Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 1 › Conversation 001-057

Nixon phone call with Colson on W. Clement Stone and Charles H. Percy

Friday, April 9, 1971 · 10:28 AM–10:31 AM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation001-057 on Tape 1 (tape position 02:03:58–02:07:01)StartFriday, April 9, 1971 at 10:28 AMEndFriday, April 9, 1971 at 10:31 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 001-057 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss the reception of the President's recent dinner for donor W. Clement Stone and the positive reaction to his public remarks. Nixon specifically reviews his implicit criticism of Senator Charles H. Percy regarding the Supersonic Transport (SST) controversy, which Colson praises for its effective delivery. The conversation also highlights the strong approval from core supporters regarding the President's recent April 7th speech and his emphasis on American global leadership.

Audio

Download MP3 · 4.2 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello?
Yes, sir.
Hello, Chuck?
Yes, sir.
I thought you would have probably enjoyed my little implied crack at Mr. Percy.
Oh, I thought it was beautiful.
It had to be done.
I mean, I couldn't sit there with all of my friends and urge them to give money to him.
That's right.
And I didn't criticize him, but without saying, look here...
on SST, and he said, I think this is the reason I have stood for it.
What do you think?
I debated in doing it, but I thought that these guys deserved that.
You did it very well.
You could have done it in a way that would have been a problem, but you did it in a beautiful way.
You said, I understand there are differences, and that one's passed, and even some men in this room differed.
Percy got up afterwards, by the way, and gave you just one hell of a speech.
Did he?
Yeah, he really did.
He was speaking to our crowd.
I thought your point on the SST, though, was one that you made it very gracefully, yet you made your own position very quick.
And nobody took offense to that.
It was interesting, Mr. President, in the discussion during the course of the evening with the people around me at the table and also beforehand, the number of very, very strong comments on the Wednesday night speech.
Yes, several spooks to me.
Just inherently that heartland.
They react to it.
You know, they're not cynical.
That's right.
But they felt very strong.
They like a little movement, don't they?
Yes, they do.
Yes, they do.
Well, they're great fellows.
It's the old guard.
It's the old money guard.
Yeah.
And that's why, too, another reason why on the SST and a little of that flag-waving I gave, I thought was important.
That's more important than all this other stuff, you know.
They've got to feel something about America has a role in the world.
Don't you think so?
I thought it was perfect.
They believe that.
They believe that.
Your ending about you fellas have the guts for it.
Yeah.
They like that.
Don't they?
Because they don't think the Easterners have.
That's exactly right.
Okay.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.

NARA Description

On April 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 10:28 am to 10:31 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 001-057 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 1-57
Date: April 9, 1971
Time: 10:28 am - 10:31 am
Location: White House Telephone

Charles W. Colson talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 476-10]

     President's dinner for W. Clement Stone
           -Charles H. Percy
                 -Supersonic Transport [SST] controversy

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 12/20/2017.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[001-057-w001]
[Duration: 1m 5s]

     President's dinner for W. Clement Stone
           -Fundraising
                 -Time of discussion
                 -Distribution
                       -W. Clement Stone
                             -Matching
                       -Committee to Re-elect the President [CRP]
                             -Charles H. Percy

     Illinois Politics
           -Dinner’s effect
           -Richard B. Ogilvie
           -William J. Scott
           -Charles H. Percy
           -Donald Rumsfeld
           -Political unity

*****************************************************************

     President's dinner for W. Clement Stone
           -President's position on the SST

     President's speech of April 7, 1971
           -Reaction
     President's dinner for Stone
           -References to SST
           -End of President's remarks

Also recorded on April 9, 1971

  • 001-055 10:03 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 10:03 am to 10:27 am.
  • 476-008 10:03 AM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:03 am to 10:27 am.
  • 001-056 10:27 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 10:27 am to 10:28 am.
  • 476-009 10:27 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:27 am and 10:28 am.
  • 476-010 10:28 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:28 am to 10:31 am.
  • 001-058 10:31 AM · 1 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:31 am and 11:01 am.
  • 476-011 10:33 AM · 30 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Paul W. McCracken, White House operator, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:33 am to 11:05 am.
  • 001-059 11:01 AM · 38 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 11:01 am to 11:02 am.

All 42 conversations from April 9, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 001-057, April 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-057 (accessed October 12, 2026).