Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 908 › Conversation 908-016
Nixon & Woods on Watergate and Special Prosecutor
Tuesday, May 1, 1973 · 12:40 PM–12:49 PM ET · Oval Office · 7 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and his secretary, Rose Mary Woods, reviewed correspondence and reports concerning the public and political reaction to the President's April 30, 1973, televised address regarding the Watergate scandal. They discussed various supporters and critics, specifically noting concerns about Senator Charles Percy’s advocacy for a special prosecutor and the supportive messages received from family and political allies. The discussion served as an informal status update on the administration's political standing and the incoming volume of communications during the crisis.
Audio
NARA Description
On May 1, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:40 pm to 12:49 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 908-016 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 908-016
Date: May 1, 1973
Time: 12:40 pm - 12:49 pm
Location: Oval Office
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
The President met with Rose Mary Woods.
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[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift during
chronological review 2007-2013]
Watergate
-Reaction to President’s previous speech, April 30
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon Cox
-Note to President
-Telephone calls from supports
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Watergate
-Reaction to President’s previous speech, April 30
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Nelson A. Rockefeller, Spiro T. Agnew
-David Rockefeller
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Previous note to President
-Agnew
-Charles H. Percy, Jr.
-Special Prosecutor
-Teapot Dome Scandal
-Preston Wolfe
-Percy
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Telephone calls
-Wolfe’s call [?]
-Public support
-Charles W. Colson
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
-John B. Connally, Elliot L. Richardson, William P.Show the rest of the log (26 more lines)
Rogers, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, Kissinger, Joe Lewis [?],
Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Leonard Garment, Anne L.
Armstrong, Claude S. Brinegar, Colson, and Don [Last
name unknown]
-Robert H. Abplanalp, [Unintelligible name], and H. R.
(“Bob”) Haldeman
-Lawrene Nixon
-President’s family
-Backlog
-Adela Rogers S[ain]t Johns [?]
-Percy
-Special Prosecutor
-Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis
-Meeting with Woods
-Gerald R. Ford
-Barry M. Goldwater, Sr.
-Telegram
-Telephone calls
-Friend of Henry J. Tasca, Tom Tasca [?]
-Delayed response
-Agnew [?]
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Burned telegrams
-Lucy Arnold [?]
The President and Woods left at 12:49 pm.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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Hi, Rose.
There's a couple of answers to my file.
Julie and, uh, Julie's earlier, and Trisha's written.
I slept under my door in the middle of the night and sat down.
And, uh, you might be interested in reading Trisha's book.
Okay.
Quite a lot.
I'll have a couple of notes.
Oh, she was so dear to us.
Shut up.
Right.
And they were talking to some private people.
Incidentally, uh, uh, it's curious that, uh,
people that the Reagan called.
We haven't heard from Rockefeller or any of them.
Well, we heard from David Rothschild.
We got something from Rothschild before last week.
Oh, yeah.
Well, yesterday it was before.
He said he had a complete faith in you.
All right.
Maybe that's right.
He said that by hand, remember?
Maybe.
Thank you, Missy.
All right.
And I hope Percy doesn't get... Well, he attacked him.
Well, he's always...
He's always...
He's introduced in a bell, I guess, to have a special prosecutor because this is worse than the people I don't stand on.
The worse than the common law.
Little bombs, you know, he's just such a little... Bill over a special prosecutor is the worst thing I've ever done.
That's not interesting.
I don't know how to see now.
Here's the lock.
Anything important?
Oh, yeah.
Well, here's the lock.
Press the lock.
I didn't put all the stuff on the lock.
It just says here, that's what it is.
That's it.
Yeah.
But don't worry about Percy.
Percy's getting all separated.
He can't figure it out.
He won't get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
He'll never get it on him.
Most people on the inside won't spread or do whatever.
Henry's one of the worst in that respect.
And he also said, and I think he said it all the time since I came on in, that he said, he doesn't give an example of the Gallup Hole, my shareholder, and the people are behind you.
Oh, the Gallup Hole.
They had one now.
No, I don't know.
They had one.
No.
He was really great.
He said, you just go right on, don't let it deter you.
Oh, I thought Henry was just a kid, and he thought you'd done...
He really almost cracked me in the knee because he thought, you know, you'd done such a marvelous job.
I understand that for sure.
Yeah, I love you too.
He really did.
He said, he...
I have to give him that.
There, everybody, both of you.
Yeah, I didn't know if he gave you all of that or not, but that's what he's given me.
And I think she made a list of people he talked to last night.
I don't know.
I noticed a little rainy Nixon called off off off her today.
I know you.
I'm not going to work with any member of the family.
No, you shouldn't.
Slittery.
And I've got things back, and back when I was called back, where I was at St. John's, and where it goes out there.
I haven't talked to Adam in a year.
By the first he squealed about us by the prosecutor.
Oh, sure, that was fast.
I see you talked to some of those.
I'd forgotten about that.
He's coming.
I'm going to see him for dinner this late afternoon.
He's coming home.
And don't watch what I've got to put in before you...
And I think you saw me the other day, you said that to the captain, and to the captain at home.
I said that to the captain.
Yeah.
No.
Yeah, you said that to the captain at home.
Yes.
Well, it's... Who stands up?
Do you remember, Rose?
Remember when that gun dabbled and Arnold burned all the wires?
You know, before the fight.
Yeah.
Well, we did a lot of work.
No.
Well, I know that Rocky did something, and I thought I'd have to make a change.
He usually is supporting those works and changes.
He's not working for that work.
Also recorded on May 1, 1973
- 908-014 12:26 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 12:26 pm and 12:27 pm.
- 908-015 12:27 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:27 pm to 12:39 pm.
- 908-026 12:49 PM · 2 min — United States Secret Service agents and President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:49 pm and 3:07 pm.
- 433-001 12:50 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:50 pm to 12:58 pm.
- 045-073 12:58 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:58 pm and 12:59 pm.
- 045-074 12:58 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:58 pm and 12:59 pm.
- 045-075 12:59 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 12:59 pm to 1:00 pm.
- 433-002 12:59 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Dr. Walter R. Tkach met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 12:59 pm to 1:00 pm.
Related conversations
- Nixon phone call with Rogers on Watergate and Special Prosecutor May 2, 1973 · 7 min
- Nixon phone call with Woods on Watergate and Public Relations May 13, 1973 · 5 min
- Nixon & Woods on Watergate and Fundraising May 23, 1973 · 16 min
- Nixon & Woods on Watergate and Ervin Committee July 11, 1973 · 26 min
- Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Watergate scandal and Congressional hearings April 15, 1973 · 18 min
- Nixon phone call with Buzhardt on Watergate and Archibald Cox June 6, 1973 · 1 min
Cite this conversation
Conversation 908-016, 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/908-016 (accessed October 28, 2026).