$Unique_ID{bob01227}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Nixon Tapes, The
April 27, 1973. (5:37pm - 5:43pm)}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Various}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{nixon
peterson
pres
now
president
concerned
bittman
call
get
i'll}
$Date{1974}
$Log{}
Title:       Nixon Tapes, The
Author:      Various
Date:        1974

April 27, 1973. (5:37pm - 5:43pm)

Meeting:  President Nixon and Henry Petersen, Oval Office

Pres. Nixon:  Come in.

H. Peterson:  Hew are you today?

Pres. Nixon:  How was your hard day?

H. Peterson:  I'm sure no harder than yours, sir.

Pres. Nixon:  Sit down, sit down.  I was down in Mississippi today.  We have
               gotten a report that, ah, that really we've got to head them
               off at the pass.  Because it's so damned - so damn dangerous to
               the Presidency, in a sense.  There's a reporter by the name of
               Hersh of the New York York Times you probably know.

H. Peterson:  He's the fellow that did the Vietnam stories.

Pres. Nixon:  Right.  Who told Bittman, who told O'Brien, apparently that they
               have information - Hersh has information I don't know.  You
               can't ever tell who is saying "this is from Hersh" or "this is
               from Bittman."  Information indicating that Dean has made
               statements to the prosecuting team implicating the President.
               And whether - and whether - the Post has heard similar rumors.
               Now, Henry, this I've got to know.  Now, understand - I have
               told you everything I know about this thing.

H. Peterson:  I don't have any problem with that, Mr. President, and I'll get
               in touch with them immediately, but -

Pres. Nixon:  Who?

H. Peterson:  With Titus, Silbert and Glanzer and Campbell?  Who are

Pres. Nixon:  Do you mind calling them right now?

H. Peterson:  No, sir.

Pres. Nixon:  OK.  Say, "Now, look.  All of your conversations with Dean and
               Bittman, do they implicate the President?"  Because we can't -
               I've got - if the U.S. Attorney's office and, ah

H. Peterson:  Mr. President, (unintelligible) I had them over there - we had a
               kind of crisis of confidence night before last.  I left to come
               over here and I left my two principal assistants to discourse
               with Silbert and the other three.  And in effect it concerned
               me - whether or not they were at ease with my reporting to you,
               and I pointed out to them that I had very specific
               instructions, discussed that with them before on that subject,
               and - well

Pres. Nixon:  Yes.

H. Peterson:  As a consequence - I kind of laid in to Titus yesterday and it
               cleared the air a little bit, but there is a very suspicious
               atmosphere.  They are concerned and scared.  Ah - and I will
               check on this but I have absolutely no information at this
               point that -

Pres. Nixon:  Never heard anything like that -

H. Peterson:  No, sir.  Absolutely not.

Pres. Nixon:  My gosh - As I said -

H. Peterson:  Mr. President, I tell you, I do not consider it, you know, I've
               said to Titus, "We have to draw the line.  We have no mandate
               to investigate the President.  We investigate Watergate."  And
               I don't know where that line draws, but we have to draw that
               all the time.

Pres. Nixon:  Good.  Because if Dean is implicating the Presidency - we are
               going to damned well find out about it.  That's - that's -
               because let me tell you the only conversations we ever had with
               him, was that famous March 21st conversation I told you about,
               where he told me about Bittman coming to him.  No, the Bittman
               request for $120,000 for Hunt.  And I then finally began to get
               at them.  I explored with him thoroughly, "Now what the hell is
               this for?"  He said "It's because he's blackmailing
               Ehrlichman."  Remember I said that's what it's about.  And Hunt
               is going to recall the seamy side of it.  And I asked him,
               "Well how would you get it?  How would you get it to them?" so
               forth.  But my purpose was to find out what the hell had been
               going on before.  And believe me, nothing was approved.  I mean
               as far as I'm concerned - as far as I'm concerned turned it off
               totally.

H. Peterson:  Yeah.  My understanding of law is - my understanding of our
               responsibilities, is that If it Came to that I would have to
               come to you and say, "We can't do that."  The only people who
               have jurisdiction to do that is the House of Representatives,
               as far as I'm concerned.

Pres. Nixon:  That's right.  But I want you to know, you tell me, because as
               far as I'm concerned -

H. Peterson:  I'll call them.  Do you want me to call from here or outside?

Pres. Nixon:  Use the Cabinet Room and you will be able to talk freely.  And
               who will you call, who will you talk to there?

H. Peterson:  I'll call Silbert.  If he's not there, I'll get Titus.

Pres. Nixon:  You'll say that "This is the story some New York Times reporter
               has and Woodward of the Post, but Hersh is reporting that Dean
               had made a statement to the prosecutors."  Now understand that
               this is not a Grand Jury thing.  Now damnit, I want to know
               what it is.

H. Peterson:  I'll call right away.

Pres. Nixon:  And I need to know.

H. Peterson:  Yes, sir.