37–162

Conversation No. 37-162

Date: March 19, 1973
Time: 8:34 pm-8:58 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

Colson's law firm
-Office move
-Construction

Watergate

-Colson's conversation with Robert J. Dole
-Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.
-Supreme Court case
-Congressional aides' testimony
-Immunity issue
-Ervin
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept-09)
Conversation No. 37-162 (cont’d)




-Shrewdness
-Political value of issue
-Forthcoming election
-Lifestyle
-Face the Nation appearance
-North Carolina politics
-1974 Senate race
-James E. Holshouser
-Governor
-James C. Gardner
-Harry S. Dent
-Administration responsiveness
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Washington Post
-New York Times
-Coverage of President's stand
-Executive privilege
-Editorials
-National opinion
-Hearings
-Impact
-Administration responsiveness
-John W. Dean, III
-Lawyer status
-Involvement
-White House testimony
-Cover-up argument in press

-Cooperation with Federal Bureau of Investigation
[FBI]
-Cooperation with grand jury
-Public record
-Political value to President's opposition
-Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Attacks on President
 - 119 -

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept-09)
Conversation No. 37-162 (cont’d)




-Dole
-Double standards
-Frank E. Fitzsimmons
-Middlesex Club Dinner
-Boston
-1968 election
-View of Kennedy family
-Colson's meeting with Howard H. Baker, Jr.
-Hugh Branson
-Baker's concerns
-Reassurances
-Ervin
-1974 Senate race
-Opponent
-Helen D. Bentley
-Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.
-Maryland
-L. Patrick Gray, III hearings
-North Carolina politics
-1974 Senate race
-Gardner
-Dent
-Gardner
-Election issues
-Ervin's age
-B. Everett Jordan

-Ervin
-Dole
-Supreme Court on Congressional immunity
-Michael Gravel
-Gravel vs. US
-Gravel's administrative assistant
-Leonard Rodberg
-Dole
 - 120 -

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept-09)
Conversation No. 37-162 (cont’d)




-Aid to the White House
-Prospects for reelection from Kansas
-International Brotherhood of Teamsters
-Image of Cooperation
-Executive privilege
-President's popularity
-Peace
-Senate hearings
-Gray's confirmation
-Senate Judiciary Committee
-“New Majority”
-FBI raw files
-Relations with Colson
-Judgment
-Administration cooperation
-Media coverage
-Ziegler
-Colson's activities
-Congressional relations
-Kennedy
-Charges against administration
-Motives
-Fitzsimmons
-Boston


President's letter to Colson
-Gratitude

National issues
-Watergate
-POWs
-Food prices
-POWs
-Boost to Republicans
 - 121 -

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept-09)
Conversation No. 37-162 (cont’d)




-Bombing
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Kennedy
-George S. McGovern
-Crime
-Democrats' response


******************************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

Democratic Party
-President’s popularity
-Potential Presidential candidates for 1976
-Kennedy
-Governors

John B. Connally
-Conversion to Republican Party
-Taft Schreiber
-Amount of support
-Fear of Watergate issue
-National effect


Potential candidates for 1976 election
-Connally
-Kennedy
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Age
-Liberalism
-Judgment
-Ronald W. Reagan
-Ideology
-Spiro T. Agnew
 - 122 -

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept-09)
Conversation No. 37-162 (cont’d)




-Charles H. Percy
-Prospects for Republican nomination
-Mood of Republican Party

[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
******************************************************************************


-Media coverage

Watergate
-Media relations
-President’s impact on country
-George Washington University
-General Accounting Office [GAO]
-Theodore F. Brill [?]
-Ervin
-Ervin Committee hearings
-Compared to International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] hearings
-National response
-Bribery and corruption
-National attitude
-Welfare

-Busing
-Crime
-Spying
-Executive privilege
-Public’s understanding
-Congressional aides' immunity
-Dole
-Colson’s research
-Baker
-North Carolina Republicans
-Challenge to Ervin
 - 123 -

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Sept-09)