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This file contains:
From Colson to Higby RE: Nofziger's poor communication skills. 1 pg. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/20/1971
From Colson to Haldeman RE: using Nofziger more effectively in terms of coordinating campaign efforts with the RNC. 2 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/18/1971
From Colson to Nofziger, hoping to spur the RNC into action in regards to attacking the Democrats. 2 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Letter], 8/18/1971
From Colson to Haldeman RE: using Jaime McLane for a youth project. 2 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/10/1971
From Colson to Haldeman RE: a conversation between Lou Harris and Larry O'Brien on the election, the economy, and other political matters. 3 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/5/1971
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26144693
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WHSF: Contested, 4-29
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26144693
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WHSF: Contested, 4-29
description
This file contains:
From Colson to Higby RE: Nofziger's poor communication skills. 1 pg. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/20/1971
From Colson to Haldeman RE: using Nofziger more effectively in terms of coordinating campaign efforts with the RNC. 2 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/18/1971
From Colson to Nofziger, hoping to spur the RNC into action in regards to attacking the Democrats. 2 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Letter], 8/18/1971
From Colson to Haldeman RE: using Jaime McLane for a youth project. 2 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/10/1971
From Colson to Haldeman RE: a conversation between Lou Harris and Larry O'Brien on the election, the economy, and other political matters. 3 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/5/1971
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Richard M. Nixon's Returned Materials Collection
Contested Materials Files
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26144693
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Contested Materials Collection
Folder List
Box Number
Folder Number
Document Date
No Date
Subject
Document Type
Document Description
4
29
8/20/1971
White House Staff
Memo
From Colson to Higby RE: Nofziger's poor
communication skills. 1 pg.
4
29
8/18/1971
White House Staff
Memo
From Colson to Haldeman RE: using
Nofziger more effectively in terms of
coordinating campaign efforts with the RNC.
2 pgs.
4
29
8/18/1971
Campaign
Letter
From Colson to Nofziger, hoping to spur the
RNC into action in regards to attacking the
Democrats. 2 pgs.
4
29
8/10/1971
White House Staff
Memo
From Colson to Haldeman RE: using Jaime
McLane for a youth project. 2 pgs.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Page 1 of 2
Box Number
Folder Number
Document Date
No Date
Subject
Document Type
Document Description
4
29
8/5/1971
White House Staff
Memo
From Colson to Haldeman RE: a
conversation between Lou Harris and Larry
O'Brien on the election, the economy, and
other political matters. 3 pgs.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Page 2 of 2
August 20, 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR:
LARRY HIGBY
FROM:
CHARLES COLSON
SUBJECT:
Lyn Nofziger
Just so you will have some appreciation of what I am up
against, this is the kind of BS that goes on with Nofziger.
First of all, it takes 20 minutes on the phone to get him
to agree to anything and then its grudgingly and with in-
numerable excuses. Apparently his sole complaint is
that I lean on him too hard. In my opinion, we are getting
goddamned little out of him and as long as I am the only
one leaning on him, he is simply going to get mad at me
and continue to do nothing. I have got to have some help
with other pebple leaning as well.
August 18, 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR:
H.R. HALDEMAN
FROM:
CHARLES COLSON
SUBJECT:
RNC/Lyn Nofziger
Trying as hard as I do not to bother you with the nitty gritty,
day to day stuff, I think in this instance I need some help. As
you will see from my letter attached to Lyn Nofziger, I couldn't
get Lyn today to put a statement out answering Muskie until to-
night, notwithstanding the fact I had alerted him yesterday after-
noon to the fact that Muskie was putting a statement out, I had
at least 5 phone calls with Lyn, Bill Rhatican had several. It
was not all that big a production. He was totally agreeable to
doing it, but as he has just explained to me in a very heated
phone conversation, he had too many other things to do to get
to it until 5:45 tonight which means of course that it has not
effect and obviously won't get on the networks.
It's all well and good for us to talk about fighting back at the
Democrats. Obviously the National Committee is one of our
most important, if not the most important resource and we have
just got to get a more coopesative attitude from Lyn. When I
tried to reach him at noon today he was out for one of his typical
3 hour lunches, then never returned my calls even though I tried
to get him 4 times this afternoon. When I just talked to him on
the phone, he told me that he had many too many important things
to do in the Republican National Committee to worry about the
White House requests, that he would do them if he could and that
if we weren't satisfied we could shove the whole thing you know
where. I told him that I was clearly dissatisfied, that this was a
case where we had worked very closely together, understood each
other, all we wanted was a simple statement out of the Committee
and that we had gotten one out of Griffin with a phone call.
At the conclusion of the conversation, Nofziger advised me that the
Committee couldn't be bothered with these kind of things and if the
President of Bob Haldeman were dissatisfied, all they had to do was
tell him.
