Richard Nixon H.R. Haldeman Plumbers Genesis July 1 1971

The last recorded session of July 1, 1971, a crucial day in Watergate history. This conversation opens with Nixon considering two possibilities to head up his anti-leak team, Howard Hunt and Gordon Strachan, a suggestion from his national security adviser, Richard "Dick" Allen. Nixon and Haldeman plot strategy on critical information to be leaked which will hurt past administrations, and the rough structure of a team that will counter leakers, with a reputable person out front, and someone in back who is ruthless and dirty in getting information that will hurt leakers. Their enemies have to be destroyed in the press, just like Alger Hiss.

Audio file is from here (segment runs from 56:29 to 1:06:14 in file):
http://nixontapeaudio.org/chron1/rmn_e534c.mp3

Clip on youtube of audio accompanied by transcript:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6fYEOYzECs

JULY 1, 1971: THE PRESIDENT AND HALDEMAN, 1:38-2:05 P.M., OVAL OFFICE

HALDEMAN: Well, he's [Dick Allen] got one guy that looks like what we're looking for. He has a number of them. But the one who he thinks would probably be the best, and who interestingly enough, is convinced that there's a conspiracy and has been for three years. He is, at the moment, Deputy General Counsel of US IA [US Information Agency] [this is Gordon Strachan]. We brought him in. Thirty six years old. Long time Nixon supporter. Worked for eight years in the tax division at Justice. Moved him over to US IA by Shakespeare [Frank Shakespeare, head of US IA]. Has super academic credentials, B.A. and M.A. from Notre Dame, plus political science. He'll be at West Virginia. Excellent political sense. Loyal, very hard working. Currently to be considered Deputy General Counsel of the IRS. They recommended him for Assistant AG of the Tax Division. Basically...a larger role...in the international studies. At least, the kind of guy you want, and he has the conviction you want. He's very bright, he has a very good jugular instinct, and is very...totally dedicated, and he's been in the woodwork, and knows what's happening in the woodwork. The disadvantage is whether he really knows...has the scope, knows the people that you need.

But I explored back with Colson, the guy he mentioned, this former CIA guy [Howard Hunt]. And I talked—I raised him with [Richard] Allen. Allen doesn't know him, he doesn't think...he's not sure, he has any might. That kinda guy, might be better, a guy with the CIA...The problem there would be he's known in the intelligence establishment and you send out some waves. I said what the hell difference does that make. As soon as this guy gets started, he's going to send out waves no matter what. And he said, yeah. That's right.

PRESIDENT NIXON: But we have haven't- I still put down for consideration the possible pattern here of really putting the damn job—I just wonder if we should just put Colson in charge of it, and then putting in him—and put him in charge of the team. And for example, Huston [Tom Huston]. I realize Huston is no good unless it's something that he really believes in. But couldn't you bring him in to put him in on what we've been—you did believe in, you know. And say, all right, now this is yours, Tom.

HALDEMAN: He's a lone operator. You say, you bore in and don't come up for air until you've produced so and so.

PRESIDENT NIXON: And let him go off and just do it. You need to do the bold thing. You're [Huston] going to do the declassification thing or something like the conspiracy thing.

HALDEMAN: In any event, Huston oughta be ordered back...I just went through his files. He did a damn good thing on this bombing halt thing, except he hasn't finished it. He didn't do the last three days. He said, he's got all his stuff and he didn't get around to doing it. Well, the sonofabitch hasn't had nothing to do except get around to doing it.

PRESIDENT NIXON: What's the matter with him?

HALDEMAN: And I thought he had it done. He just got involved in other things, I guess.

PRESIDENT NIXON: I think we ought to get him back. I think—incidentally, I think you need more—I think you need a team. This is a big job. But you need a commander of the team and-

HALDEMAN: [unintelligible]

PRESIDENT NIXON: Maybe—

HALDEMAN: Allen.

PRESIDENT NIXON: Maybe—incidentally, Allen should not be the commander, should he? Shouldn't Colson be? Are we putting too much a load on him? What is-

HALDEMAN: No, 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, at least...

PRESIDENT NIXON: His instincts are particularly good.

HALDEMAN: Oh yeah.

PRESIDENT NIXON: I think we oughta consider this fellow [Hunt]. I think we oughta put him over here. You know, on temporary duty, for the purpose of vetting him.

HALDEMAN: Oh, the deal with this guy, the CIA guy, is that...

PRESIDENT NIXON: US IA.

HALDEMAN: Oh, you're talking about this guy [Strachan].

PRESIDENT NIXON: Well either one of them. Both sides.

HALDEMAN: The CIA guy, in fact, he's working outside. We can just hire him as a consultant. There's some merit to getting a guy from outside.

PRESIDENT NIXON: Alright. Good.

HALDEMAN: If he knows his way around here. I think this guy too.

