Conversation No. 472-11

Date: March 23, 1971
Time: 12:16 pm - 1:07 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman

     George P. Shultz’s location

     Election reform
           -Robert J. Dole
           -President’s statement
                 -Ehrlichman’s assessment
           -Hugh Scott
           -Congressional hearings
                 -Marlow W. Cook
                       -Congressional hearings
                 -Administration position
                                             20

                             NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)



                -Constitutional issues
                     -Justice Department

     Interior Department
           -Appointment of Under secretary
                -Rogers C. B. Morton
                -Dr. James R. Schlesinger
                      -Shultz                                      Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)
                -Morton’s conversation with Ehrlichman
                      -William T. Pecora
                      -Norbert Tiemann from Nebraska
                -Roman L. Hruska
                -Tiemann
           -Needs for Under secretary
                -President’s view
                -Pecora
                -Tiemann

Shultz entered at 12:18 pm

     Economy and construction industry
         -March 25, 1971 meeting of James D. Hodgson’s commission
              -Proposal
                   -Wage Board
                         -Operations
                         -Effect
                         -Davis-Bacon Act
                         -Options
                               -Shultz’s view
         -Wage increases
              -Hardhats

     Army Corps of Engineers
         -David Packard
         -Reorganization
              -Water and natural resources
                    -Defense Department
                          -Roles
                          -Packard
                               -Melvin R. Laird
                    -Office of Management and Budget [OMB] staff
                          -Possible compromise
                                       21

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 9/08)



               -Department of the Interior
                     -Laird
                          -Possible actions in Congress
          -Defense Department
               -President’s view
          -Bureau of Reclamation
               -President’s view
          -Department of Natural Resources                    Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)
          -Bureau of Reclamation’s position

Abortion
     -Laird
     -Dr. Louis M. Rousselot
           -A press conference response
                 -Abortions in military hospitals
                       -Department of Defense policy
                 -Roman Catholic response
     -State legislature actions
     -Laird’s staff
           -White House staff
     -Laird’s conversations with Terence Cardinal Cook and unnamed Cardinals
     -Charles W. Colson’s conversation with Cardinal Cook
     -President’s view
     -Ehrlichman’s instructions
           -Laird’s response
     -President’s possible actions
           -Letter from the President to Laird
                 -President’s convictions
                 -President’s policy
                 -Previous statements

Welfare reform bill
     -Congressional action
           -Amount of aid
           -Food stamps
           -State and federal programs
           -Amount of aid
                 -Effect on budget
           -Food stamps
           -State and federal programs
     -Labor Department role
           -Department of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW]
                                       22

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                               Tape Subject Log
                                  (rev. 9/08)



          -Work requirement
          -President’s view
     -Funding
          -OMB work with Congress
          -Transition period
                -Time frame
     -Work requirement
          -Possible letter from President                     Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)
     -Manpower
          -Public service employment bill
                -Possible Administration compromise
          -Special revenue sharing
                -Shultz’s view
          -Public service employment bill
                -Possible compromise
                      -Shultz’s role
                             -Presidential authority

Government reorganization
    -Department of Natural Resources
         -President’s view
         -Congressional committee
         -Previous Republican leadership meeting with the President
               -Gordon L. Allott, Peter H. Dominick
               -Arnold R. Weber’s role
                    -Briefing
                    -President’s view

Revenue sharing
    -Forthcoming message to Congress
    -Meeting of working group
          -President’s schedule
    -Special revenue sharing meeting
    -Work of working group
          -President’s appreciation
    -Meeting of working group
          -Attendees
                -President’s view
          -Location
          -Number of attendees
                -The President
                                             23

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 9/08)



          -Pamphlets
              -Preparation
              -Distribution
                     -Stephen B. Bull
              -Subjects
              -Distribution
                     -Congressmen
                     -Edwin D. Etherington, Donald McI. Kendall     Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)

     Milk prices
          -March 24, 1971 meeting
                -John B. Connally
                -Upcoming Congressional action
                -Connally, Clifford M. Hardin, Ehrlichman, John C. Whitaker, Donald B. Rice
                     -Meeting with the President
                -Deadline

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 12:18 pm

     President’s schedule
          -Mayors
          -Etherington
          -James L. Buckley
          -Mayors
                -Length of meeting
                -John V. Lindsay
          -Buckley
          -Meeting with Connally, Hardin, Whitaker, Ehrlichman, and Rice
                -Date and time
                -Follow-up
                -President’s conversations with Connally and Hardin

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 1:07 pm

     Public works project
          -Ehrlichman’s previous conversation with the President
          -House Public Works Committee
                -Public broadcasting
                -Position of Republicans
          -Possible veto of bill by President
          -Environmental impact
          -White House position
                                             24

