Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 908 › Conversation 908-005

Nixon & Cole on Domestic Policy and White House Staffing

Tuesday, May 1, 1973 · 8:18 AM–8:30 AM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); [Unknown person(s)]; Cole, Kenneth R., Jr.Conversation908-005 on Tape 908StartTuesday, May 1, 1973 at 8:18 AMEndTuesday, May 1, 1973 at 8:30 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 908-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Kenneth R. Cole, Jr. to discuss the restructuring of domestic policy operations following the departure of John D. Ehrlichman. Nixon instructed Cole to streamline the administrative process by requiring staff to formalize recommendations into position papers before seeking presidential review. The two also discussed the political aftermath of the Watergate scandal, with Cole commending Nixon's April 30th address as a necessary step toward refocusing the administration on national governance.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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You're gonna have quite a load in a while.

And, uh, I'm gonna check right in.

Where'd he be?

I was looking for John.

Hadn't been doing it anyway.

And, uh, I want you to, uh, uh, you know, sort of work out the problems between the various, uh, domestic people and put in shelves and guys.

And, uh, whenever it has to be brought in to me, and there'll be more occasions in the preview for you to bring it in, otherwise force them to get it into a position paper and bring it in.

All right.

Your recommendations I will accept.

I have, and they recognize that.

I think they will be, sir.

I thought your speech last night was very good, and I thought it was something that people can rally behind now.

I think that's, I think that's the first step.

They've got a little blood, but we have to eat a little crow.

But by God, we laid it out there, and that's it.

Mark Watergate, son of a bitching thing, has done now.

People should have spent that much time on it.

We've got to get on with the work of this country.

This is what I told my staff.

I think they are...

pulling together very well.

They're a great group of people, and I know that they will serve you well.

All right.

Yes, sir.

I think he's very good.

Roy and I are beginning to develop a pretty good working relationship.

There is a problem of various things.

And I think there you've got, not a good man, but very rough edges.

So it's the way that I would send you to work on that.

I don't know how to help you do that.

Maybe push it to the edge.

That, frankly, I'd talk to the edge and say, look, we've got to work on these dams and pipelines.

You know, people are fighting.

We've got to talk to the edge.

All right, fine.

All right.

Thank you.

Good work.

Well, I appreciate your confidence.

And I know that I've got some very big shoes to fill.

And you know, you do the best you can.

Thank you very much.

I'll hold you.

3-5.

Yeah.

See you.

Well, I had a lot of energy.

I have that to spend.

All right, brother.

I'm on 3-5.

I'll go over to your skates.

Thank you, brother.

NARA Description

On May 1, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and Kenneth R. Cole, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:18 am and 8:30 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 908-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 908-005

Date: May 1, 1973

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

Time: Unknown between 8:18 am and 8:30 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with an unknown man.

       Ronald L. Ziegler’s schedule

Kenneth R. Cole, Jr. entered and the unknown man left at 8:26 am.

       Cole
               -Role on White House staff
                      -John D. Ehrlichman’s position
                      -Domestic issues
                             -Position papers
                             -Recommendations
               -Staff

       Watergate
             -Democrats
             -Public support
             -President’s Watergate speech, April 30

       Roy L. Ash’s role on White House staff
              -Broker
              -Appointments
                     -Frederic V. Malek

       Cole
               -Age
                        -President and Alger Hiss case

Cole left at 8:30 am.

Also recorded on May 1, 1973

908-001 7:59 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), and Nellie L. Yates met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:59 am and 8:13 am.
908-002 7:59 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:59 am and 8:13 am.
908-003 8:13 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William E. Timmons, and William J. Baroody, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:13 am to 8:18 am.
908-004 8:18 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:18 am and 8:26 am.
908-006 8:30 AM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:30 am and 8:33 am.
908-007 8:30 AM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:30 am and 8:33 am.
123-003 8:33 AM · 1 hr 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Spiro Agnew, William P. Rogers, and bipartisan Congressional leaders, including Dr. John A. Hannah, Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield, Hugh Scott, J. William Fulbright, George D. Aiken, John L. McClellan, Daniel K. Inouye, Edward W. Brooke, Sam Nunn, Jesse A. Helms, Carl B. Albert, Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr., Gerald R. Ford, John J. McFall, Leslie C. Arends, Dr. Thomas E. ("Doc") Morgan, William S. Mailliard, George H. Mahon, Richard W. Bolling, William L. Dickinson, Roy L. Ash, William E. Timmons, Thomas C. Korologos, Max L. Friedersdorf, Gerald L. Warren, and John F. Lehman, Jr., met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 8:33 am to 10:05 am.
908-008 10:14 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:14 am to 10:26 am.

All 181 conversations from May 1, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 908-005, May 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/908-005 (accessed October 12, 2026).