Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 906 › Conversation 906-010

Nixon & Petersen on Watergate investigation and Executive privilege

Friday, April 27, 1973 · 4:31 PM–4:35 PM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Petersen, Henry E.Conversation906-010 on Tape 906StartFriday, April 27, 1973 at 4:31 PMEndFriday, April 27, 1973 at 4:35 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 906-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard Nixon met with Assistant Attorney General Henry E. Petersen to discuss the ongoing investigation into the Watergate scandal and the status of potential evidence. The conversation centers on the President's frustration regarding uncorroborated information and his desire to control the investigative process to avoid political damage. Nixon emphasizes the need to manage the flow of information as the situation escalates, ultimately expressing concern over the implications of incriminating details surfacing.

Audio

Download MP3 · 8.0 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Look.
Yes, all the way down.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
I mean, there was no material, was there?
As far as we know, I don't know.
You remember our telephone call that night, and I told you, I said, yeah, it's an antenna.
When I say, yeah, all I can tell you is what people tell me every night.
I don't know what the hell it was.
Maybe they burned it.
But he said, yeah, right, right.
Right?
Yeah, right, right, right, right.
Right, right.
Thank God you didn't get anything.
You never moved anything you ever got in addition.
Yeah, yeah, I didn't know that.
Well, things are moving faster today.
Right.
And I think he had a design, though.
It's a sad, sad thing, but Jesus Christ, yeah.
Yeah.
I know.
Yeah.
Fine man.
There are quite a few of them.
Quite a few.
Yeah, a piece of paper that I could get.
Yeah.
It's not corroborated.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I see.
I get it.
I get it.
Well, I can't have it then.
I'm trying.
I'm trying.
Well, under the circumstances, it would just have to leave me in a spot where I just got to, you know, look at matters.
You see the problem.
I've tried to get it.
Conduct my own investigation and get it out of the Grand Church.
That's where they're insured.
Right.
Yeah.
I get your point.
I understand, I understand, and that's the way you've got it with your sweeper there.
Oh, I do understand.
Do I understand that they're gonna find the City Hall in Irving.
They weren't getting up.
Actually, I wish they could get it earlier.
Darn it, can't you look one day?
Yeah.
I see.
Yeah.
Yeah, now where does the name thing stand?
Yes.
I see.
I just don't know what to do.
I'm not going to do it.
Because he's in effect saying, you know, he knows it's provided for the other guy's girl and so forth, and that isn't the proper way to do it.
I mean, nobody can tell me that.
You know what I mean?
The others can say, well, they don't know he knows.
You do say everybody should know.
All right, okay.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On April 27, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry E. Petersen met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:31 pm to 4:35 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 906-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 906-10

Date: April 27, 1973
Time: 4:31 pm - 4:35 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with Henry E. Petersen.

[See Conversation No. 45-36]

Also recorded on April 27, 1973

  • 045-034 4:14 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard G. Kleindienst talked on the telephone from 4:14 pm to 4:16 pm.
  • 045-035 4:30 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:31 pm.
  • 906-009 4:30 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:31 pm.
  • 045-036 4:31 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry E. Petersen talked on the telephone from 4:31 pm to 4:35 pm.
  • 906-011 4:35 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:35 pm and 4:41 pm.
  • 906-012 4:41 PM · 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:41 pm to 5:00 pm.
  • 906-013 5:00 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:00 pm and 5:37 pm.
  • 906-014 5:00 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:00 pm and 5:37 pm.

All 42 conversations from April 27, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 906-010, April 27, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/906-010 (accessed October 5, 2026).