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                     Tape Subject Log
                                        (rev. 9/08)



     Airlines

     George W. Romney group’s meeting, March 22, 1971
         -Ehrlichman’s attendance
         -Further meeting
         -Unions, business
         -Possible freeze on prices and wages in construction
               -Executive order                                  Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)
                     -Wage raises
               -Arthur F. Burns
               -Enforcement
                     -Department of Labor or Commerce
                     -A wage and price board
               -Extension to longshoremen and other industries
                     -Steel
               -Deadline
                     -John A. Volpe
                     -Ehrlichman’s view
         -Attendees
               -Volpe, Romney, Maurice H. Stans, Hardin, Winton M. (“Red”) Blount, Burns,
                     and Paul W. McCracken
         -Ehrlichman’s conversation with Stans
               -Stans’ position
         -Romney, Volpe

     Burns
          -Wage-Price Stabilization Board
          -Call to Ehrlichman
                -Rowland Evans and Robert D. Novak column
                      -Taxes, Vance Hartke
          -Support for President
          -President’s meeting
                -Statements on taxes
          -Upcoming meeting with Shultz
          -Relations with Connally, President
          -Positions on investment tax policy
          -Meeting with President
                -Statements by Burns
                -Economic policy discussion
                -Wages and prices

Henry A. Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 12:18 pm
                                              25

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                         (rev. 9/08)



     President and Kissinger’s schedules

Kissinger left at an unknown time before 1:07 pm

     Burns
          -Meeting with President
              -White House staff
                    -McCracken, Shultz                         Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)
          -Wage-Price Stabilization Board

     Wage-Price Stabilization Board
         -Possibility for success
               -President’s view
         -Prices
               -Future
                     -Shultz’s view
                     -President’s view
                           -Price increases

     Davis-Bacon Act
          -Administration’s position
               -Burns’ possible response
          -Shultz’s upcoming meeting with Burns
          -Business community’s position
          -Burns

     Wage-Price Stabilization Board
         Parity
               -Burns
               -Connally
               -Burns’s position
                     -Blount’s question
         -Construction industry
         -Burns
         -Scope
               -Possible Executive Order
         -Possibility of success
               -Shultz’s position
               -Ehrlichman’s view
               -President’s position
               -President’s policies
               -Steel workers
                                        26

                      NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                  Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. 9/08)



     -Dates of operation
           -Cause and effect
     -Steel industry
           -Effect of possible strike
     -McCracken’s position
           -Construction industry
           -History
           -Timing                                         Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)
                -1972

Economy
    -President’s talk with Connally
          -Dow-Jones average
    -Federal budget
          -Goal
    -First quarter of 1971 figures
    -Direction
    -Second half of 1971
          -President’s view
          -Steel
          -Consumer Price Index [CPI]
    -Direction
          -Inflation
    -Unemployment
          -President’s position
          -Last quarter of 1971
    -President’s position
    -Economists
    -Direction
          -Dow-Jones average
                -1972 actions
    -Money supply
          -Burns
    -Federal budget
          -Shultz’s view
    -Monetary policy
          -Effects
                -Future
    -Otto Eckstein’s position
          -Gross National Product [GNP] forecast
                -Compared with Shultz’s forecast
                                         27

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                 Tape Subject Log
                                    (rev. 9/08)



      -Stock market
            -Etherington
                  -American Stock Exchange
                  -Effect on economy
            -President’s view
                  -Profits
      -Arthur B. Laffer’s model
      -Institutional investors                               Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)
            -Peter Winant [?]
            -Ehrlichman’s conversation
            -Expectations for 1972, 1971

Shultz’s schedule
     -Burns

Government reorganization
    -Department of Transportation
         -Volpe’s response
         -Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] head
         -Volpe
               -Possible meeting with President
                     -Shultz, Ehrlichman
               -Position on Supersonic Transport [SST] control
                     -National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA]
    -Department of Agriculture
         -Hardin
         -Extension service
               -Possible compromise
               -Volpe’s position

SST
      -Upcoming Senate vote
            -Tally
      -Thornton A. (“T”) Wilson of Boeing
            -Previous conversation with Shultz
                  -President’s position
      -President’s position
      -House leaders
            -Gerald R. Ford, Scott
            -Position on SST, rapid transit
      -Labor’s position
            -Kenneth E. BeLieu
                                              28

                          NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

                                        Tape Subject Log
                                           (rev. 9/08)



                -[Name unintelligible]
                -George Meany
                      -Forthcoming call from Shultz
                -Jobs
                -US position in world
                -Andrew Biemiller
                      -Location
                           -BeLieu                             Conv. No. 472-11 (cont.)

     Shultz’s meeting with Burns
          -Wage-Price board

Ehrlichman and Shultz left at 1:07 pm