Conversation: 935-007
Prev: 935-006 Next: 935-008Start Date: 11-Jun-1973 10:01 AM
End Date: 11-Jun-1973 12:11 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.; Connally, John B.; Shultz, George P.; Stein, Herbert; Dunlop, John T.;Recording Device: Oval Office
NARA Description:
On June 11, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., John B. Connally, George P. Shultz, Herbert Stein, and John T. Dunlop met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:01 am to 12:11 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 935-007 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 935-7
Date: June 11, 1973
Time: 10:01 am - 12:11 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Watergate
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Conversation with Haig
-Mandate to Archibald Cox
-Dita Beard
-James O. Eastland inquiry
-Richardson’s role in administration
-Richardson’s role
-Qualifications
-International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT]
-E. Howard Hunt, Jr.’s meeting with Beard
-Charles W. Colson
-Contribution
-Richard W. McLaren
Richardson
-Role in administration
-Attitude
-Recommendations concerning appointments
-Judges, US Attorneys
-Possible review
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Conservative reviewer
-J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr., Leonard Garment
-Purpose
-Political opposition to administration
-Haig’s assessment of Richardson
-President’s appointment
-Political considerations
Claudia A. (Taylor) (“Lady Bird”) Johnson
-Possible role in administration
-Alternative candidate
-Military [?]
-Northeastern community
-Military
Telephone call [?]
John B. Connally, George P. Shultz, Herbert Stein, and John T. Dunlop entered at 10:07 am.
Golf
-Connally’s recent score
-Connally’s clubs
-Wilson
-Spalding
-Donald McI. Kendall
-Ownership of Wilson
-Graphite shafts, Augusta (Georgia) course
-Distance of shots
-Quality
Improved sports equipment
-Pole vault
-Quality of new poles
-Tracks
-Charlie Paddock
-Track and Field
-Quality of running surface
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Influence on speed
-University of Southern California
-Running style
Horse racing
-“Secretariat”
-Compared to “Man O’War”
-Speed
-Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stokes
-Length of race
-Winners of individual races
-Triple Crown winners
-Stud fee
-$30,000
-Earnings
-$1,000,000 per year
National economy
-Administration’s plan
-Philosophical differences
-Economy compared to politics
-Watergate
-Possible Congressional actions on freeze
-Victory
-Option 1
-Three month freeze
-Possible counteraction by White House
-Veto
-Television [TV]
-Override
-Labor leaders
-President’s decision-making process
-Consultation
-Melvin R. Laird’s views
-Review
-Europe
-Labor-Management Committee
-18-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Congressional strategy
-Hugh Scott, Gerald R. Ford
-Bryce N. Harlow’s views
-Alternatives to freeze
-President’s possible speeches
-Quality of prepared speech
-Possible freeze
-Effects
-Recession
-Black markets
-Rationing
-Presentation of options to President
-Positive as opposed to negative options
-Possible freeze
-Options
-Uncertainty
-Follow-up
-Connally, Haig views
-August 1972 freeze
-Phase II and III
-Effect
-Business
-Economy
-Implementation
-Perception of certainty
-Possible Congressional action
-Possible freeze
-Plans
-Dunlop, Shultz, and Stein views
-Analysis of President’s view
-Congress
-90-day freeze
-President’s opposition
-Scope
-Follow-up
-Meeting of Shultz, Stein, and Dunlop
-Call from Haig
-19-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Shultz’s plan
-Option 2
-Controls
-Popular opinion
-Follow-up
-Scott
-Option 2
-Raw agricultural products
-Farm Prices
-Export Controls, PL 480
-Shultz’s conversation with John N. Turner, Canada’s Finance Minister
-Canada’s situation
-International prices
-Effect of freeze
-President’s efforts
-Raw agricultural products
-Exceptions
-Implementation
-Auction prices
-Exports
-Dunlop’s assessment
-Effect on food prices
-Retail prices
-Previous experience
-Raw agricultural products
-Phase I compared to Phase II
-Farm
-Lettuce, artichokes
-Controls
-Ambiguity
-Coverage
-Food prices
-Phase II
-Profits, margins
-White House awareness
-Continuous ceilings
-Meat, bread, lettuce, butter
-20-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Raw agricultural products
-Compared to August 1970
-Phase II
-Effects
-Rate of increase
-Public opinion
-Foreign products
-Connally’s viewpoint
-Retail food prices
-Ceiling
-Minimum
-Artichokes
-Producer prices
-Ceiling
-Regulation, administration
-Retail food prices
-Ceiling
-Effect on retailer
