About this recording
438-027b
- President Richard M. Nixon
- Alexander M. Haig
- J. Fred. Buzhardt
May 22, 1973
Conversation No. 438-27
Date: May 22, 1973
Time: 9:55 am - 11:28 am
Location: Old Executive Office Building
The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
Haig’s and Buzhardt’s health
Watergate
-Forthcoming White Paper [Statements about the Watergate investigation, May
22, 1973]
-Checking facts
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Charles W. Colson
and Henry E. Petersen
-Possible press questions for Ronald L. Ziegler
-Phraseology
-Content
-Staff assistance
-Bryce N. Harlow, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Patrick J. Buchanan,
Leonard Garment, David N. Parker, and Ziegler
-Phraseology
-Leak
-Thomas C. Huston’s testimony
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Huston Plan
-Memoranda
-Ehrlichman, Haldeman
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Phraseology
-[William] Stuart Symington [?]
-President’s knowledge
President’s discussion with Kissinger and Haig
-North Vietnam
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Daniel Ellsberg [?]
-Nuclear war
-Attacks
-Consideration of options
-Discussion
-Approval
Watergate
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr. and E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-David R. Young, Jr. and G. Gordon Liddy
-Colson
-Krogh
-President’s knowledge of break-in at Ellsberg’s psychiatrist office
-Phraseology
-Young’s memos
-Plans for Ellsberg
-President’s knowledge
-Approval
-Staff
-Krogh
-President’s possible conversation with Hoover
-Memoranda of conversation [memcons]
-President’s meeting with Marco [?] Hooper
-Huston Plan
-Hoover
-Forthcoming White Paper
-President’s role
-Phraseology
-Krogh
-Break-in at Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
-President’s role
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-President’s role
-Authorization of illegal activities
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-John N. Mitchell
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Watergate compared to national security
-Hunt [?]
-Ellsberg break-in
-Ehrlichman’s knowledge
-John W. Dean, III’s knowledge
-Petersen’s knowledge
-Petersen’s conversation with President
-President’s meeting with Petersen and Richard G. Kleindienst
-Petersen’s knowledge
-Earl Silbert’s memo, April 15
-Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Jeb S[tuart] Magruder
-President’s phone conversation with Petersen, April 18
-President’s motives
-Silbert
-Views regarding informing William M. Byrne, Jr.
-Effect on court case
-Ellsberg wiretap
-Effect on court case
-Hunt
-Leaks
-Wiretap
-Release to court
-General [First name unknown] Corbett [?]
-Haig
-Content
-Libel [?]
-Possible leak
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Release of information to Byrne
-President’s conversation with L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Dean
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters
-Symington’s efforts
-Richard M. Helms
-Senate Armed Services Committee
-John C. Stennis and Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Helms’s testimony
-Dr. James R. Schlesinger’s call to Haig, May 22
-Perjury
-President’s conversation with Helms
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] involvement in Watergate
-Book by former CIA man, Lt. Col. Lucien E. Conein
-Helms
-Conversation with President
-Kleindienst
-White House tapes
-Schlesinger’s call to Haig, May 22
-Robert S. McNamara
-Forthcoming White House White Paper
-Conversation with President
-[Watergate investigation]
-Compared to Gray
-Testimony
-Ervin Committee
-Concern
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Money for defendants, clemency
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] interviews with White
House staff
-Political espionage
-Donald H. Segretti
-1972 campaign
-Wiretaps
-National security
-Ziegler
-President’s role
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Archibald Cox
-Walters’s memcons
-Time of creation
-Helms
-Schlesinger
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Cox
-Statement regarding investigation
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Executive privilege
-Focus of world opinion
-1972 campaign
-United States Secret Service [USSS]
-Danger to the President
-George S. McGovern’s role
-California, Florida, and New York incidents
-Comparison of violence and wiretapping
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Price
-Obstruction of justice
-Clemency
-President’s knowledge of Ellsberg break-in
-Timing
-Executive privilege
-White House strategy
-Ziegler
Refreshments
The President left at an unknown time after 9:55 am.
The President entered at an unknown time before 11:28 am.
Watergate
-Harlow
-William E. Timmons
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Forthcoming meetings
-Hugh Scott, George H. W. Bush, Leslie C. Arends, Gerald R.
Ford, and Robert P. Griffin
-Stennis and Strom Thurmond
-Haig
-Forthcoming meeting with Jackson
-George H. Mahon
-Harlow
-President’s schedule
-Bipartisan congressmen
-Harlow
-Republicans
-Buchanan
-Forthcoming meeting with Spiro T. Agnew
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Distribution
-Cabinet
-Schlesinger and Richardson
-Peterson, Cox
-Petersen, Richardson
-President’s schedule
-Republican congressmen and Bush
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Distribution
-Howard H. Baker, Jr., Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Foreign Relations [Committee]
-Leonard Garment [?]
-Price, Buchanan
-Young
-Contact with President
-Krogh
-Ehrlichman’s opinion
-Dean
-White House strategy
-Forthcoming White Paper
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
Haig and Buzhardt left at 11:28 am.
