TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDING OF A

TELEPHONE CALL BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT

AND CHARLES COLSON ON NOVEMBER 8, 1972 FROM

6:49 PM TO 7:27 PM

COLSON: Sir, we've been trying get to ahold of you. Are you still in Florida?

PRESIDENT: I've been on the phone with Bebe. I'm at the Winter White House until Monday. You know that, Chuck. Mary gave you my schedule. Where are you?

COLSON: I'm at home. Sir—

PRESIDENT: Well, what the [expletive deleted] are you doing there? You should come down here. Bob's here. The weather's great. Bebe's bringing some stuff from the Cocolobo Cay Club. We're going to take the boat out, make cocktails, maybe go for a swim.

COLSON: Listen, Mr. President— Isn't Pat in Washington?

PRESIDENT: Not Baby, Chuck. Bebe.

COLSON: Well, it doesn't- Bebe Rebozo?

PRESIDENT: Yes.

COLSON: Dick, you went swimming with Bebe Rebozo yesterday.

PRESIDENT: That's right.

COLSON: And then you had dinner with him.

PRESIDENT: Right.

COLSON: And then went swimming again.

PRESIDENT: That's right. Just great. High eighties. Why, you wouldn't know it's November if the kids weren't making snowmen out of sand.

COLSON: And then you watched Under the Yum Yum Tree.

PRESIDENT: Chuck, did you call for a reason?

COLSON: Sir, there was a— What's that sound?

[Guys like us we had it made,

Those were the days.]

PRESIDENT: Oh, it's that show- that show with that Arch fellow.

[And you knew who you were then,

Girls were girls and men were men.]

PRESIDENT: I had the TV on while I was getting ready. I wasn't watching it. That show glorifies homosexuality.

[Mister we could use a man

Like Herbert Hoover again.]

PRESIDENT: The point is, I do not mind the homosexuality. I understand it. [14 second beep.] But nevertheless, the point I make is that [expletive deleted] I do not think that you glorify on public television homosexuality. The reason you don't glorify it, Chuck, anymore than you glorify uh, uh, uh, whores— now we all know that people go to whores, and we all know that people are just— uh, do that, and we all have weaknesses and so forth and so on, but [expletive deleted] what do you think- what do you think that does to kids?

What do you think that does to eleven and twelve year old boys when they see that? Why is it that the Scouts— the— why is it that the Boys Clubs we were in— we constantly had to clean up the staffs to keep the [expletive deleted] fags out of it, because— not because of them, they can go out and do anything they damn please, [unintelligible] all those kids? You know, there's a little tendency among them all.

Well by God can I tell you it outraged me. Not for any moral reason. Most people are outraged for moral reasons. I— It outraged me because I don't want to see this country go that way. You know there are countries— You ever see what happened— you know what happened to the Greeks. Homosexuality destroyed them. Sure, Aristotle was a homo, we all know that. So was Socrates. Do you know what happened to the Romans— Romans? The last six Roman emperors were fags. The last six. Nero had a public wedding to a boy. Yeah. And they'd [unintelligible]. You know that.

You know what happened to the Popes? It's all right when the, Po-Po-Popes were laying the nuns, that's been going on for years, centuries, [laugher] but, when the popes, when the Catholic Church went to hell in— I don't know— three or four centuries ago, it was homosexual. And finally it had to be cleaned out.

Now, that's what's happened to Britain. It happened earlier to France. And let's look at the strong societies. The Russians. God damn it, they root them out. They don't let them around at all. You know what I mean? I don't know what they do with them. Now, we are allowing this in this country when we show [unintelligible].

Dope? Do you think the Russians allow dope? Hell no. Not if they can allow, not if they can catch it. They send them up. You see, homosexuality, dope, immorality in general; these are the enemies of strong societies. That's why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing the stuff. They're trying to destroy us.

COLSON: Dick, let me be candid with you. Next year is an— It's an election year next year.

PRESIDENT: You think I don't know that? The Committee to Re-Elect the President is—

COLSON: Look Dick, we could launder all the money in the Federal Reserve, but CREEP the will have all the political power of the Girl Scouts once this gets out. The spying alone—

PRESIDENT: Is that all? Oh, [expletive deleted]. We'll have to get rid of this tape too.

COLSON: Don't worry, sir. This phone line isn't part of the taping system yet.

PRESIDENT: Oh, good.

COLSON: But if this does get out, you'll be remembered as the president who did more damage to Hollywood than The Zodiac Killer.

PRESIDENT: I thought the Zodiac Killer was in Northern California.

COLSON: I meant the movie. Sir, do you remember what happened to the Rosenbergs? They were electrocuted because they conspired with Russia. The Pope himself had asked President Eisenhower to spare them, but no President of the United States would ever condone conspiring with Russia.

[Muffled laughter from unidentified subject.]

PRESIDENT: Did you hear that? I thought you said this phone line wasn't part of the taping system.

COLSON: It isn't, sir. Now my point is: The Rosenbergs were just conspiring with the Russians. Think what they'll do to you.

PRESIDENT: We're being tapped. I'm hanging up, Chuck.

COLSON: But sir, we have to—

[Click.]