-Retail prices compared to commodities
-Support for Option 2
-Production levels
-Steel, chemicals, aluminum, paper, textiles
-Plant utilization
-Pressure
-Price increases
-Gasoline
-Retail price controls
-Exemption
-Increase
-Phase II
-Comprehensive controls
-Gradual elimination
-Minimum control
-Additional commodities, business
-Compliance
-Length of freeze
-30-day
-21-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Limitations
-Phase II compared to Phase III
-Extensibility
-Gasoline
-Retail prices
-Administration
-Scale
-Retail food prices
-Grocery stores
-Follow-up
-Industrial prices
-Pre-notification of industry
-Value of businesses
-Timing
-Executive compensation
-Labor leaders
-Congress
-Duration
-Grace period
-Price rollbacks
-30-day
-60-day
-Arthur F. Burns
-Discontinuation of freezes
-Wages
-Teamsters
-Prices, costs
-60 days compared to 30 days
-Leak
-Effect on prices
-Political considerations
-Follow-up
-Public statements
-Phase II
-Option 2
-Congressional action
-Legislation
-22-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Trade
-Alaska pipeline
-Prices compared to wages
-60 days
-Business reaction
-Costs
-Labor negotiations
-Frank E. Fitzsimmons
-Teamsters
-Retroactive pay
-Phase II
-Adherence
-Settlement
-Business reaction
-Wage settlement
-Cost of Living Council [COLC]
-Price increases
-Justifications
-Retroactive increases
-Promises
-Previous expansion
-90-day freeze
-60 days
-Connally’s support
-Wages
-White House compared to Congress package
-Duration
-Veto
-Public opinion
-Housewives
-Price increases
-Haig
-Option 2
-Shultz
-Option 1
-President’s support
-Compared to Phase III
-23-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Strength
-Publicity
-Amendment
-Dunlop
-Controls
-Permanence
-Rent, dividends, profits, interest
-Housing
-Washington, DC
-Effect
-Rent control
-Food prices
-Controls
-Follow up
-Increase
-Summer
-Connally’s viewpoint
-Retail
-Exemptions
-Retail compared to wholesale freeze
-Food grains, soybeans
-Exports
-Exports
-PL 480
-Effect on US foreign policy
-Europe
-Japan
-Latin America, Asia
-Importance
-Option 2
-Possible speech by President
-Export Controls
-Follow-Up
-Uncertainty
-Haig’s conversations with Brent Scowcroft and Henry A. Kissinger
-Disaster
-Southeast Asia
-24-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Food prices
-Freezes
-Retail
-Controls of exports
-Sales to People’s Republic of China [PRC], Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics [USSR]
-Effect on domestic shortages
-US obligations
-Exceptions
-Political purposes
-PL 480
-Legal problem
-Surpluses
-Secretary of Agriculture
-Existing legislation
-Shortages
-Sales Abroad
-Certification
-Export compared to domestic market
-Licenses
-Earl Butz
-Sales to USSR, Japan, PRC
-Reduction in prices
-Soybeans
-Amount as certified by Butz
-Shultz’s assessment
-Stein’s assessment
-Contradiction
-Implementation
-Licensing system, reporting
-Purpose
-Stable domestic prices
-Congress
-Note
-Request
-Changes in existing legislation
-Statement [?]
-25-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-William P. Rogers [?]
-Food exports
-Reporting
-Limitations
-US commitment
-License
-Reporting
-Controls
-Outstanding orders
-Implementation
-Possible freeze
-Raw agricultural products
-Effects
-Gasoline prices, grocery stores
-Wholesale market
-Possible ceiling
-Soybeans, corn, wheat, cattle, hogs
-Effect on livestock herds
-Grain crops
-Effect on hog, poultry and cattle industries
-Licensing of producers
-Export Controls
-Agriculture Department
-Effect
-Size of current crops
-Wheat
-Effect on food prices
-Weather
-Improving conditions
-Possible freeze
-Effect
-Bipartisan support
-World War II analogy
-Duration
-Prospects
-Rationing
-Black markets
-26-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Improvement in marketplace
-Export controls
-Report
-Crop yield
-Estimates
-Effect on prices
-Price ceiling
-Duration
-Short and long term
-Meat
-Price compared to supply
-Feed grains
-Exports
-Congress
-Prices
-Possible subsidies
-Effect on domestic and world economies
-Ceiling
-World War II analogy
-Connally’s view
-Background as farmer
-Possible freeze
-Implementation
-Duration
-Possible freeze
-Wages and prices
-Implementation
-Mandatory compliance
-Political considerations
-Congress
-Previous experience
-Effect on business
-Pending negotiations
-Current guideline
-Implementation
-Price controls after freeze
-Opposition from business
-27-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Wage Board, Dunlop
-Labor Management Committee
-Appointment of czar
-Food
-Negotiations
-Construction, railroad, steel, petroleum, rubber industry support
-Fitzsimmons
-Teamsters
-Postal workers
-Automobile workers
-Cleveland [?]
