call from john ehrlichman, the president s top domestic affairs adviser. mr. ehrlichman told commissioner thrower that he was fired. so yeah, that pressure that the honorable irs commissioner was under to go audit and investigate people who the white house didn t like, turns out that was not exactly a shock and a surprise to president nixon. but once nixon realized that randolph thrower was going to be a problem on this front over at the irs, nixon realized he needed to find somebody to replace this guy. somebody more suited to the way nixon expected to be able to use the government for his own purposes. there was a guy named john nolan who was then up for the job, was considered the front-runner to be the next irs commissioner. he was kind of the obvious choice. he was the guy in charge of tax policy at the treasury department anyway. the treasury secretary at the time, john connelly, supported this guy nolan getting the irs job. but president nixon really, really knew what he wanted
plucked from the justice department and he gets installed as the head of the irs. and then of course president nixon expects to be able to start firing the irs at his political enemies like a weapon that he alone controls. so september 11th, 1972, white house counsel john dean calls up walters, calls up the irs commissioner, this guy hand-picked to be nixon s son of a at the irs. he calls up commissioner johnny walters, summons him to the white house for a meeting in the white house counsel s office. irs commissioner walters comes up to the white house, comes to meet with john dean at that meeting. john dean hands the irs commissioner an envelope. in that envelope is a list of people. hundreds of people who the president wants investigated and pursued and audited by the irs. for political reasons. this is two months before nixon s re-election race against george mcgovern. and john dean as white house
the person he would have running the irs. that much became clear when we got to mr. thrower s second mistake. after a couple years on the job rung the irs for richard nixon, randolph thrower decided that he needed to talk to the president. he made contact with the white house. again, he did not have a previous relationship with nixon, didn t come up through the nixon campaign and all that stuff. he only met nixon when nixon appointed him to run the irs. but thrower asked for a personal meeting with the president, contacted the white house and said he needed to talk to him. in january 1971 mr. thrower requested a meeting with the prrnths hoping to warn president nixon personally about pressure that white house staff members had been placing on the irs, pressure on the irs to audit the tax returns of certain individuals, beginning with anti-war leaders and civil rights figures. the list had grown to include journalists and even members of congress. as irs commissioner randolph thrower
well, that is the basis of which i inquired about nolan. and i am assured that nolan will not play that game. i am assured this guy nolan will not play that game. don t hire nolan if that s what you want, sir. right? amazing tape. nixon says he wants someone who will do what he s told. every income tax return i want to see i see. he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends. that s what he wants. and his staffers tell him, okay, sir, then don t pick this guy nolan, he s probably not going to do that for you. so they don t pick nolan. turns down the recommendation from his treasury secretary. no, we re not picking your guy, we need to find a different guy. they find a justice department guy who was recommended to nixon by his attorney general at the time, john mitchell, who had also been nixon s campaign manager. mitchell picks this guy. nixon thinks, okay, for sure this guy will get it, this guy will know what i want to do with the irs. so this guy johnny walters gets
orders. and that list just sat there in that safe in the commissioner s office at the irs. and then eight months later, so the following year, watergate starts to break open and john dean, the white house counsel, the guy giving him the enemies list, john dean turned against nixon and started to testify. and it was john dean and his congressional testimony who ended up telling the world that, yeah, there was an enemies list. and he told him what that list was for. and when he said it in that hearing room you could hear the gasps in the room. whether it be an fbi investigation of an individual or an irs audit, do you consider that to be a legal and proper activity by those security arms? as i say, i don t know of the iec itself preparing political i understand. material. i do of course know and as i have submitted in documents, other agents were involved in seeking politically embarrassing information on individuals who