[streetpreacher]

Just because Nixon and his people didn't know the terms (make me FBI head and I won't leak like a wooden boat that sat out back in the yard for fourteen years), doesn't mean a deal wasn't there for their making. If Nixon had appointed him, he would have kept his mouth shut, so the Nixon government wouldn't unravel, and cost him the job he so openly coveted.

Apparently, Nixon did know what Felt wanted:

Nixon: "Well, if they’ve got a leak down at the FBI, why the hell can’t Gray tell us what the hell is left . . . ?”

Haldeman: "We know what’s left, and we know who leaked it.”

Nixon: "Somebody in the FBI?”

Haldeman: "Yes, sir. Mark Felt. You can’t say anything about this because it will screw up our source and there’s a real concern. [Attorney General John] Mitchell is the only one who knows about this and he feels strongly that we better not do anything because . . .”

Nixon: "Do anything? Never.”

Haldeman: "If we move on him, he’ll go out and unload everything. He knows everything that’s to be known in the FBI. He has access to absolutely everything . . .”

Nixon: "You know what I’d do with him, the bastard? Well that’s all I want to hear about it.”

Haldeman: "I think he wants to be in the top spot.”

Nixon: "That’s a hell of a way for him to get to the top ... Is he Catholic?”

Haldeman: "Jewish.”

Nixon: "Christ, put a Jew in there?”

Haldeman: "Well, that could explain it, too.”

[John Robertson]

Yes, yes, of course you're right.

The tapes have them backing away from action against Felt, as he will spill his guts.

But they could not have known that leaving him alone was not enough. They could not have known that, if they didn't give him the top job, he would spill his guts anyway. From that point of view, they didn't--couldn't--know Felt's "terms."

But what I gather from this exchange (thanks for posting it), is that, even within the meltdown, they simply knew Felt would not be a good FBI chief, on character reasons. My reading, anyway.