On June 23rd, 1972, Richard Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, met to discuss the ongoing Watergate scandal. Much of their conversation involved the FBI’s investigation of the break-in (which had occurred six days earlier), and the President and Haldeman discussed ways to shut down the investigation. Due to the CIA connections of several of the burglars, they decide to persuade the CIA to instruct the FBI to “shut down” the investigation.
This, of course, was recorded on the White House taping system. When the tape was released on August 5, 1974 it was immediately dubbed the “smoking gun” tape, providing incontrovertible evidence that Nixon had personally obstructed justice in the cover-up. This tape, in turn, eroded Nixon’s last remaining support in Congress and led directly to his resignation four days later.
Since I’ve already written a great deal about Watergate, I’ll offer transcript and audio of the tape below, with a minimum of commentary, mostly in footnotes.
Haldeman: Now, on the investigation, you know, the Democratic break-in thing, we’re back to the-in the, the problem area because the FBI is not under control, because Gray[footnote]L. Patrick Gray, Acting FBI Director. Though Gray willingly participated in the cover-up, his testimony during his confirmation hearings the following spring – that he’d forwarded investigation documents to White House Counsel John Dean and that Dean had lied in statements to investigators – played a major role in exploding Watergate. Afterwards, Nixon withdrew Gray’s nomination and replaced him with Clarence Kelley.[/footnote] doesn’t exactly know how to control them, and they have, their investigation is now leading into some productive areas, because they’ve been able to trace the money, not through the money itself, but through the bank, you know, sources – the banker himself. And, and it goes in some directions we don’t want it to go. Ah, also there have been some things, like an informant came in off the street to the FBI in Miami, who was a photographer or has a friend who is a photographer who developed some films through this guy, Barker,[footnote]Bernard Barker, one of the burglars[/footnote] and the films had pictures of Democratic National Committee letter head documents and things. So I guess, so it’s things like that that are gonna, that are filtering in. Mitchell[footnote]John Mitchell, former Attorney General, then Director of the Committee to Reelect the President, or CREEP[/footnote] came up with yesterday, and John Dean[footnote]White House counsel[/footnote] analyzed very carefully last night and concludes, concurs now with Mitchell’s recommendation that the only way to solve this, and we’re set up beautifully to do it, ah, in that and that…the only network that paid any attention to it last night was NBC…they did a massive story on the Cuban…
Nixon: That’s right.
Haldeman: …thing.
Nixon: Right.
Haldeman: That the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters[footnote]Vernon Walters, Deputy CIA Director[/footnote] call Pat Gray and just say, “Stay the hell out of this…this is ah, business here we don’t want you to go any further on it.” That’s not an unusual development,…
Nixon: Um huh.
Haldeman: …and, uh, that would take care of it.
Nixon: What about Pat Gray, ah, you mean he doesn’t want to?
Haldeman: Pat does want to. He doesn’t know how to, and he doesn’t have, he doesn’t have any basis for doing it. Given this, he will then have the basis. He’ll call Mark Felt in, and the two of them …and Mark Felt[footnote]Associate Director of the FBI[/footnote] wants to cooperate because…
Nixon: Yeah.
Haldeman: …he’s ambitious…
Nixon: Yeah.[footnote]Their faith in Felt was misplaced, as Felt, feeling slighted that Nixon passed him over for promotion to FBI Director, soon served as Bob Woodward’s chief source, “Deep Throat.” Nixon and Haldeman belatedly discovered their mistake, as recorded in a tape from October 19, 1972: Haldeman: We know what’s leaked and we know who leaked it. President Nixon: Is it somebody in the FBI? Haldeman: Yes, sir. Nixon: What’d you find out? Haldeman: Through a full circle through the—Nixon: Department? Haldeman: —the place where it’s come from. The FBI doesn’t know who it is. Gray doesn’t know who it is, but he isn’t. And it’s very high up. Nixon: Somebody next to Gray? Haldeman: Mark Felt. Nixon: Now why the hell would he do that? Haldeman: It’s hard to figure. Then again, you can’t say anything about this, because we’ll screw up our source, and the real concern is Mitchell is the only one that knows this.[/footnote]
Haldeman: Ah, he’ll call him in and say, “We’ve got the signal from across the river to, to put the hold on this.” And that will fit rather well because the FBI agents who are working the case, at this point, feel that’s what it is. This is CIA.
