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Conversation: 451-019

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Start Date: 18-Feb-1971 3:55 PM

End Date: 18-Feb-1971 4:52 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Ehrlichman, John D.Shultz, George P.Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")

Recording Device: Oval Office

Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 03:30:05

Full Tape Conversation End Time: 04:30:56

451a.mp3

451b.mp3

451c.mp3

NARA Description:

On February 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:55 pm to 4:52 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 451-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 451-19

Date: February 18, 1971
Time: 3:55 pm - 4:52 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman

     [Unintelligible]

     Public relations
          -Administration efforts
                 -William P. Rogers
                 -Henry A. Kissinger
          -Commerce Department
                 -Herbert Stein
                       -Statements
                             -Problem
          -Need for credibility
                 -Maurice H. Stans

George P. Shultz entered at an unknown time after 3:55 pm

     Commerce Department
        -Trade with Soviet Union
             -President’s position
             -Stans
             -News summaries
        -Stans
                                             22

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 9/08)



                -Peter G. Peterson
                -Kissinger
          -Ehrlichman’s forthcoming lunch with Rocco C. Siciliano

     Department of Commerce
         -Stans
              -Administration policies
              -Commerce Department and Labor Department             Conv. No. 451-19 (cont.)
              -Role

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at an unknown time after 3:55 pm

          -Siciliano
                -Public relations efforts
                     -Siciliano’s conversation with Stans
                            -Results
                -Replacement
                     -James T. Lynn
                            -Role
                -Public relations
                     -Department of Justice
                            -John N. Mitchell
                            -Richard G. Kleindienst

     Domestic economic policy
         -Forecasting
         -Gross National Product [GNP] figures
         -Arthur K. Laffer
               -Econometrics
                     -Consumer Price Index [CPI]
                          -Adjustments
         -Unknown writer
         -Milton Friedman forecast
               -Inflation
               -Laffer’s model
                     -Money supply
         -CPI
               -Administrations policies
                     -Publicity
                     -Figures
         -Washington Star
         -National Broadcasting Company [NBC]
                                    23

                NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                           Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. 9/08)



-Economic trends
      -Food prices
-Interest rates
      -Mortgage interest rates
-Used car prices
      -New car prices
-Trade bill
      -Trade adjustment assistance                           Conv. No. 451-19 (cont.)
            -Peterson
      -Administration’s position on quotas
-Anti-trust
      -Trade bill
      -Mitchell role
      -Administration policy
      -Stanley N. Barnes
            -Ehrlichman’s conversation
            -Herbert Brownell
                  -Dwight D. Eisenhower
            -Richard W. McLaren
                  -Mitchell
      -John B. Connally
      -President’s view
      -World-wide applications
            -Airlines
      -Need for coherent policy
      -George J. Stigler, head of Task Force on Anti-Trust
            -Policy recommendation
                  -McLaren
      -Mitchell
            -Kleindienst
                  -Role
-The President’s schedule
      -Quadriad meeting
-Arthur F. Burns
      -Increase money supply/interest rates
      -Balance of payment
      -Interest rates
-Troika meeting
      -Paul W. McCracken
      -Peterson
-Possible meeting with Connally
-David M. Kennedy
                                  24

               NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                          Tape Subject Log
                             (rev. 9/08)



-Connally
     -Balance of payments
          -Burns’ concerns
          -Peterson
          -American Enterprise Institute [AEI] statement
                 -[Forename unknown] Habland [sp?] or Hubler [?]
-Wage and price freeze
     -Burns’ views                                       Conv. No. 451-19 (cont.)
     -James D. Hodgson
     -Potential problems
          -Effect on construction
     -Unemployment
     -Federal government’s $14 billion in contracts
          -Davis-Bacon Act
          -Building trade
     -Stephen D. Bechtel
          -View of Davis-Bacon Act
     -Davis-Bacon Act
     -Productivity Commission
     -Hodgson
          -Apprenticeship rules
     -Charles W. Colson
     -Hubert H. Humphrey’s statements
     -George Meany
     -Edmund S. Muskie’s statements
     -Productivity Commission
          -Labor union tactics
     -Construction industry
          -Wage increases
                 -Effect on public
                      -Federal spending
          -State and local government tactics
          -John A. Volpe
          -Effect on employment
-CPI
     -Bureau of Labor Statistics
          -Announcement
                 -McCracken
     -Administration efforts
          -Public relations
          -Press briefing
                 -Trends
                                              25

                           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)



                            -Food prices
                -Television statement by the President
                      -Shultz
                -Administration policies
                      -Public relations
                            -Statements
                -William L. Safire
                -Clark MacGregor                                     Conv. No. 451-19 (cont.)
                -Effect of statement
                      -Economic stimulus
                -[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars speech
                -White House statement
                      -Ronald L. Ziegler
                      -Washington Star
                -Bureau of Labor Statistics role in public relations

     Wilson Center speech
          -Meeting with Humphrey
               -Revenue sharing

     Appointment
          -James C. Fletcher
                -National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA]
Haldeman left at 4:43 pm

     CPI
           -Connally and balance of payments
               -Burns’s role in public relations
                      -Role

     Federal-state/local government relations
          -Nelson A. Rockefeller [?]
          -Office of Inter-governmental Relations
                -Problems
          -The Vice President
          -Roy Kerderhoff [?]
          -Colson
          -President’s position
                -Conversation with the Vice President
          -Howard H. Baker, Jr.
          -Samuel W. Yorty
          -Warren Gorn [?]
                                              26

                              NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. 9/08)



           -Carl B. Stokes
           -Richard G. Lugar
           -Rockefeller
           -Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
           -Davis-Bacon Act
                 -Administration position
                       -Statements
                 -Barber B. Conable, Jr.                           Conv. No. 451-19 (cont.)
                 -John B. Anderson
                 -John V. Lindsay
                       -Funds for New York City
                       -Problems with revenue sharing
                 -James H. J. Tate
           -New York City problems
                 -Revenue sharing
                 -Patrick J. Buchanan
           -Romney
           -Connally
                 -Wilbur D. Mills

Ehrlichman and Shultz left at 4:52 pm