-Food packers
-George Meany
-Pre-notification
-Guidelines
-5.5 percent
-Regulations
-Dunlop’s work
-Fitzsimmons
-Implementation
-Tri-partite negotiations
-Wage czar
-Price czar
-Duration
-Effect on food prices, CPI
-Reaction
-Congress, business
-Connally’s viewpoint
-Duration
-President’s viewpoint
-Role of market forces, weather
-Phase II, Phase III
-Effect on prices
-60 days
-Congressional action
-Timeline
-Alaska pipeline
-28-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Labor support
-Discipline
-Option 1 compared to Option 2
-Advantages
-Reporting
-Exports
-Food prices
-Mandatory controls
-Phase III
-John Kenneth Galbraith
-Leon Henderson
-President’s assessment
-Gasoline prices
-Role of oil companies, service stations
-Enforcement
-Justice Department
-Possible ceiling
-Possible freeze
-Ceiling
-Food, gasoline, meat, paper products prices
-Political need
-Option 2
-Flexibility for wage and price czar
-Decontrol
-Rents, dividends, interest rates
-Raw agricultural products
-Supplies
-Export Controls
-Licensing program
-Congressional legislation
US interests
-Philippines
-PL 480
-Congressional funding
-Previous contracts [?]
-Southeast Asia, India, Pakistan
-Compared to security
-29-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Licensing system
-Disruption
-Existing contracts compared to new contracts
-Haig’s viewpoint
-Possible freeze
-Effects
-Duration
-Congressional action
-Effects
-Wages
-August 1971 experience
-Retroactive pay increases
-Duration
-Labor-Management Committee meeting
-Announcements
-Confirmation
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Compulsory savings stabilization
-Memorandum
-Simon’s view
-Congressional action
-Reactions
-Business community
-Germany, Sweden experiences
-Memorandum
-Burns
-Views
-Tax legislation
-Congressional action
-Public reaction
-Gold Standard
-Valery Gisard D’estaing
-Camp David
-Political acumen
-Approach
-Fiscal and monetary policy
-Money supply, discount rate
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Dunlop
-Potential for promotion
-Price and wage czar
-Tax package
-Surcharge
-Congress
-House Ways and Means Committee
-Ash
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Tax bill
-Timing
-Trade legislation
-Possible freeze follow-up
-Implementation
-Reaction
-Staff
-Bureaucracy
-Compared to Phase II
-President’s aversion
-Policing
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
-Appointed agency
-Staff
-Duration
-1974 elections
-Possible freeze
-Rent interest, dividends
-Duration
-Implementation
-June 1-8 price
-Executive order
-Unprocessed agricultural products
-Food and gasoline prices
-Ceiling
-Export controls
-PL 480
-Licensing system
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Level
-Agricultural products
-Yield
-Effect of domestic ceiling
-Wages
-Phase III controls
-Rents, dividends, interest
-Business profits
-Wages
-Phase III controls
-Pre-notification
-Follow-up
-Business
-Phase IV
-Comprehensiveness
-Option 1
-Dunlop’s possible role
-Prices, wages czar
-Wages board
-Qualifications
-Experience
-Staff
-Advice from Shultz, Stein
-COLC
-Phase IV
-Institutional structure
-Specialist in wages
-Specialist in prices
-Notoriety
-Compared to Leon Henderson and Galbraith
-Philosophies
-Price czar
-Dunlop’s, President’s reluctance
-Duration
-1974
-Shultz’s recommendation
-Phase II, Phase III
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Philosophy
-Political as opposed to economic
-Decision making
-Reaction
-Free market
-Phase III
-Failure
-Reasons
-Labor-Management Committee meeting
-Consultation
-President’s attendance
-Presentations
-Stein, Dunlop, Shultz
-Industry
-Labor views
-Shultz’s conversation with I[lorwith] W[ilbur] Abel
-Prices and wages
-Wage settlements
-Controls
-Fitzsimmons’s view
-Food prices
-Bureaucratic controls
-Wages
-George Meany [?]
-5.5 percent guideline
-Stein’s viewpoint
-Moderation
-1974 settlements
-Industrial relations
-Strikes
-Compared to Great Britain
-Labor-Management Committee meeting
-Attendees
-Quadriad members, Dunlop, Connally
-Stein, Dunlop, Shultz, Burns
-Meany, Burns, Ash
-Connally’s assessment
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Discourse
-Shultz, Stein, Dunlop
-Agenda
-Accomplishments
-Wages, prices
-Strikes
-Meany, Leonard Woodcock, Fitzsimmons
-Congressional relations
-Democratic caucus
-Freeze
-Wages
-Possible freeze
-President’s position
-Food, Gasoline prices
-Industrial commodities
-Duration
-Implementation
-Bureaucracy
-Follow-up
-Duration
-60-day freeze
-Food, gas prices
-Implementation
-Immediate problems
-President’s forthcoming speech
-Timing
-Preparation
-Content
-Effect on stock market, prices
-Another economic meeting
-Editing
-Effects
-Possible Congressional action
-Follow-up
-Compared to Phase III
-Pre-notification
-Effect
-34-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2011)
Conversation No. 935-7 (cont’d)
-Phase II, III
-Bureaucracy
-Time frame
-Price increases
-Delays
-Dunlop’s article on World War II controls
-Delays
-Efficiency
-Post World War II era
-Korean War
-Product demands
-President’s schedule
-Forthcoming speech
Haig, Shultz, Connally, Dunlop and Stein left at 12:11 pm.