Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 8 › Conversation 008-010

Nixon phone call with Flanigan on Textile negotiations and US-Japan relations

Monday, August 16, 1971 · 8:50 PM–8:54 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Flanigan, Peter M.Conversation008-010 on Tape 8 (tape position 00:16:40–00:20:57)StartMonday, August 16, 1971 at 8:50 PMEndMonday, August 16, 1971 at 8:54 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 008-010 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Peter Flanigan discussed the administration's strategy for upcoming textile negotiations with Japan, emphasizing the need for a cautious approach following the President's August 15 economic announcement. Nixon instructed Flanigan to avoid providing premature assurances to industry leaders like Roger Milliken, arguing that the recent policy shifts had fundamentally strengthened the U.S. bargaining position. The conversation also covered the positive market reaction to the new economic policies, noting strong indicators in the stock market and home building sectors.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 37% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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President.
Hello, Pete.
Congratulations.
Did you get a good sale?
Well, I got caught in a hurricane, but that was nothing to what you were doing down here.
Yeah, well, we shook them up.
Tell me, how is the thing with Peterson tomorrow?
All right.
I don't want to, I just want to be sure that we don't go in there and have a terrible blow following the Japanese at this time.
We need to be very careful.
Textile people, what we do for them in October is what is important.
But if we have to take a rap from the now, let's take it.
But don't go in and give many assurances, and I don't want to see Milliken.
You know, see, I don't want to do anything that now would put the bear taking the Japanese business in a hell of a beating.
And this business is a bargaining position.
We'll work this out.
That's what people have got to have faith in.
We've got to work that out.
I think what you can say is that, gentlemen, the whole result of the president's announcement on Sunday night
whole situations change our bargaining positions radically change you know this have faith in us and we pledge to you it's going to work out just something like that let me say they don't take that well fine let them go scream around don't let them think
I don't want any of them going out and saying, we are going to oppose Florida.
Good.
President, I'm sorry I wasn't here when I could have been more helpful.
Oh, no, that was fine.
It worked out.
Your stock market did all right today, didn't it?
That's great.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, it certainly has at this time.
Apparently, you know,
They should have confidence.
You know, I just got the home building figures, and I got there over two million now.
Isn't that extraordinary?
And the interesting thing is that the permits that still was coming down the road are all going way up from where they had been.
Yeah.
Well, the point is that the economy really is a hell of a lot stronger than people think it is.
That's right.
And now, this may spark with these people.
This may go.
Oh yeah, I know.
But if it's moving, we can do it.
That's a curious question.
He predicted actually the opposite.
well because of the gold that he's terribly
that's good well
Shook him up anyway.
It was a bold move, and it was extremely well executed, and I'm sorry to say I wasn't here to help defeat it.
I wasn't here to cure the pandemic.
Oh, well, you'll get the fun of seeing it now.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On August 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Peter M. Flanigan talked on the telephone from 8:50 pm to 8:54 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 008-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 8-10

Date: August 16, 1971
Time: 8:50 pm - 8:54 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Peter M. Flanigan.

     Sailing
           -Hurricane

     Textile negotiations
          -Peter G. Peterson
                -August 17, 1971 meeting with Japanese
          -Need for caution
                -October 15, 1971 deadline
                -Lack of assurances
                -Roger Milliken
                -Japanese
                -US bargaining position
          -US position in forthcoming meeting
                -Milliken
                -October 15, 1971 deadline
                -Administration plan
                      -Impact of President’s August 15, 1971 statement
                            -US bargaining position change
                -Quotas
                      -President’s position

     President’s August 15, 1971 statement
          -Flanigan's help

     Economy
         -Stock market
               -Record volume and interest
               -Confidence
               -Home building
                    -Figure
                    -Permits
         -Strength
         -Forthcoming 90 days
         -Bond market

                -Strength
          -Interest rates
                -Arthur F. Burns
                      -Gold
          -Bond market
          -Cost of living

     Wage-price freeze speech [August 15, 1971 statement]
         -Flanigan's reaction
         -Flanigan's help

Also recorded on August 17, 1971

  • 008-009 8:41 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 8:41 pm to 8:46 pm.
  • 008-011 8:54 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:54 pm and 8:59 pm.
  • 008-012 8:54 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:54 pm and 8:59 pm.
  • 008-013 8:59 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 8:59 pm to 9:02 pm.
  • 008-014 9:03 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 9:03 pm to 9:05 pm.
  • 008-015 9:05 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:05 pm and 9:07 pm.
  • 008-016 9:07 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 9:07 pm to 9:10 pm.
  • 008-017 9:28 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:28 pm.

All 48 conversations from August 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 008-010, August 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/008-010 (accessed September 23, 2026).