"You need a team"

"You need a team"

Richard Nixon's plumbers didn't deal with leaks in the usual way

In this conversation, President Nixon called for “a team” to take on the conspiracy that he believed stood poised to leak his most damaging secrets. Based on this conspiracy theory, the President would soon create his own counter-conspiracy: the Special Investigations Unit. Later called "the Plumbers," since its members worked on leaks, the unit was a small secret police organization that the President placed above the law to gather damaging information that the White House could leak to the press.

The unit was a small secret police organization that the President placed above the law to gather damaging information that the White House could leak to the press.

The Plumbers never were able to prove Nixon’s conspiracy theory and would close shop after a few frustrating months. But two of the group's members, ex-FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy and ex-CIA agent E. Howard Hunt, would team up again for Nixon reelection campaign dirty tricks—including the fateful break-in at the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in the Watergate complex. Once the President knew they were involved in Watergate, he had a powerful incentive to launch a cover-up: The full FBI investigation of their illegal activities would lead to the uncovering of his own.

Date: 1971-07-01
Time: 13:08-14:05
Participants: Richard M. Nixon, H. R. "Bob" Haldeman
Location: Oval Office
Tape: 534-012 A

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(President Nixon): I think you need a team. This is a big job. But you need a commander of the team, and—
(H. R. "Bob" Haldeman): Well, this—
(President Nixon): Maybe—
(Haldeman): —[Richard V. "Dick"] Allen's point.
(President Nixon): Maybe—Incidentally, Allen should not be the commander, should he? All right. But shouldn't [Charles W. "Chuck"] Colson be, when you come down to it, Bob? Is this—are we—
(Haldeman): Probably.
(President Nixon): Are we putting too much of a load? What is—
(Haldeman): Well, it's structured so he can get—
(President Nixon): He's got a lot of people working for him, hasn't he?
(Haldeman): Yeah. And he's got good people that he's, you know, that—
(President Nixon): His instincts are particularly good. [ Pause.]
(Haldeman): All right.
(President Nixon): I think we ought to consider this fellow. I think we ought to pull him over here. You know, on temporary duty for the purpose of working on this.
(Haldeman): Well, the beauty of this type of CIA guy is that—
(President Nixon): USIA.
(Haldeman): Oh, you're talking about this guy now?
(President Nixon): Well, either one of them.
(Haldeman): OK.
(President Nixon): Both sound good.
(Haldeman): The CIA guy, the fact that he's working outside, we can just hire him as a consultant.
(President Nixon): Yeah. Right.
(Haldeman): There's some merit to getting a guy from outside.
(President Nixon): Right. Good. Fine.
(Haldeman): If he knows his way around here.
(President Nixon): Good.
(Haldeman): We can get this guy, too.
(President Nixon): This guy, just get him. [Francis J. "Frank"] Shakespeare can bring him over.
(Haldeman): Just have him assigned here.
(President Nixon): I like the idea of a young bearcat who thinks there is a conspiracy. I'd put him on the conspiracy side, with the CIA guy, you know, [on the] declassification side.