Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 001-105
Date: Thursday, April 15, 1971 at 7:49 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Shultz, George P.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-105

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[3:36:35] Hello, George.
[3:36:35] Yes, sir.
[3:36:36] Hope you noticed the headline in the star.
[3:36:38] Yeah, that bounced right.
[3:36:40] If we finally got one good headline, I don't know what the Post and the Times do with it.
[3:36:43] They'll probably knock it down, but it's just good to have one good one right now.
[3:36:47] Yes, but the 28 and a half is a pretty good figure, isn't it?
[3:36:53] Well, a word that I used, Ron asked me to come in and brief on it.
[3:36:57] I saw it.
[3:36:58] that it was a good solid gain and i think it is the um to make it really strong i think you need to combine it with the march retail sales that we tried about the other day i'm going to hit that with editors tomorrow night because the um actually when you break that gnp down the auto increase
[3:37:23] accounts for a very heavy proportion of the real increase, and so they'll say that's because of the strike.
[3:37:29] Right.
[3:37:30] And the answer to that is that retail sales, as we came toward the last month of the quarter, were strong, and that retail sales figure goes across the board.
[3:37:40] It isn't just autos.
[3:37:41] Mm-hmm.
[3:37:42] so while others are strong and then you'd expect them to be in this that's fine it's uh broader than that so we tried to bring that out and of course the stock thing went up again today nine thirty above uh the date of your inaugural yeah we're not way above but we just eight or nine points above anyway yeah it's it's it's up the main thing it's above well we uh ride the good news when we got it sure right i'm i'm a believer in that and the uh and uh
[3:38:12] put it out in a way that we don't try to overstate it.
[3:38:17] No, no.
[3:38:19] But I think at least I have the impression Ron felt that we gave it a good strong.
[3:38:23] Oh, yes, he felt very good about it.
[3:38:24] Very good, very good.
[3:38:26] I'm a little reluctant, as I told Ron, to do that because of McCracken's sensitivity, particularly right now.
[3:38:33] But that's all right.
[3:38:35] I reassured, I guess.
[3:38:36] I reassured McCracken.
[3:38:38] And now and then we've got to put a new voice in, you know.
[3:38:41] Everybody's got to play this game.
[3:38:43] And he would not have played it as strongly as you did, and we've got to play it strong.
[3:38:48] I'm over here working on this talk I have to give next week.
[3:38:52] Oh, yeah.
[3:38:52] And the theme that I'm using is the old Navy command, steady as you go.
[3:39:00] Good.
[3:39:01] And that's going to be the way I'm building that up.
[3:39:04] I hope you'll...
[3:39:05] i can try out a little bit of it on you sure um you bet your last year that uh you're in accord with oh i think that's exactly the right theme that we're not going to be panicked uh we weren't panicked earlier and we're not going to be panicked now to go for tax reduction or is that i think we're just going to stay right where we are and we're not going to worry about whether it's uh two billion below what we'd hoped or a billion and a half or or uh anything that we're just saying that uh you can't you we can't
[3:39:34] fix these numbers exactly.
[3:39:36] And on the retail sales thing, I think this is terribly important.
[3:39:41] Yes.
[3:39:41] Well, one of the reporters asked me the question, they said, well, how does the president interpret the consumer attitudes and their reluctance to spend?
[3:39:55] And I said, well, the president focuses
[3:39:59] and has been very much impressed with the actual performance of the consumers in March and the strong retail sales figure.
[3:40:09] Also, you've got to say that consumers also are reflected in the stock market, aren't they?
[3:40:14] And in the stock market.
[3:40:15] Consumers, sure.
[3:40:17] Although I think really the stock market kind of reacts the other way.
[3:40:21] When it's going well, people tend to go ahead and spend the money like they've got it.
[3:40:28] Yeah, I see your point.
[3:40:30] Okay, well, we've got a good balance anyway.
[3:40:33] Yes, sir.
[3:40:34] Will you have some time tomorrow, or are you going to be preoccupied?
[3:40:38] I'll be pretty, but Saturday I'll have some time.
[3:40:41] All right.
[3:40:41] Saturday would be a better time.
[3:40:43] Saturday, I'd just like about ten minutes.
[3:40:45] I'll work out this fellow Ken Dan with you.
[3:40:47] Sure, Adam.
[3:40:48] Well, let's talk about it Saturday morning.
[3:40:51] All right.
[3:40:52] I have plenty of time, then.
[3:40:53] Yeah.
[3:40:53] Okay.
[3:40:55] Well?
[3:40:55] Mr. President?