On May 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:35 pm to 12:53 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 917-029 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
Well, I thought you'd be interested to know that they won the arrest.
I objected.
I objected.
I objected to every god damn crime, every single one of them.
Three secretaries of different universities.
And there is a god damn thing that he can jump from one little item.
And I said to Dean, why can't we get out the information regarding the violent demonstrations against us during the 1970s?
You know what I mean?
Like I do with the food center.
That's the only thing bleeding at all.
Nothing there.
So, now, what do you have?
Well, I had the Ruppelhaus thing.
We made some changes.
And I had to give them to our office.
And I'm going.
It's...
You know, I don't think that the guy has got anything in that goddamn city except his own state.
I think he's playing.
What do you think?
You know what I mean?
Here, I mean, it's good for our own satisfaction.
I thought I had a good reputation.
I had the son of a bitch.
I had everything.
Everything.
Rose, of course, knows everything.
And I've seen other secretaries in Tampa, even if I haven't, each one of them kept pushing.
Absolutely not, except that one certain news summary I had.
One.
And that was marginal.
And that's for the whole time the son of a bitch was here.
He never had anything with me.
Nothing at all.
Well, that's good to know, isn't it?
It's very good to know.
Well, at least he doesn't have something from the president.
They were going to have each other in the way of the lawyers.
Based on consultations directed at the White House.
Did they have to say that?
He wanted to say that at the request of the White House, yeah.
Then we changed it to this.
And really, the director talked to a number of people about this.
Well, that's all right.
We've got to say the White House ordered it.
And the trouble is that the bastards over there will contradict us if we... Sure.
I don't think the White House did.
It's like, who is the White House?
Well, you know who it was.
It was Kissinger.
But I guess we can't say that.
We shouldn't.
And I think what we should say is... That was routine appropriate.
Routine appropriate.
Routine appropriate.
I didn't want to say that Mr. Hoover might use the records.
It's already been put out over there.
It's already been seized right now.
You can see that Sullivan denies it now.
Denies it?
It's even been verified.
That's the thing we're back to right now is that new city is probably over there.
In a way, it's not so bad.
In other words, he just told the story.
It's a messy story.
It's a messy story and what the damn thing was.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about this.
We didn't destroy it.
Really?
Has he made a statement already?
No.
Two o'clock.
Do you think that we should put in the background the claim by Sullivan that Mr. Huber might use the record?
I tried to take it out.
We then called back and said that everybody over there knows the testimony and what we can immediately and we're not agreeing or hiding something.
Alright, let Marty and Sullivan back in.
That's right, this is a murder squabble in another area.
Is that true?
Well, we can't verify.
Uh, uh, stated that he had been informed by Mr. Mitchell of the record and he started to get my point.
If you say when he was informed by Mr. Mitchell that the record has been destroyed, that's a statement of fact.
It should be noted that Mr. Mitchell denied making such a statement to Mr. Hoover.
In other words, all we know here, which ended with Mr. Hoover, which Mr. Hoover said that he was informed by Mr. Mitchell.
You got my point?
I know what my point is.
When Mr. Hoover said,
but he you see he can't claim we don't know that hoover was hoover doesn't know
Some of them must have told you.
Who the hell is Sullivan?
Sullivan.
He's the one who launched the action.
Now he denies it, is that right?
He denies that he sent the taker.
He couldn't take any other position.
By God, is that Mr. Kuhler?
And FBI director Kuhler.
See, this guy has been out of the story for years.
Let him go.
Let him go.
But as to that, let me just say, let's keep our heart dry and so forth.
You know, because sometimes you must wonder, you must wake up in the middle of the night and wonder, Christ, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said, what I said,
He has nothing to do with that.
He has nothing to do with the president.
Now, he may have, or whatever.
It's not where Ehrlich told him to do this, or et cetera.
Never called him.
Called him Mr.
Clever.
It's not where he's going to be.
But it's going to be.
Yes.
And that also, I like that, that meaning of the, I mean, Walters now called him by that name.
But Walters said it that way.
The president had directed at this thing.
And I thought she'd be relieved.
I was relieved.
Frankly, you know, I was worried, but I'm glad I didn't have to check on her.
I believe that we have worked every God-given thing there is.
I mean, even my private memorandum, you know, which I checked every private memorandum on a very good table.
You know, I've dictated privately on my own files.
I mean, my God, my God.
There is a single, subtle, terrible sense of it in there.
That's great.
The only possible way is something coming to the noose of it.
But I don't think of anything there, because I've always said it has been requested that, that's what you would say, a secretary would like to be come from early, would like to be come from old, would like to be come from anybody.
You don't understand what I'm saying.
It never says the president requested it.
You don't understand what I'm saying.
And I doubt he ever wanted to be that way.
But that, I do too, because he's not an actual guy in any sense.
But it's a hell of a good thing, you know.
Yeah.
Because, you know, I was just thinking, maybe in that second, and his, you know, the crap he's done there, he might have something from the president to say, did he do this or did he do that?
Well, God damn it, he must have done a goddamn thing.
Well, let's get this statement out.
You know, you know, it wasn't all that bad either.
I mean, Hoover is...
I will put a sentence to the law since this is totally unrelated.
Well, why not?
Why not?
Okay.
I didn't know.
You know, we've got a damn bouncer here around that record.
And this is, he thinks, some of them must have told him.
Who the hell is this son of a bitch?
Some of them, you know.
He's the one that brought him home.
He's the one that brought him home.
And this is, he thinks, some of them must have told him.
Some of them must have told him.
Now he denies it, is that right?
He denies it.
He denies it.
He says, told him.
Who the hell is this son of a bitch?
He couldn't take any other position.
He couldn't take any other position.
Let's keep working.
But incidentally, let me just say, sometimes you must, let's keep our, our minds a little bit.
I wonder, I, sometimes you must wonder, you must wake up in the middle of the night, when you're going to Christ, and I said, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
But isn't it a great thing?
Isn't it a great thing?
He's a real man.
He has nothing to do with the President.
Now, he may have, or whatever.
He has nothing to do with the President.
Now, he may have, or whatever.
He's not aware.
Early on, he's not aware.
I told him to do this, or, et cetera.
Never called him.
I called him.
Early on, I told him to do this, or, et cetera.
Never called him.
I called him too clever.
It's always going to be what it's going to be, because he's not also going to be too clever.
It's always going to be.
It's going to be.
Yes.
Also, I like that, I like that, that, that meaning of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the,
I thought she'd be relieved, frankly, you know, I was fired, but I, I thought she'd be, I was relieved, frankly, you know, I was fired, but I, I thought she'd be kept, you know, I'd be kept, you know, I'd be kept, you know, I'd be kept, you know, I'd be kept, you know, I'd be kept.
It's only possible that something is coming to the new Superstar.
But they don't think of anything there because that always said it hasn't been requested.
They don't think of anything there because that always said it hasn't been requested.
It never said that the president was on the ground.
It never said that the president was on the ground.
It never said that the president was on the ground.
It never said that the president was on the ground.
It never said that the president was on the ground.
It never said that the president was on the ground.
I would just say...
I would just say...
In that stack of crap he's got, and his, you know, narrative.
Crap he's got narrative.
He might have something coming up.
He might have something coming up.
Or the president could be saying, can you do this?
Or the president could be saying, can you do that?
Oh God, can you do this?
Or can you do that?
Oh God damn it, he has got a goddamn mansion.
Oh God damn it, he has got a goddamn mansion.
I don't know what else to say.
I don't know what else to say.
I don't know what else to say.