Nixon: But they’ve traced the money to ’em.
Haldeman: Well they have, they’ve traced to a name, but they haven’t gotten to the guy yet.
Nixon: Would it be somebody here?
Haldeman: Ken Dahlberg.
Nixon: Who the hell is Ken Dahlberg?[footnote]Kenneth H. Dahlberg, a Minneapolis businessman who served as CREEP’s Midwestern finance chairman.[/footnote]
Haldeman: He’s ah, he gave $25,000 in Minnesota and ah, the check went directly in to this, to this guy Barker.
Nixon: Maybe he’s a …bum.
Nixon: He didn’t get this from the committee though, from Stans.[footnote]Maurice Stans, former Commerce Secretary and then finance chairman for CREEP[/footnote]
Haldeman: Yeah. It is. It is. It’s directly traceable and there’s some more through some Texas people in–that went to the Mexican bank which they can also trace to the Mexican bank…they’ll get their names today. And (pause)
Nixon: Well, I mean, ah, there’s no way… I’m just thinking if they don’t cooperate, what do they say? They they, they were approached by the Cubans. That’s what Dahlberg has to say, the Texans too. Is that the idea?
Haldeman: Well, if they will. But then we’re relying on more and more people all the time. That’s the problem. And ah, they’ll stop if we could, if we take this other step.
Nixon: All right. Fine.
Haldeman: And, and they seem to feel the thing to do is get them to stop?
Nixon: Right, fine.
Haldeman: They say the only way to do that is from White House instructions. And it’s got to be to Helms[footnote]Richard Helms, director of the CIA. Due to his failure to cooperate with the cover-up, Helms was “kicked upstairs” to serve as Ambassador to Iran and replaced with a Nixon loyalist, James Schlesinger, in February 1973.[/footnote] and, ah, what’s his name…? Walters.
Nixon: Walters.
Haldeman: And the proposal would be that Ehrlichman[footnote]John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs[/footnote] (coughs) and I call them in
Nixon: All right, fine.
Haldeman: and say, ah…
Nixon: How do you call him in, I mean you just, well, we protected Helms from one hell of a lot of things.[footnote]Nixon long distrusted Helms and the CIA as “those clowns at Langley,” particularly for their refusal to follow Nixon’s instructions to spy on political enemies and subversives. Helms’ successor Schlesinger, probably at Nixon’s behest, ordered Agency analysts to compile the “Family Jewels” document, listing a wide variety of CIA abuses of power; this later leaked to the press, triggering the Church and Pike Committee investigations of 1975-1976[/footnote].
Haldeman: That’s what Ehrlichman says.
Nixon: Of course, this is a, this is a Hunt,[footnote]Howard Hunt, a former CIA agent and member of the Plumbers[/footnote] you will-that will uncover a lot of things. You open that scab there’s a hell of a lot of things and that we just feel that it would be very detrimental to have this thing go any further. This involves these Cubans, Hunt, and a lot of hanky-panky that we have nothing to do with ourselves. Well what the hell, did Mitchell know about this thing to any much of a degree.
Haldeman: I think so. I don‘t think he knew the details, but I think he knew.
Nixon: He didn’t know how it was going to be handled though, with Dahlberg and the Texans and so forth? Well who was the asshole that did? (Unintelligible) Is it Liddy?[footnote]Gordon Liddy, General Counsel to CREEP and the leader of the Watergate burglars[/footnote] Is that the fellow? He must be a little nuts.
Haldeman: He is.
Nixon: I mean he just isn’t well screwed on is he? Isn’t that the problem?
