Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 2 › Conversation 002-006

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Economic policy and Stock market

Monday, April 19, 1971 · 7:24 PM–7:26 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation002-006 on Tape 2 (tape position 00:07:05–00:09:08)StartMonday, April 19, 1971 at 7:24 PMEndMonday, April 19, 1971 at 7:26 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 002-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discuss preparations for an upcoming meeting with legislative leaders, specifically regarding the administration's economic messaging. Nixon instructs Haldeman to have George P. Shultz, rather than Paul McCracken, deliver a brief and intentionally optimistic presentation on the economy to instill confidence. The President notes recent positive trends in the stock market as evidence that the public is beginning to favor optimistic long-range economic projections.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah, yes, sir.
I think it would be a good thing tomorrow.
I don't know what's on the schedule for the legislative leaders' meeting, but why don't we have George Schultz take 10 minutes, tell him at the beginning, just for a very upbeat, optimistic view on the economy.
Okay?
I'm not McCracken.
I don't want McCracken.
And don't worry about hurt feelings.
And...
But I think George is the guy, don't you, to do it?
Oh, sure.
Yeah.
And he knows.
He can just give the really upbeat things because let these guys get a little feel of the thing.
You know, they may not follow these things as closely and they don't know.
Incidentally, you were right about the market.
It went to $9.48 today.
Yeah.
It's unbelievable.
And on $17, $18 million shares.
Yeah.
But truly unbelievable the way that thing is...
has moved along.
And it's, of course, the reason it's moving, Bob, is that these guys, they look at what the pessimists say and they look at what the optimists say, and they're coming down on the side of the optimists.
They're more optimistic about the long-range view.
Don't you think that's it?
Sure.
And I think that if anybody had told you two months ago, even a month ago, you know,
Remember when everybody was down to the mouth about the economy and we're going to have to have a tax reduction or some damn thing, you know.
And maybe we still have to, but it doesn't look like it.
See what I'm saying?
Particularly if it starts to move.
But George can hit a few figures.
Okay, good.
And I think it's a good idea.
All right.
Because he likes to do it and he can just be there and tell them to really give it a go.
Upbeat just the sales point.
He doesn't need to balance anything out with these characters.
Just give them things that are optimistic and things are going great.
Okay.
All right.

NARA Description

On April 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 7:24 pm to 7:26 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 002-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 2-6

Date: April 19, 1971
Time: 7:24 pm - 7:26 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     President's schedule
           -Meeting with legislative leaders
                 -Economy
                      -George P. Shultz
                      -Paul W. McCracken
                      -Stock market
                      -Confidence

Also recorded on April 20, 1971

  • 054-002 7:55 AM · 9 min — Peter G. Peterson, Bryce N. Harlow, Richard H. Poff, and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 8:06 am.
  • 483-001 7:55 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 7:57 am.
  • 483-002 7:55 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:55 am and 8:06 am.
  • 054-003 8:06 AM · 1 hr 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, and Republican Congressional leaders, including Hugh Scott, Robert P. Griffin, Margaret Chase Smith, Norris Cotton, Gordon L. Allott, Peter H. Dominick, Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends, Barber B. Conable, Jr., Richard H. Poff, Robert C. ("Bob") Wilson, Robert T. Stafford, Robert J. Dole, George P. Shultz, Peter G. Peterson, Peter M. Flanigan, Dr. James R. Schlesinger, Clark MacGregor, William E. Timmons, Kenneth E. BeLieu, Patrick J. Buchanan, Ernest Stern, C. Fred Bergsten, Jonathan C. Rose, Bryce N. Harlow, Herbert G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House photographer, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:06 am and 9:44 am.
  • 483-003 8:06 AM · 1 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:06 am and 9:46 am.
  • 483-004 9:46 AM · 1 hr 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:46 am to 11:15 am.
  • 483-005 11:15 AM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:15 am and 11:20 am.
  • 483-006 11:20 AM · 10 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:20 am and 11:50 am.

All 51 conversations from April 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 002-006, April 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/002-006 (accessed October 12, 2026).