—please.

Yeah, this is John Ehrlichman.[note 1] John D. Ehrlichman was chief domestic adviser, January 1969 to April 1973. Would you give me Clark MacGregor, please?[note 2] Clark MacGregor was White House congressional liaison, 4 January 1971 to 2 July 1972; and chairman of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, 2 July 1972 to November 1972.

Yes, sir. [Pause.]

Clark MacGregor’s office.

This is John Ehrlichman. Is he there?

Yes, just a moment, sir. [Pause.]

Hello?

Hello, I just talked with the Speaker [Carl Albert] [D–Oklahoma].[note 3] Carl B. Albert was a Democratic congressman from Oklahoma, 1947–1977; and served as Speaker of the House, 1971–1977.

Yeah.

He’s a little confused by some telephone message from your office about parliamentarians and the storage of documents, and so forth.

It isn’t clear to me, John, whether we’re transmitting two sets of documents—

No.

—or one set.

One.

And how is it to be handled?

Well, I’ll—

[Unclear] hold them?

Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it. I’ll fill you in when I get through here. [MacGregor acknowledges.] But the point is that he had some message from your office that had him badly hung up, and I told him just to disregard it.

I don’t know how any message from this office could have held him—had him badly hung up. I haven’t talked to him at all.

Well, no, you talked to—somebody talked to a secretary in his office about documents being transmitted to a parliamentarian. And . . .

I didn’t talk to him. I talked to the Vice President [Spiro T. Agnew] this morning[note 4] Spiro T. Agnew was vice president of the United States, January 1969 to October 1973.—

Oh, God.

—because he’s the presiding officer of the United States Senate. And . . .

What’d you tell him?

I told him that the President was considering—he was having breakfast with Mike Mansfield [D–Montana] this morning, and was considering an action with respect to the documents involving the Congress, and it might well involve the presiding officers of the House and the Senate, and as the presiding officer of the Senate, I wanted to make sure that he was not embarrassed by being out of town.[note 5] Mike Mansfield was a Democratic senator from Montana, January 1953 to January 1977; and Senate Majority Leader, January 1961 to January 1977. He said, “Oh, I’ll be here, Clark.” And he said, “But if you’ve got any questions about the handling of documents, we got a regular procedure for that and I’ll have Walter [L.] Mote call you.” And Walter—he called—the Vice President then called Walter Mote, who called me. And now Mote may have—well, have also called somebody in the Speaker’s office.

Oh, boy.

It did not come from our office. I have have not talked to the Speaker or anybody in the Speaker’s office about the President’s announcement.

Well, he used your name. In any event, [Gerald R.] Jerry Ford [R–Michigan]‘s not available, and so I’ve got a call in for him and I’ll talk with him just as soon as he’s available.[note 6] Gerald R. “Jerry” Ford was a Republican congressman from Michigan, 1949–1973; and served as House Minority Leader, January 1965 to December 1973. But Mansfield is going to contact these people and have a meeting. He is not going to contact the Vice President. [Pause.] He’s just not on the list.

Mm-hmm. The Vice President, of course, is the presiding officer of the United States Senate.

Well, that’s what the Constitution says.

And the transmittal of documents does go to the Vice President’s office.

Well, except in this case, the President told Mansfield that the transmission would go to—

[Unclear.]

—to Mansfield and the joint leadership of the two Houses . . . because it is not like a congressional message.

I appreciate it. It’s a . . .

It’s an extraordinary procedure.

It is an extraordinary situation—

Right.

—and . . . 

So you better untrack the Vice President.

I’ll call him right away. [Ehrlichman acknowledges.] But . . . he—they asked—you see, they asked me questions about whether there’s one set of documents, two set of documents, and so forth. And I said, “I don’t know about—"

Well—

I haven’t any information about that, John.

I think you better get unplugged from him—

All right. What are we—

—‘cause he’s not in the chain here.

Well, [with a frustrated chuckle] I just—all right. I know of no procedure for the President to transmit documents to the United States Senate and bypass the presiding officer.

We’re about to make one.

OK.

All right.