2.
I find that when I kiss his fanny which I do more frequently than I
like, occasionally something happens but this is not really a good
working arrangement. I think the only thing that will bring Lyn
up short is a call from you pointing out that today at least he
certainly let us down and that this kind of attitude just isn't going
to get us through the wars that are ahead.
August 18, 1971
Dear Lyn:
Having been unable to reach you by phone all afternoon after
several attempts, I have no choice but to express my distress
and consternation in writing.
I think you know from my call yesterday afternoon that there
was considerable interest in seeing to it that an immediate
response be made to Muskie when he finally issued his
partisan statement on the President's economic initiatives.
Often times you raise a very valid criticism that when we
request things like this we do not give you adequate notice.
That is hardly the case in this instance. I discussed this with
you this morning 3 times and in each instance you assured me
it would be handled.
It seems to me that one function of the Committee is to help win
an election next year and, therefore, to be aware of what pro-
spective Democratic candidates are going to do. You should
have been calling us telling us that this was coming rather than
our having to monitor it here. The Muskie statement was issued
at 11:00 a.m. this morning. As of the time that I am writing this
letter (5:30 p.m.) nothing has come out of the National Committee.
Your secretary has advised me that something is in the works.
You and I agreed to this at 9:15 this morning and I cannot believe
that the communications apparatus of the Committee is so moribund
that it takes eight hours to get out a simple statement.
Just by way of comparison, I called Senator Griffin at 11:30 this
morning, dictated a statement over the phone to him and it was on
the wires by 2:00. This is in addition to trying to do 82 other
things here.
Obviously I do not understand the functions of the Republican
National Committee. I assumed it was supposed to be engaged in
6.
a partisan business and had the equipment to do the job, but thus
far all it has produced today is terrible aggravation and a monu-
mental waste of my time.
If this letter sounds belligerent, I am sorry. I am sincerely
looking for constructive ways that we can get the kind of activity
that we need in situations like this and we should not have to do
it here. Somehow the Committee has to be responsive.
Sincerely,
Charles W. Colson
Special Counsel to the President
Mr. Lyn Nofsiger
Deputy Chairman for Communications
Republican National Committee
310 First Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
/hh
August 10, 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR:
H.R. HALDEMAN
FROM:
CHARLES COLSON
SUBJECT:
Jamie McLane/Youth Project
I have negotiated with Ken Cole an arrangement for the use of
Jamie McLane that I think works out very satisfactorily. I
have also had a long talk with McLane and while he is not pre-
cisely the man I would have chosen, I think he will be able to
handle the youth project very effectively. I will have no diffi-
culty working with him. He has grandiose, personal ideas,
but I find they are very easy to knock down.
The agreement I reached with Cole involved McLane being the
youth project manager reporting to me for his operational
activities and to Cole for substance. I will obviously work
out with Finch a working relationship which should not be
difficult inasmuch as McLane was at one time his executive
assistant. Cole wants McLane also to be involved in some of
the aging project responsibilities. At first blush, this appeared
to be an illogical arrangement, but the more we have thought it
through and worked it out, the better I like it. The activities
have many similarities. We have an intern available who's going
to follow up on a number of the political activities on the aging
that George Bell has launched and this will be under Jamie's
project supervision. I am sure it will not interfere with what he
does with youth. Most importantly, McLane is enthused over
doing both since he felt that one alone would not be a full time
job. With this I concur.
Hence, we are off and running, have some good concrete projects
to start with and I will keep you posted on the progress that we
make.
2.
That leaves one open question: Doug Hallett. Hallett wanted to
stay on as youth project manager, but the judgment of all was
that McLane would be better at this. Hallett is willing to give
up law school (he's been accepted at Harvard) if we want him to
stay with us through the campaign. He is a difficult person to
deal with, brash and abrasive; on the other hand, he is very
bright. In fact, he turned out for me in a couple of days the best,
most creative and yet most practical ideas on youth activities
that we have gotten. We pay him less than even the secretaries
that we steal from Gordon Allott and he, therefore, does not
disrupt our budget too badly. He could be very valuable working
in the youth area and I suspect as time goes on we might find him
valuable in a number of other areas. He is not "necessary",
however, to fill any organizational billet and I have, therefore,
given him no encouragement. I have told him we would give him
a decision next week, however. Perhaps this is something you
and I should discuss briefly.
EYES ONLY
EYES ONLY
August 5, 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR:
H.R. HALDEMAN
FROM:
CHARLES COLSON
SUBJECT:
Lou Harris
Lou Harris rode down on the plane from New York yesterday with
Larry O'Brien. O'Brien talked to him like the old confidant that
he once was. According to Harris, O'Brien made the following
points:
1. The early runners, McGovern, Bayh, etc., are all dead. Scoop
Jackson is picking up some support but is making a mistake by
putting all of his eggs in one basket, i.e. Florida. O'Brien
believes that even though Jackson has Holland and Smathers
working for him, Muskie will get Chiles and Askew and Muskie
will win the Florida primary.
