Presidential Recordings Program

President Nixon: The IRS thing is important but, God, we ought to be able to get some loyal son of a bitch.

H.R. "Bob" Haldeman^∇: I think we can.

John Ehrlichman^∇: We will, we will.

President Nixon: There ought to be some guy that will do our bidding. That’s what we want, isn’t it? I don’t want that to drop between the stools. I don’t want another Johnnie Walters. We’ll get some—OK. [Unclear] a guy on your own staff. How about [Egil "Bud"] Krogh? Is he a tax lawyer?

Ehrlichman: No, that’s the sad part.

President Nixon: He’s a hell of a property, a hell of a property.

Ehrlichman: I’d kind of like to hang onto him.

President Nixon: I know, but don’t—don’t do that. I understand, but if you’ve got a good man . . .

Ehrlichman: Well, I’ve got a guy that would pass as a tax lawyer in the White House—

President Nixon: But he’s not.

Ehrlichman: —but really not with a sufficient stature—

President Nixon: The tax business is a—

Ehrlichman: It’s a closed corporation.

President Nixon: How about the Dean of the Duke [University] Law School? Would he take it? Having in mind the fact that he—

Ehrlichman: Joe—

President Nixon: —having in mind the fact that he would go up to the Court maybe?

Ehrlichman: Is tax his field? I guess it is, isn’t it?

President Nixon: He won’t go to the Court this term though. I don’t that it is, but [unclear]—

Ehrlichman: Probably. We’ve got to have a guy that is politically responsive.

President Nixon: Yeah, I know.

Ehrlichman: And, really, somebody like Lyn Nofziger is [chuckling] what we need.

President Nixon: I know, I know.