRue by Gordon C. Strachan
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Herbert W. Kalmbach
An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 9:21 am.
Refreshment
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 10:46 am.
Watergate
-Funds for defendants
-Dean
-Kalmbach
-Press opinion
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Haldeman compared with Ehrlichman
-Kalmbach
-Dean and Ehrlichman
-Haldeman’s knowledge
-Purpose
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Possible charges
-Obstruction of justice
-Federal statutes
-Intent
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
-Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Conspiracy
-Wilson’s interpretation
-President’s possible position with Henry E. Petersen
-Grand jury
-Wilson’s and Strickler’s interest
-President
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Wilson’s and Strickler’s visit with US Attorney’s office
-Earl J. Silbert and Seymour Glanzer
-Leaks
-Jack N. Anderson
-Glanzer
-Conversation with Wilson and Strickler
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Possible resignations
-Effects
-Press
-Dean
-Timing
-Effect on press
-Possible letter to President from Wilson and Strickler
-Possible alternatives to resignation
-Informal meeting with prosecutors
-Grand jury
-Statements from Wilson and Strickler
-Standards of conduct for Presidential advisors
-John B. Connally’s opinion
-Dorothy Hunt
-Dean’s possible testimony
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-Possible conversations with Dean and LaRue
-Promise of clemency
-John N. Mitchell, LaRue
-Charles W. Colson’s possible conversation with William O.
Bittman
-Bittman
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
-Blackmail of Colson
-Dean’s conversations with President, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman
-Possible statement
-[First name unknown] Rivers
-Delivery of money
-LaRue
-Henry E. Petersen
-Fees
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Dean
-Dean
-Possible indictment
-Possible defense
-Possible testimony
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-President’s conversation with Petersen
-Lie detector tests
-Prosecutors
-Jeb Stuart Magruder and Gordon C. Strachan
-Magruder and Strachan
-Leaks from grand jury
-Effects of case
-Dean
-Immunity
-Vulnerability as witness
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Conversation with President, March 21, 1973, concerning Bittman
-Blackmail
-Immunity
-Possible effect
-President’s conversation with Petersen
-Possible effect
-Credibility
-Possible perjury
-Immunity
-Petersen
-Possible memo to President
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
-Duration of grand jury
-Possible indictment of Dean
-Conversations with President
-US Attorney’s negotiations with Dean
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Possible resignations
-Effect
-Connally’s view
-Public’s reaction
-Timing
-Impairment of usefulness
-Connally’s and Rogers’s opinion
-Impairment of usefulness
-Possible questions for Ronald L. Ziegler
-$322,000
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Possible resignations
-Effect on White House
-Involvement in cover-up
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Dean
-Value to President under present circumstances
-President’s needs
-President’s schedule
-Willy Brandt
-European Economic Community
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Defense
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Quadriad
-Georges J. R. Pompidou
-Iceland
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Comparison with Sherman Adams and Dwight D. Eisenhower
-President’s needs
-George H. Bush, Clark MacGregor, George P. Shultz
-Opinion
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
-Connally, Rogers, Bryce N. Harlow
-Opinion
-Effect on President’s effectiveness
-Presidency
-Public confidence
-Appearance of impropriety
-Possible resignations
-Timing
-President’s conversation with Petersen
-Grand jury leaks
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Possible indictments
-Departures from White House staff
-Possible indictments
-Press
-Dean
-Presidency
-Possible statement on resignation
-Departures from White House staff
-Comparison with Dean
-Petersen
-Replacements
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Functions in White House
-Comparison with Adams and Eisenhower
-Adams
-Rowland R. Hughes
-Carey Estes Kefauver
-Dixon-Yates affair
-Gerald D. Morgan’s conversation with Wilson
-Jerry Persons
-Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Congress
-Republicans
-Compared with Adams
-Henry Styles Bridges
-Relations with the White House staff
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
-Demands for resignation
-Departures from staff
-Actions by President
-Mitchell trial
-Possible indictments
-Unindicted co-conspirators
-Action by President
-Leaves of absence
-Resignations
-Value to President
-Relations with Congress
-Patrick J. Buchanan, [Horace] Chapman (“Chappie”) Rose
-President’s fund problem in 1952
-President’s “Checkers” speech
-Robert A. Taft, Herbert C. Hoover, Jr., Arthur Summerfield
-Public support
-President’s Cambodia decision
-Confidence
-Bush, MacGregor
-Departures from staff
-Effect on Presidency
-Ehrlichman
-Hunt’s papers for L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Dean’s role
-Ehrlichman’s knowledge of Dean’s activities
-Meeting with Dean and Gray
-Putative remark concerning Hunt leaving country
-Donald H. Segretti
-Strachan
-Haldeman
-Petersen
-Grand jury
-Conversations with President
-Dean
-Mitchell
-William G. Hundley
-Attorney
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
-Relationship with Petersen
-Possible defense
-Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Colson
-Colson
-Recommendation to Ehrlichman
-Lawrence M. Higby
-Conversation with Dean
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Representation by Wilson and Strickler
-Dean
-Possible testimony
-Conversation with President concerning Hunt
-President’s response
-Timing
-Conversations with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Conversation with President
-Bittman’s conversation with O’Brien concerning $120,000
-Haldeman’s presence
-President’s response
-$1,000,000
-Executive privilege
-Petersen
-Higby
-Conversation with Dean, April 24, 1973
-Dean as scapegoat
-Petersen
-Possible obstruction of justice by President
-Dean’s conversation with Higby
-President’s forthcoming conversation
-Petersen’s role
-Obstruction of justice
-Dean’s conversations with President
-Timing
-LaCosta meetings
-President’s knowledge
-Dean’s March 21, 1973, conversation with President
-President’s response
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 904-8 (cont’d)
-Presidency compared with President
-Prosecutors
-Glanzer, Silbert, and staff
-Dean
-Negotiations with witnesses
-Immunity
-Dean
-Immunity
-Petersen’s responsibility
-President’s role
-President’s April 17, 1973, statement
-Dean’s possible testimony
-Quid pro quo agreement
-Lack of corroboration
-Local juries
-Racial and political makeup of jury
-Change of venue
-John J. Sirica
-Legal relationship with Wilson
-Attitude toward Republicans
-Sentence to G[eorge] Gordon Liddy
-Higby
-Conversation with Dean
-Petersen’s relationship with President
Presentation of gifts by President
-Inauguration
-Wife, girlfriend, daughter
Wilson and Strickler left at 10:46 am.
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)