Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 15 › Conversation 015-186

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Economic Policy and Phase II

Wednesday, December 1, 1971 · 8:15 PM–8:19 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation015-186 on Tape 15 (tape position 05:03:46–05:07:25)StartWednesday, December 1, 1971 at 8:15 PMEndWednesday, December 1, 1971 at 8:19 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 015-186 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417191217 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman coordinated the President's upcoming travel schedule, specifically weighing potential trips to Florida and Camp David while considering press logistics and weather reports from Charles "Bebe" Rebozo. The conversation also addressed the status of a speech on economic policy and Phase II wage-price controls, including the involvement of John D. Ehrlichman in drafting. Furthermore, the two discussed legislative coordination with Clark MacGregor regarding the status of pending tax legislation.

Audio

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Position in tape: 05:03:46 – 05:07:25

part C, 1:03:48

015a.mp3
015b.mp3
015c.mp3
015d.mp3

NARA Description

On December 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 8:15 pm to 8:19 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 015-186 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 15-186

Date: December 1, 1971
Time: 8:15 pm - 8:19 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

The President talked with Haldeman..

     Ronald L. Ziegler
          -Statement on the President's schedule
                -Press notification
                -Florida
                      -Weather
                            -Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo
                -Camp David
                -Florida
                      -Press
                      -Haldeman's call to Rebozo
                            -Weather

     The President's speech
          -Economic policy
               -Senior citizens
                      -Phase II
                      -John D. Ehrlichman
                      -Wage-price freeze
          -Copy to the President
               -Delivery
                      -The President's schedule

     The President's schedule
          -Florida
          -Tax Bill
                -Clark MacGregor
          -Camp David

Transcript (AI-generated)

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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Mr. Haldeman hasn't arrived at his residence just yet, Mr. President.
Could I have him call you?
He didn't call me when he arrived.
I'll talk to Mr. Colson, please.
All right.
Hello?
Mr. Haldeman now, Mr. President.
Yeah.
Hello, Bob.
A couple things.
One, Ziegler asked me tonight, he wanted to be able to go out and tell the press that they could go to Florida tomorrow, and I wouldn't let him.
I said that...
I want you to call Rebozo in the morning.
There's a Northeaster around, and you can ask him what the projections are for the weekend.
If the projections are at all subject to question, then tell Ziegler we'll go to Camp David.
But the press doesn't need to know in advance.
I mean, I told Ziegler we could let him know this later.
And we may not even let him know then.
Mainly what he wanted was...
I told him he could do that.
I told him he could do that.
But he didn't want to do that.
He said he wanted to, well, he'd hold it until he found out in the morning whether we were going to Florida.
So apparently he wants to, because they all want to go to Florida, of course.
But that's it.
Actually, I don't think they do.
Well, they may not.
But anyway, let's let them know.
So all of them are going to be traveling so much.
Yeah.
That's perfectly right, unfortunately.
Right.
Well, that's the deal.
We will go, depending upon the weather, call Rebozo at 10 in the morning and then determine.
The other thing is that I was hoping that somebody would have thought of this, and I deliberately didn't raise it, but there's no paragraph in this speech about the interest of older people in the new economic policy, particularly with regard to the support of Phase II and the prize freeze and so forth.
You see what I mean?
There should be something in it, obviously.
It'll be very much noticed if I don't ask them to support it.
So get a hold of Ehrlichman and tell him to get one of those assholes to do something on it, will you?
Okay.
And put that, I want a paragraph in on that.
Cut something else in order to put it in if necessary, but that must go in.
Because basically that's a very good forum to say that they've got a great stake in supporting the policy of
controlling the rise in wages and prices and so forth and so on.
The people in the wage increases and price increases are excessive.
It's their job to work it out.
My God, they must have a hundred guys over there working on it.
They ought to be able to figure out one simple paragraph like that.
I plan to put it in myself if they don't, but I want to see what they come up with.
Now, they are supposed to get a copy over here tonight, is that correct?
Yeah.
Well, no, I think I told them I'd have them do that.
They're going to finish the copy.
That's right.
I don't need it tonight.
But they went and had it here the first thing in the morning?
Yeah.
Fine.
Well, I can look at it before I don't leave here until 10 o'clock, so I can...
So I have it at 9.
That'd be soon enough.
All right, fine.
Fine.
And you decide they blow it up, depending upon that.
Oh, one other thing you've got to check on.
Check with McGregor to see if there's going to be any question about my being out of town with the tax thing on Salvo.
See, if I have to be here for that, I want to be here.
I want to err on the side of being here rather than away from here, you know.
And if he feels that there's going to be a lot of activity on Friday, then I'll stay.
I'll meet Camp David, in other words.

Also recorded on December 1, 1971

  • 627-011 12:37 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:37 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 627-013 1:15 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:15 pm to 1:17 pm.
  • 627-014 1:17 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:17 pm and 1:22 pm.
  • 015-182 8:03 PM · 8 sec — Manolo Sanchez and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 8:03 pm.
  • 015-183 8:06 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 8:06 pm to 8:09 pm.
  • 015-184 8:13 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 8:13 pm.
  • 015-185 8:13 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:13 pm and 8:15 pm.
  • 015-187 8:20 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:20 pm to 8:36 pm.

All 25 conversations from December 1, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 015-186, December 1, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417191217). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-186 (accessed November 9, 2026).