2. Muskie has a big leg up and is improving his lot with the pros;
he has picked up some very effective regional coordinators.
3. Jackson's one hope is that the defense issue will come back
hard. O'Brien believes that in fact It will but he still won't be
able to make a strong race.
4. Teddy is not out of it "by any means". His problem is that he
will have to make a decision next January on the California pri-
mary. He probably, according to O'Brien, will not go in (Harris
has it from Steve Smith that Kennedy probably will go into
California). If he doesn't go in, according to O'Brien, Muskie
will win the nomination unless he "commits a terrible goof".
5. The one candidate over whom O'Brien feels he has no control is
Gene McCarthy. O'Brien considers him a son of a bitch, a
spoiler and a sorehead who is still mad at the guys who did him
in in 1968. Whoever the candidate is (with on exception) he will
stay in and run on a fourth party ticket; he's especially irked
at Muskie and Humphrey and would love to stay in the race if
either of them are the nominee.
6. The one exception is if Teddy were nominated; for some curious
reason he does not want to block Teddy. O'Brien says that Teddy's
man, Dave Burke, now works for Howard Stein and this could be
behind it. O'Brien considers a McCarthy fourth party candidacy
as the biggest danger the Democrats face next year. He also says
that McCarthy is a "money" man who will run if he thinks he can
make something out of it, but he won't unless he has financial
backing and there is some money in it for him personally.
7. Humphrey will try but can't make it. He'll never quit trying and
will go into California.
8. Lindsay will become a Democrat in mid-August, but will not run
for the Presidency.
9. O'Brien feels that the economy is the only issue that the Democrats
have. He simply cannot understand why the President has not used
selective wage and price controls. This would cut the legs out
from the Democrate and take away their only issue. He considers
that all the "dove" candidates are dead and that the President has
completely taken over the "peace" issue. No Democrat can profit
politically in the foreign affairs field, but they can win on the
economy unless the President pulls the rug out and does some
spectacular things, which O'Brien feels the President is entirely
capable of doing. As he puts it, "it's all in the President's control.
But, I don't understand why he hasn't done it".
10. O'Brien is not concerned at all about money. He has no intention of
paying off the $9 million debt, $800, 000 of which is owed to Daley
(who is very unhappy about it). The Committee collected $1. 7 million
on their dinner, they will spend it all this year but Strauss is doing an
excellent job and thinks that he can raise the funds needed for a
Presidential campaign next year without any difficulty.
11. O'Brien believes that Texas was a fluke in 1960 and 1968 and that the
Democrate should clearly write it off for 1972. He sees no chance
of winning it but he does believe that they can win Ohio, Illinois and
New Jersey. He, therefore, believes that California will be the
swing state in the election. He thinks that the "Nixon South" is gone
as far as the Democrats are concerned, that they might pick up one
or two border states but that's all and they need Wallace in the race
to deny us the deep south. If Wallace were not in, they would lose
the entire south.
12. O'Brien's attitude is guardedly optimistic. He said as he moves
around the country he finds that the economy is really biting people
and that if the President does not do something fairly significant
and if the Democrats play to this issue alone, they can win. He is
very cautious in his outlook, however, and is extremly worried
about the McCarthy situation which he kept coming back to in the
course of the discussion.
13. O'Brien thinks that Reagan is no asset in the coming election, will
not help us in California and is the most dangerous problem the
President has within the Republican Party?
From all of the foregoing, two things of significance emerge in my mind.
We should be planning how to encourage McCarthy's candidacy. It may
all turn on one man, Howard Stein. If Stein agrees to go all the way and
bankroll McCarthy's candidacy, McCarthy will stay in the race all the way,
even as a spoiler. Stein is Jack Dreyfus' partner as you know and I
would think that through Bill Rogers or others, we could perhaps encourage
Stein's commitment to McCarthy. Itt would even be worth pumping some
money in.
A second point which seems to me to be very important is the Democratic
debt. We have an analysis of the Democrat's creditors and we should
start on the outside a pressure campaign to force them to pay their bills
before they start spending new money. Obviously we can't get involved
in this from here but some of our business friends on the outside might
be asked to organize a campaign to put the screws on.
You and I talked about this many months ago. It was my judgment then
that we should not try to embarrass the Democrats over their debt or
create public sympathy for the "poor" Democrats, but rather wait until
the campaign was about to get underway and then see that the creditors
put the heat on them. If someone from 1701 were to pick a couple of good
loyalists on the outside, they could start them to work on this now.