Date: May 22, 1973
Time: 9:55 am - 11:28 am
Location: Old Executive Office Building
The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.
Haig’s and Buzhardt’s health
Watergate
-Forthcoming White Paper [Statements about the Watergate investigation, May
22, 1973]
-Checking facts
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Charles W. Colson
and Henry E. Petersen
-Possible press questions for Ronald L. Ziegler
-Phraseology
-Content
-Staff assistance
-Bryce N. Harlow, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Patrick J. Buchanan,
Leonard Garment, David N. Parker, and Ziegler
-Phraseology
-Leak
-Thomas C. Huston’s testimony
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Huston Plan
-Memoranda
-Ehrlichman, Haldeman
-J. Edgar Hoover
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Phraseology
-[William] Stuart Symington [?]
-President’s knowledge
President’s discussion with Kissinger and Haig
-North Vietnam
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Daniel Ellsberg [?]
-Nuclear war
-Attacks
-Consideration of options
-Discussion
-Approval
Watergate
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr. and E. Howard Hunt, Jr.
-David R. Young, Jr. and G. Gordon Liddy
-Colson
-Krogh
-President’s knowledge of break-in at Ellsberg’s psychiatrist office
-Phraseology
-Young’s memos
-Plans for Ellsberg
-President’s knowledge
-Approval
-Staff
-Krogh
-President’s possible conversation with Hoover
-Memoranda of conversation [memcons]
-President’s meeting with Marco [?] Hooper
-Huston Plan
-Hoover
-Forthcoming White Paper
-President’s role
-Phraseology
-Krogh
-Break-in at Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
-President’s role
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-President’s role
-Authorization of illegal activities
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-John N. Mitchell
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Watergate compared to national security
-Hunt [?]
-Ellsberg break-in
-Ehrlichman’s knowledge
-John W. Dean, III’s knowledge
-Petersen’s knowledge
-Petersen’s conversation with President
-President’s meeting with Petersen and Richard G. Kleindienst
-Petersen’s knowledge
-Earl Silbert’s memo, April 15
-Ehrlichman and Haldeman
-Jeb S[tuart] Magruder
-President’s phone conversation with Petersen, April 18
-President’s motives
-Silbert
-Views regarding informing William M. Byrne, Jr.
-Effect on court case
-Ellsberg wiretap
-Effect on court case
-Hunt
-Leaks
-Wiretap
-Release to court
-General [First name unknown] Corbett [?]
-Haig
-Content
-Libel [?]
-Possible leak
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Release of information to Byrne
-President’s conversation with L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
-Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Dean
-Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters
-Symington’s efforts
-Richard M. Helms
-Senate Armed Services Committee
-John C. Stennis and Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Helms’s testimony
-Dr. James R. Schlesinger’s call to Haig, May 22
-Perjury
-President’s conversation with Helms
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] involvement in Watergate
-Book by former CIA man, Lt. Col. Lucien E. Conein
-Helms
-Conversation with President
-Kleindienst
-White House tapes
-Schlesinger’s call to Haig, May 22
-Robert S. McNamara
-Forthcoming White House White Paper
-Conversation with President
-[Watergate investigation]
-Compared to Gray
-Testimony
-Ervin Committee
-Concern
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Money for defendants, clemency
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] interviews with White
House staff
-Political espionage
-Donald H. Segretti
-1972 campaign
-Wiretaps
-National security
-Ziegler
-President’s role
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Archibald Cox
-Walters’s memcons
-Time of creation
-Helms
-Schlesinger
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Cox
-Statement regarding investigation
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Executive privilege
-Focus of world opinion
-1972 campaign
-United States Secret Service [USSS]
-Danger to the President
-George S. McGovern’s role
-California, Florida, and New York incidents
-Comparison of violence and wiretapping
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Phraseology
-Price
-Obstruction of justice
-Clemency
-President’s knowledge of Ellsberg break-in
-Timing
-Executive privilege
-White House strategy
-Ziegler
Refreshments
The President left at an unknown time after 9:55 am.
The President entered at an unknown time before 11:28 am.
Watergate
-Harlow
-William E. Timmons
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
-Forthcoming meetings
-Hugh Scott, George H. W. Bush, Leslie C. Arends, Gerald R.
Ford, and Robert P. Griffin
-Stennis and Strom Thurmond
-Haig
-Forthcoming meeting with Jackson
-George H. Mahon
-Harlow
-President’s schedule
-Bipartisan congressmen
-Harlow
-Republicans
-Buchanan
-Forthcoming meeting with Spiro T. Agnew
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Distribution
-Cabinet
-Schlesinger and Richardson
-Peterson, Cox
-Petersen, Richardson
-President’s schedule
-Republican congressmen and Bush
-Forthcoming White Paper
-Distribution
-Howard H. Baker, Jr., Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Foreign Relations [Committee]
-Leonard Garment [?]
-Price, Buchanan
-Young
-Contact with President
-Krogh
-Ehrlichman’s opinion
-Dean
-White House strategy
-Forthcoming White Paper
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. October-2011)
Conversation No. 438-27 (cont’d)
Haig and Buzhardt left at 11:28 am.