Going After Dan Schorr

Going After Dan Schorr

The FBI wasn't as subtle as President Nixon would have liked

Daniel Schorr of CBS News found out that he was on Richard Nixon’s enemies list in the most unusual way. He was covering the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973 when former White House counsel John W. Dean testified about the administration’s use of the powers of the federal government against its chosen enemies. As Schorr recalled the scene, he was on the air when he was handed a copy of the enemies list and began reading the names on it into the camera. The 17th name on the list was his. He said he nearly collapsed on the air, but managed to finish reading the list. In this conversation, President Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman discuss efforts to “go after” Schorr, including their use of the FBI in an attempt to dredge up damaging information on the journalist. When that effort came to light, the White House falsely claimed it was a background check undertaken because Schorr was being considered for a job.

Date: Saturday, September 18, 1971
Time: 10:05 a.m.–10:40 a.m.
Participants: Richard M. Nixon, H. R. "Bob" Haldeman
Location: Oval Office
Tape: 576-005A

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(H. R. "Bob" Haldeman): —a very positive, sort of background piece on the press conference.
(President Nixon): Rather than just reporting it.
(Haldeman): Yeah. [speaking over President Nixon] Well, he had done a reporting piece, too, but this is a separate—
(President Nixon): Was that in the News Summary?
(Haldeman): Uh . . . Yeah, I'm sure it was. I'm sure that's why it [unclear].
(President Nixon): Yeah. I don't want to read it. I just—
(Haldeman): It's probably not today. It may have been yesterday.
(President Nixon): [Unclear.] [Tape whip.] On the other hand, when you come down with [unclear] when you come down to stuff that is . . . these fellows . . . [Tape whip.] In fact, the media . . . you take a fellow like this [Daniel L.] Dan Schorr, he's—I notice—he is always creating something, isn't he?
(Haldeman): Oh . . . He incidentally is on—you don't, shouldn't get involved in this, but he's on our tax list, too.
(President Nixon): Good.
(Haldeman): They're—
(President Nixon): Good.
(Haldeman): They're going after a couple of media people. They're going after Dan Schorr and Mary McGrory.
(President Nixon): Good.
(Haldeman): And—
(President Nixon): Like what? Have they been making any money on the outside?
(Haldeman): They think they might have some, yeah, on them. [Tape whip.] [Unclear] just want to harass them. Just give them a little trouble.
(President Nixon): Exactly. Pound these people.
(Haldeman): Just give them something to worry about.
(President Nixon): It's routine.
(Haldeman): [Unclear.] [Slight chuckle.] Oh, that's right, you were going to maybe talk to [J. Edgar] Hoover today, too. The damn FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation], you know, we, through the indirect route, tried to get an FBI thing on Schorr, and they didn't have anything in their files on him.
And so instead of admitting they didn't have anything, they started doing some investigating. [President Nixon laughs.] And that . . . So who did they investigate? They investigated—they talked to people at CBS. And so the first person they contacted—
(President Nixon): Was Schorr.
(Haldeman): —said, "Why are you"—no, not Schorr. It was one of his associates or somebody, you know, in there—said, "Why are you investigating?" And they said, "For—because he's under consideration for a high-level government position." Well, that got back to somebody else, and we got this, this panic-stricken thing from, from—
(President Nixon): [Patrick J. "Pat"] Buchanan.
(Haldeman): —from Buchanan, saying, "Jesus Christ! What are you hiring Daniel Schorr for?" [Laughs heartily.] And he was in a state of absolute panic, thinking we'd lost our senses, we're going to hire Schorr.
(President Nixon): That's all right, though.
(Haldeman): [Continues laughing.]
(President Nixon): If that all comes out you can just say, "Well, it's on a bipartisan board, so we have to have a Democrat in it." [Both laugh.] [Unclear.] Now, Schorr [unclear] one.
(Haldeman): On some of that stuff, I must say, though, the Bureau [FBI] doesn't have a hell of a lot of finesse.
(President Nixon): They're not much better. [Unclear] very much better [unclear]. [Tape whip.] It was a great PR call.
(Haldeman): Yes, indeed.
(President Nixon): [Tape whip.] We had [John N.] Mitchell in today and talking about—crying to me about the Supreme Court. [Haldeman acknowledges.] He and I have got to decide that. And I can't talk to anybody else.
(Haldeman): He's got a couple of things, I think, that [unclear] talked about. When he was planning to go on the boat last night, he called me and asked what your agenda was, and I said nothing. And—