Oral History Interview with H. R. Haldeman Cc'l"Ld Uct Ed by Raymoyld H
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\~ Oral history interview with H. R. Haldeman cC'l"ld uct ed by RaymoYld H. Sese 1 bracht in Mr. Haldeman's home in Santa Barbara, California on April 11, 1988 RHG: Mr. Haldeman, I Just want to explain to the researchers in the future that my preparatiol"1 for this iYlterview has beeYI almc.st entirely to go through your Journal that you kept while you were in the White House and that our questions will be in response to issues raised by that Journal, and will be in some ways a gloss on the Journal and in some ways an expansion on the Journal, which is a very impo~tant document. Just by way of a warm-up question, let me ask you about the way in which you developed the persona, the personality that you brought to the White House in 1969. Your Journal shows you to be a very dedicated man in a very particular kind of way. I wonder if you could tell us where the particular kind of dedication came from. Did it come from your family, was your religion an influence, your sense of career, your sense of nation? What was it? HRH: The hardest thing for anybody to do, I think, is psychoanalyze himself and I'm not really sure where roots of whatever characteristics I have came from. Obviously a combination I think of all the forces that you enumerated. I w.:.I.lld add tc. that, though, the time I spent ser[vingJ, in the campaigns, but much more after the campaigns, starting with the transition and then moving to the White House, I think a lot of it comes simply from the aSSOCiation, of being a part of the White House c'pet"at iOYI. Of recognizing the importance of what you're doing and the potential effects, both positive and negative, that can 1 arise from what you're doing, and the •••• sur"roundir.g where everybody is so dedicated to the cause--each ir. his own way, obviously, and producing in different ways. Ther"e's a universal feeling within the group that you're doing something important and that it's essential that you do the best you can at it, and not let things fall between the tables. I think, to the degree that I reflect that, [itl is a reflection of my earlier backgrc.und and trai rli r.g, compounded and ampl i fied by the atmosphere that I fc••. md myself in as we wer"e gettir.g ready tc. go to the White House, and then when we were at the White House. RHG: Was there some sense of public service ••• HRH: Oh, sure. RHG = ... that yc.ur parents i nst i lIed into you? I'm Just trying to think, you had to do so many things, to get to the White House, and there was Just so much in your makeup that you had to develop ar.d take with you, and I'm Just wor.dering wher"e that ••• ? HRH: By the time I got to the White House, or by the time that we wc.n the election in '68, I had spent a long time working with Richard Nixon in various political activities, starting with the Vice Presidential campaign in 1956, where I had served as a volunteer and worked as an advance man, and t her. aga i n •••• That was ab.::out a three month activity during the actual campaign for Nixon's re- elect ion as Vice Presider.t. Then, the Congressional campaign of '58, where the Vice President campaigned for the Republican Cor.gressional candidates, I again worked as art advance mar.--sper.t anc.ther thr"ee mor.ths on a leave of abser.ce from b'Jsiness. Ther. in '60 I took a full year's leave of absence to work as campaign 2 tour manager for Nixon in his campaign for the Presidency, which he lost to [John F.l Kennedy. Again, in 1962 I took a full year's leave of absence to ma1"lage Nixc.n's campaign for Govel""nor of Cal i fOl""nia. That was an evolutionary process. By 1956 I had been in the advertising agency business for 16 years. I had to some degree started to look for other things, other kinds of things to do, not in place of that business, but to add on to that. I had slipped into, fallen into the routine of business operation, and Sl::- forth, a1"ld the political oppc'l""tu1"lity as a volunteer was something that intrigued me, and I went ahead with that. A lot of t"easonS--1"IO ,:.verwhelmi1"lg c.nes. I was impt"essed by Richard Nixon the man; I was interested in him. I had followed the [Algerl Hiss case and found it fascinating. He was the Senator from my state i1"1 1952, a1"ld I was--I actually had vc.lu1"lteered to work in the '52 campaign (his first round for election as Vice Pt"eside1"lt> a1"ld was 1"IOt accepted, so I never gClt i1"ltc. that O1"le. RHG: How did you make that application? HRH: I wrote a letter to Nixon, volunteering to work in the campaign in whatever way I could be useful, and outlining my background a little bit. About the time I got it ready, the Nixon "Fund" thing broke in the middle of that campaign. He came to California and made his 'famc.us "Checket"s" speech 01"1 television from the EI Capitan Theater in Hollywc.od, which was a televisil:'1"1 studic. at the time. I drove over to the EI Capitan with my letter in an envelope in hand, and waited for his motorcade to pull into the theater. Tried to get to him to give it to him, was not able to, 3 gave it to a staff person, and was assured that it would be delivered to him. And it ultimately was. r heard later from Slerl Li psce.mb, whet was Corlgressman from Cal i fornia [arldJ who was working on the campaign staff, saying that there was no opportunity for me in the national campaign, but why didn't I contact California headquarters and see if there was something r could do here? Which r didn't want to do, so I didn't. That was the end of it, really, 'til '56. By 1956 r had--l'm not sure where she fit. Loie Saunt, long-time staff person for Nixon, pre-Presidential, pre-Vice Presiderltial, she'd worked irl his Senatorial office--I had krlown Loie when she worked in the Dean's office at UCLA [University of California at Los AngelesJ when I was active in student affairs on the UCLA campus. Her brother was a fraternity brother of mine at UCLA, so I knew her through that also. I contacted Loie--she at this time was the office manager in the Vice President's office (by 1956)--contacted her [andJ told her I had tried in '52, and r wanted to try again. She, r think, got the thing to the Vice President's attention. He asked Ray Arbuthnot, who was sort of his chief "advance man at the time and lived here in Calife't"'rda, a close pet"'sorlal f""'iend of Nixon's, to ce.ntact me arid see if r wou 1 d be 51.1 i·t ab leas an advance man. Ray did, arid I was, and became an advance man, and that's how it started. There was no great ideological thrust or noble ambition involved in this, and no thought at all of becoming permanently involved in either politics or government. It was a thing where r felt it would be an interesting side experience where r could 4 make a contribution that would be worthwhile, something [thatJ would be a learning experience and an interesting experience for me, so that's why I did it to begin with. Then, step by step, I became more and more involved, more caught up, and became quite close to Nixon after he left the Vice Presidency in '60, and moved to California. I did some traveling with him, having been his tour manager through that year of campaigning for the Presidency, and then he asked me to manage his campaign for So, I became closer then. When he went on to New York and into the law business, our ties faded substantially, although we kept in touch from time to time. I did see him, traveled with him once in a while on a trip, and that sort of thing--until we got to his starting to get ready to run in '68, at which time I became involved, to a minor degt"'ee. That increased up to the point where I left the agency-- left J. Walter Thompson Company--in April, I think, of '68, exactly twenty years, probably, to the day, from right now. I Joined the campaign staff as chief of staff to the candidate, and went on from there. RHG: So, you didn't much campaigning with him between 1962 and 1968? HRH: No, I didn't. I did go to the '64 [RepublicanJ convention with him, to help out. He was there Just as fCtt"'rner Vice President of the United States and seniot.. member of the Republ icaYI Party. That was the [Barry M.J Goldwater convention, and I was there.