Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 938 › Conversation 938-012

Nixon, Haig & Woods on Watergate and Ervin Committee

Tuesday, June 12, 1973 · 5:56 PM–6:03 PM ET · Oval Office · 8 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; Woods, Rose Mary; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation938-012 on Tape 938StartTuesday, June 12, 1973 at 5:56 PMEndTuesday, June 12, 1973 at 6:03 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 938-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Alexander Haig and Rose Mary Woods to discuss routine administrative tasks, including the President's upcoming schedule and staff support for a potential book project. The conversation shifted significantly to Watergate, specifically focusing on the ongoing Ervin Committee hearings and the legal difficulties facing John Mitchell, Maurice Stans, and John Dean. They also touched upon concerns regarding Martha Mitchell's behavior and the involvement of Thomas Pappas in financial matters related to legal defense funds.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Right there.
We got it.
um oh yeah he said you know there was a piece in the paper he just repeated something there was a piece in the paper that there was a contemplative change and i wanted to discuss the fact that this man had done so much it was important with the government this way and he said he didn't recall any others that's all that's all i had to discuss
I mean, I feel like it's meant by some strange connection.
And I didn't know it was meant by a Thursday experience.
I wonder if, uh... Lefty.
Some time ago, and I think you saw the letter, I just sort of checked it, Frank McGlynn, Frank Vanderland, you know, going to do another book.
No, he wanted you to appoint someone that, he said, possibly Sam, I mean, possibly Pat Buchanan, if you and me could work on the book.
Maybe you want to just tell him to wait a while, or?
I think I'll wait, I don't know, five months.
We're all so tired right now.
Because the fellows have given way once.
It's your quest for peace.
Oh, yes, very good.
As a matter of fact, the one I would give you, you know, who could be the young general.
Andrew.
Yes, sir.
Andrew, you know, has helped a lot.
He's helped me through the Russian speech.
And the other fellows would be helpful, too.
Yeah, Andrew.
Let Andrew be the man.
He's a present man.
And then you could talk with him, starting now.
Yeah, talk with Andrews.
He's not tied up in television.
Okay.
Andrews is going to ask questions at any time.
Rob said it, or he answered it very well.
He did.
I had it all.
I didn't get, you know, you don't hear all of it in English because you're talking, but he handled himself very, very well.
He looked, you know, he looked so great and so on.
I did talk with him.
So I stand there and ask him to call my brother.
What did he say?
He said, I'll be glad to because they're terribly worried about him.
So he starts to lie flat on the floor.
He has nothing to do.
And there's a problem with the little girl too now.
There is?
I knew there would be one.
You see what was inevitable.
Well, Luke had told him to.
But, um... What is there a problem?
A medical problem?
Well, how could a child take that mother that long?
Yeah, and he doesn't budge in any part.
And then, you know, so he starts drinking about five bucks and sits there.
And he says they try, they all try, but he reads every word of testimony of everybody.
And, of course, everybody's sticking a deep brain to him.
And he must be driving him crazy.
Yeah, and that darn group of people.
Thanks, and thanks was good today.
He tried so hard to be what he really is.
And I just told John to tell him that please not feel that he's forgotten us.
I said, my love, we know he understands why you can't talk with him because he's scared.
He knows he does.
John himself told me that before.
That he would be very bad at it.
But Pat was told that Martha called him over in Greece.
So he was going to call them back to them.
Good for him.
Well, they can't.
All he did was raise money.
They didn't tell him.
The clerk was pushing him.
I don't want to even mention him yet.
Well, the only thing I read in Irish is that Jane mentioned the name to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That he was called in, actually, with money for Pounce Lawyers.
That's it.
That's it.
That's Jane's name.
She only went before the grand jury, that one didn't answer questions.
But they wouldn't give him an interview.
They told her.
I don't know if he's, I think he's specifically, he says he isn't supposed to know.
I don't know if I should, but I guess I'm listening.
I don't know if I'm okay if I say something.
So... What'd he say?
He's gonna lie.
Oh, he lied.
Do you know what he said?
He told us so much that even people who don't know, um...
I feel like he's a very weak thinking guy.
That's coming through, you see.
He's been talking too long now.
I see Alan's not there with me.
I'd like to leave a message.
Okay, go ahead.
I was worried about him, you know.
I knew it.
He was embarrassing.
No, no.
I didn't want him to get hurt.
No.
I didn't want him to get hurt.
What is your reaction now?
That's it.

NARA Description

On June 12, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Rose Mary Woods, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 6:03 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 938-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 938-12

Date: June 12, 1973
Time: Unknown between 5:56 pm and 6:03 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and Rose Mary Woods.

      Letter
               -Garnett D. (“Jack”) Horner

      President’s schedule
            -Forthcoming trip on Sequoia
                  -Haig’s schedule
                        -Meal
            -Raymond K. Price, Jr.’s work on President’s economic speech
            -Letter to Horner

Haig left at 6:00 pm.

      Woods’s conversation with Arthur F. Burns
          -[National economy]
                -President’s policies
                                       -31-

             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                       Conversation No. 938-12 (cont’d)

                  -Change

Frank Van der Linden
     -Possible book
           -Staff assistance
                 -Patrick J. Buchanan
                 -Timing
                 -Quest for peace
     -John K. Andrews, Jr.
           -Preparation of President’s Soviet Union speech
                 -Rev. John J. McLaughlin [?]
                 -Andrews
                        -Media background

Watergate
     -Ervin Committee hearings
           -John N. Mitchell
           -Jeb Stuart Magruder’s forthcoming testimony
           -Maurice H. Stans’s testimony
           -Mitchell
                 -Woods’s message
                 -Daughter
                       -Dr. William M. Lukash
                 -Martha (Beall) Mitchell
                 -Habits
     -Thomas A. Pappas
           -Conversation with Woods
                 -Martha Mitchell’s telephone call to Pappas in Greece
           -Activities
           -John W. Dean, III’s conversation with President
                 -Money for E. Howard Hunt, Jr.’s lawyers
     -Dean
           -Grand Jury appearance
                 -Fifth Amendment
           -Public’s view

Haig’s location
                                             -32-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                             Conversation No. 938-12 (cont’d)

     Watergate
          -Pappas

An unknown man entered at an unknown time before 6:03 pm.

     Haig’s location

The President, Woods, and the unknown man left at 6:03 pm.

Also recorded on June 12, 1973

  • 040-036 4:52 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:52 pm and 5:27 pm.
  • 938-006 4:52 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:52 pm to 5:27 pm.
  • 040-037 5:27 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 5:27 pm to 5:30 pm.
  • 040-038 5:30 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:30 pm and 8:19 pm.
  • 444-023 5:30 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:30 pm and 8:19 pm.
  • 938-011 5:38 PM · 9 sec — Rose Mary Woods and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:38 pm and 5:56 pm.
  • 938-013 5:38 PM · 32 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:38 pm and 5:56 pm.
  • 938-014 6:00 PM · 25 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:00 pm and 6:03 pm.

All 70 conversations from June 12, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 938-012, June 12, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/938-012 (accessed October 9, 2026).