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Conversation 919-015

TapeTape 919StartWednesday, May 16, 1973 at 10:27 AMEndWednesday, May 16, 1973 at 10:31 AMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ziegler, Ronald L.;  [Unknown person(s)]Recording deviceOval Office
AI Summary

President Nixon and Ronald Ziegler discuss the political fallout of the Watergate scandal, specifically focusing on John Dean’s documents regarding 1970 domestic intelligence coordination and their classification status. They also address John B. Connally’s advocacy for a broad staff "housecleaning" that would remove figures like H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. Nixon rejects the necessity of such drastic personnel changes, particularly regarding the State Department, citing the complexity of upcoming Soviet summit negotiations.

WatergateJohn DeanDomestic IntelligenceJohn B. ConnallyPersonnel ChangesSoviet Summit
AudioNARA Description

On May 16, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:27 am to 10:31 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 919-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 919-15

Date: May 16, 1973
Time: 10:27 am - 10:31 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

       Watergate
             -John W. Dean III’s documents
                    -Contents
                           -1970 domestic intelligence coordination
                                   -Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
                                   -National Security Agency [NSA]
                                   -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
                                   -J. Edgar Hoover
                                   -Tom C. Huston
                                            -18-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                   (rev. September-2012)

                                                            Conversation No. 919-15 (cont’d)

               -White House response

       John B. Connally
              -Opinion regarding White House staff resignations
                     -President’s response
                            -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman
                     -Secretary of State
                            -Soviet summit
                                    -Intricacy
              -Dinner with Ziegler
              -Opinion regarding White House staff resignations
                     -Housecleaning
                            -Haldeman, Ehrlichman
                     -Conversation with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                            -Ziegler’s departure
                                    -Briefings
                                            -New role
                                            -Replacement

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 10:27 am.

       Connally’s arrival

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 10:31 am.

       Connally
             -Possible role on White House staff

       Ziegler’s schedule

Ziegler left at 10:31 am.
                                             -19-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                     (rev. September-2012)
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.

You heard?
No.
You were right.
Fred talked about last night that he came out, but it had nothing to do with Watergate, whatever.
It was the operation we set up in 1917 for the purpose of internal...
a court in CIA, NSA, and FBI, in Hoover's direction, for the purpose of getting all of our internal intelligence, foreign intelligence, if you know what I mean, intelligence that had to do with the related foreign, domestic, and all coordinated in one pot, which there had never been before.
That's what it was.
Nothing more?
That's all.
What was the 43 page report?
That is that.
That is about that.
And eight supplementary documents.
It was an old recording of how it was to be done.
Tom Houston worked on it.
You remember him?
Yeah.
He was the White House aide on it.
The White House aide.
You remember Houston working on it.
But that's about it.
And it is totally irrelevant.
He was told it.
And it's all highly classified.
It's all super secret stuff.
so listen today we start to fight again i guess certainly i mean i was worried about it because i heard about it i'm uh
I don't think that's right, Ron.
I mean, I don't think that.
I have the greatest respect for it, and I think it's valuable and so forth, but the idea that we just throw everybody off the nerve if they've ever had anything to do with home and Irwin and so forth and so on is just a goddamn ridiculous thing.
And then, of course, he says change state.
You can't change state before the summit.
He doesn't know how intricate this is.
He has no idea.
Well, I had dinner with him.
Were you able to talk about it?
Well, I think so.
See, he comes in, quite frankly, with a broad brush.
He says, you know, everyone has got to go.
It's got to be a complete housecleaning.
He didn't say this to me, but apparently he said that to Hay, but not to me, which is interesting.
He said that even Ziegler's got to move on because of the free pieces.
forth well we talked about that before maybe afterwards too this is another role i can assume if you want me to you know well if i mean or not maybe i mean well that's not even relevant now but that's his point of view i think however that that conley can be that he can be
restrain a little bit on this, and contribute enormously, not in terms of energy and training and all that other stuff, but in bringing some, not gutting the place, but bringing some new people in.
He saw me.
I'm going to go up to him.
I'm going to go up to him.
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