PRESIDENT NIXON: This guy that we got from Shakespeare...bring him over. I like the idea of a young bearcat, who thinks there's a conspiracy. I'll put him on the conspiracy side. The CIA guy, declassification side.

HALDEMAN: Allen makes the point about resistance. He says your principals are almost always going to be with state. CIA and Defense are not going to be far behind. In the declassification effort. State, for its own reasons. Self-protection, primarily. Joint Chiefs are going to be against it, as a matter of policy. CIA will be concerned with methods of intelligence collection.

PRESIDENT NIXON: I understand. We're talking though about...you mean, you're talking about going way back to World War II, Korea, Cuban missile crisis.

HALDEMAN: Al's [Al Haig] laid out a plan for how it oughta be done. Going about. That there should be a little steering committee, that's Ehrlichman and me, and he suggests the attorney general, which I don't think you want...

PRESIDENT NIXON: No.

HALDEMAN: And he says, perhaps a very trusted senator, if you can get one, like John Tower, but I don't think-

PRESIDENT NIXON: No!

HALDEMAN: I think you oughta keep it inside.

PRESIDENT NIXON: We can't take Tower, it'd be too big a price.

HALDEMAN: Just to oversee it.

PRESIDENT NIXON: On the other hand, you could use Tower for the purpose of speeches and leaks, and so forth.

HALDEMAN: Oh yeah.

PRESIDENT NIXON: He might be your bearcat.

HALDEMAN: That's- He suggested that.

HALDEMAN: And the question there would be, how it would have to be a political decision on Johnson's.

HALDEMAN: Or whether he would jump reluctantly, or that's what he wants to do or it isn't.

PRESIDENT NIXON: Oh yeah.

HALDEMAN: Another suggestion for a guy would be Hughes [James Donald Hughes, military assistant to the president] in this...who wants to, and could be as effective in his own way as Ichord [Montana representative Richard Ichord, head of the Committee for Internal Security]. He is a democrat, he is chairman of the committee, he makes a lot of people back in the-

PRESIDENT NIXON: [unintelligible]

HALDEMAN: He'd lead to Ichord.

PRESIDENT NIXON: On the conspiracy. So, he wouldn't want...as a democrat, he wouldn't take on Truman or-

HALDEMAN: No, I meant on a conspiracy-

PRESIDENT NIXON: On a conspiracy, lead to Ichord, and let Ichord's committee follow him in. And testify. That's a very good idea. I think the best thing, if Ichord is chairman of the committee, one of the best things is to have that committee resurrect itself, and let it have hearings on this conspiracy. Now the supreme goal is to have this fellow Jaffe [Communist Philip Jaffe]...spy...trial...go right ahead, they're going on a conspiracy here. See, they pulled that out, they pulled all that stuff, and they tell you it's almost like that period in the Hiss case, Elizabeth Bentley, and all the others, the supreme ones, I mean by that, Nathan Witt. John Abt. Victor Perlo. [the Perlo group - spies that passed information to the Soviet Union] Preston [Earl Preston], perhaps. Is that they should be tried before the courts, and not before the committee. We kept right ahead. We tried the bastards. And they all plead self-incrimination, and were destroyed as a result. Lesson for the courts and Mitchell and the rest will never get. Actually, when Mitchell leaves as Attorney General, we're going to be better off in my view. I think that while he's less a [unintelligible], one thing about finding things, he has more of an instinct for the jugular. Less influenced by the press responsibility and so on. John is just too damn good a lawyer, you know. He's a good strong lawyer. It just repels him to do these horrible things, but they've got to be done. We have to fight this thing. Huh. Okay.

HALDEMAN: We oughta, should work backwards on this thing, and you should make no bones about it. Just start at most recent working back, and go through, in essence, go through the Tonkin Gulf, in diminishing crisis, Cuban missile crisis, Berlin crisis of '61 [Berlin blockade], Bay of Pigs, U-2 [downing of Gary Powers], Berlin '58 [Khruschev's demand that Allied powers leave Berlin], Lebanon, Korea, Berlin blockade...just work your way through the principal incidents.

PRESIDENT NIXON: Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall has a pretty good story.

HALDEMAN: You see, by focusing on the episodes, you limit the scope of the work, which you need to do. Otherwise, it's just going to be bogged down in the morass. In the process, you'll uncover some other things that'll be very interesting, that can be handled on an ad hoc basis, once you get into it.

HALDEMAN: [unintelligible], he thinks we oughta announce, probably, that we're doing it.

PRESIDENT NIXON: The declassification thing is easy to put under this-

PRESIDENT NIXON: Would Ehrlichman- You take a fifty year old guy [Howard Hunt], and put him in charge as a consultant of this whole group- Of the group we had, what would he uncover, you see. It's interesting.

PRESIDENT NIXON: Okay!