Haldeman: No, but he was under pressure, apparently, to get more information, and as he got more pressure, he pushed the people harder to move harder on…
Nixon: Pressure from Mitchell?
Haldeman: Apparently.
Nixon: Oh, Mitchell, Mitchell was at the point that you made on this, that exactly what I need from you is on the–
Haldeman: Gemstone, yeah.[footnote]On January 27, 1972, Gordon Liddy proposed an intelligence operation entitled “Operation GEMSTONE” to Mitchell, his deputy Jeb Magruder and John Dean. Liddy proposed an extensive plan of sabotage and harassment, from using “hired thugs” to kidnap demonstrators at the Republican National Convention to entrapping Democratic politicians on houseboats with prostitutes. Mitchell balked at the plan’s proposed cost (one million dollars) but approved Liddy’s cheaper plan focusing on bugs, wiretaps and intelligence gathering.[/footnote]
Nixon: All right, fine, I understand it all. We won’t second-guess Mitchell and the rest. Thank God it wasn’t Colson.[footnote]Chuck Colson, who had managed many of the White House’s “dirty tricks” operations since early 1970. He was instrumental in the creation of the Plumbers, although he doesn’t appear to have been directly involved in Watergate.[/footnote]
Haldeman: The FBI interviewed Colson yesterday. They determined that would be a good thing to do.
Nixon: Um hum.
Haldeman: Ah, to have him take a…
Nixon: Um hum.
Haldeman: An interrogation, which he did, and that, the FBI guys working the case had concluded that there were one or two possibilities, one, that this was a White House, they don’t think that there is anything at the Election Committee, they think it was either a White House operation and they had some obscure reasons for it, non political,…
Nixon: Uh huh.
Haldeman: or it was a…
Nixon: Cuban thing-
Haldeman: Cubans and the CIA. And after their interrogation of, of…
Nixon: Colson.
Haldeman: Colson, yesterday, they concluded it was not the White House, but are now convinced it is a CIA thing, so the CIA turn off would…
Nixon: Well, not sure of their analysis, I’m not going to get that involved. I’m (unintelligible).
Haldeman: No, sir. We don’t want you to.
Nixon: You call them in.
Nixon: Good. Good deal! Play it tough. That’s the way they play it and that’s the way we are going to play it.
Haldeman: O.K. We’ll do it.
Nixon: Yeah, when I saw that news summary item, I of course knew it was a bunch of crap, but I thought ah, well it’s good to have them off on this wild hair thing because when they start bugging us, which they have, we’ll know our little boys will not know how to handle it. I hope they will though. You never know. Maybe, you think about it. Good!
**********
Nixon: When you get in these people when you…get these people in, say: “Look, the problem is that this will open the whole, the whole Bay of Pigs thing, and the President just feels that” ah, without going into the details… don’t, don’t lie to them to the extent to say there is no involvement, but just say this is sort of a comedy of errors, bizarre, without getting into it, “the President believes that it is going to open the whole Bay of Pigs thing up again. And, ah because these people are plugging for, for keeps and that they should call the FBI in and say that we wish for the country, don’t go any further into this case”, period![footnote]In his memoir The Ends of Power, Haldeman speculates that the “Bay of Pigs thing” was a cryptic reference to the Kennedy Assassination – i.e., that Nixon was threatening to expose the CIA’s complicity in Kennedy’s death. Though Haldeman’s claim provided grist for generations of conspiracy theories, there’s little evidence to support this theory. More likely, it’s a threat (as suggested earlier) that Nixon will expose CIA misdeeds if Helms did not assist with the cover-up. The Family Jewels, perhaps, can be seen as the culmination of this threat.[/footnote]
Haldeman: OK.
Nixon: That’s the way to put it, do it straight (Unintelligible)
Haldeman: Get more done for our cause by the opposition than by us at this point.
Nixon: You think so?
Haldeman: I think so, yeah.
For more history, check out Liliburne’s thread on Churchill and vote for (and argue about) your favorite American President.