Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 908-021
Date: Tuesday, May 1, 1973 at 3:41 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Rogers, William P.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/908-021

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Is everybody ready?
[0:01] Mr. President, Secretary Rodgers, and, uh, Richardson, and one of the members of the committee, and Secretary Rodgers, they all said that he is under control, required memorandum, and he can step in for just a moment.
[0:11] Yeah, I want him to step in.
[0:14] I don't want that.
[0:15] Yes, sir.
[0:26] My idea is that, God damn, I was so shocked, you know, I made so embarrassing to Bob and John.
[0:35] Well, actually, I got in front of Bob and John, and I ordered it.
[0:39] I said, Mr. President, my idea is that Bob and John knew that they wanted something like this.
[0:44] Now, they didn't want the FBI to beat a lot of them all the way, obviously.
[0:48] Well, obviously they did.
[0:52] But you can't have been behind it.
[0:54] My boss came in and he said, who the hell are these men out there thinking?
[0:57] And that wasn't how he put it in.
[0:59] But I said, for God's sake, send him a signature about it.
[1:02] And said he'd put it out to the press.
[1:04] I said, for Christ's sake, Ron, I'm signing a memorandum.
[1:08] Nobody's going to steal any files.
[1:10] It's a beating, Jess.
[1:12] But it can't have Bob and John embarrassed like that.
[1:14] It was like criminals.
[1:16] But I think they came and tried to get the fuck.
[1:20] So what they were trying to do is mistake the way they did it.
[1:24] What we've agreed to now is that the files should be placed in another room, and they'll get beneath the prison FBI and get the hell out of the way.
[1:33] The FBI won't have any access to it.
[1:35] For the moment, it's got to be out of the way.
[1:38] Then we can talk to Bob and John and see how they want to handle it.
[1:42] And secondly, let me say something interesting.
[1:44] Now, the papers are your papers.
[1:46] They're the presidential papers.
[1:48] nobody can have access to them nobody can subpoena them because they don't want me or somebody else to think about in other words
[2:10] We don't want anybody, but this is not me, I didn't have to do it, but their decision is they don't want anybody to monkey with those files.
[2:18] They want to be sure that nobody has access to them.
[2:21] Dean or anybody else.
[2:23] Okay.
[2:24] Including the FBI, they don't have access.
[2:26] They were just trying to, actually what Elliot, I think, wanted was to have them sealed for the moment and then decide if we need them for day-to-day operations, then we can decide how to deal with them.
[2:35] Seal my files, ever.
[2:37] Well, whatever.
[2:39] All I want to be sure is that Dean or someone else has committed a full-on plot of captains.
[2:45] Captains and commanders have been taught the same.
[2:49] We want to look at those because they're his papers.
[2:53] What we want is to know every paper.
[2:57] That is, I haven't heard from him at all.
[3:01] He's my paper.
[3:03] And that's the reason I decided to have an FBI guy outside of my office in my office.
[3:08] I wrote one plus five in front of your office.
[3:15] Well, I think the worst thing is the possibility that Dean or somebody else will get the file.
[3:20] How do you prevent anybody from going into those files?
[3:26] That's what we want.
[3:27] I don't mind the FBI guys sitting in there watching.
[3:30] Well, that's what I think.
[3:32] Or the guards sitting in there watching.
[3:35] That's what they're doing.
[3:37] I remember they prepared me a memorandum, which he issued to the press.
[3:40] That's what they were praying for you.
[3:43] Well, it's old.
[3:43] It's old.
[3:44] They don't understand politics.
[3:46] I thought that was a great cosmetic.
[3:48] Oh, I understand.
[3:50] God almighty.
[3:51] My God almighty, when I thought cosmetics.
[3:54] It proves it.
[3:55] It shows it there.
[3:57] They look like they're thieves.
[3:59] That maybe the French tied some kind of a sign.
[4:01] Okay, that's good.
[4:02] I'd like to hear your comments.
[4:04] I think that's all very good.
[4:05] Good, good.
[4:06] It's good to meet you.
[4:07] Okay, I'll see you tonight.
[4:09] I had to take a little break from Percy because he took off.
[4:12] I like his day.
[4:13] I don't know about that.
[4:14] He took out the vice president kind of duty.
[4:17] Did he get it?
[4:18] No, I believe he had it.
[4:20] Percy actually.
[4:21] I don't think he did.
[4:22] No, that was Percy really.
[4:24] If anybody wants to stay with me, yeah.
[4:29] The vice president's been sort of notably silent.
[4:32] Well, that's just as well.
[4:37] That just solved that problem.
[4:40] Well, thank you anyway.
[4:41] It's been a pleasure.
[4:42] See you tonight.
[4:43] Yeah, I had a good idea.
[4:44] See you tonight.