Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 3 › Conversation 003-057

Nixon phone call with Shultz on Railroad strike and Labor relations

Monday, May 17, 1971 · 7:35 PM–7:40 PM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Shultz, George P.Conversation003-057 on Tape 3 (tape position 01:03:41–01:09:54)StartMonday, May 17, 1971 at 7:35 PMEndMonday, May 17, 1971 at 7:40 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 003-057 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and George Shultz discuss the immediate economic threat posed by a national railroad strike, specifically its potential to cripple the auto and steel industries if it persists beyond a few days. The administration is pushing for emergency Congressional legislation to force the Signalmen’s union back to work by July 1, while closely monitoring House hearings led by Harley Staggers. Nixon authorizes Shultz to pressure the union leadership directly if the legislative process stalls or if the strike threatens to create a prolonged economic shutdown.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Hello, sir.
Hello, George.
Yes, sir.
How's the railroad strike going?
Well, the railroad strike is very effective.
So the railroads are shut down.
The Hudson has testified before a Senate committee to have the men put back to work until July 1.
That's our proposal, as you know.
The hearings are set for the House for 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.
It's possible that we could have action on all this by tomorrow sometime, depending on how fast they act and the extent to which people decide to play around with the proposals and argue about whether it's going to be a straight extension of time or whether there's going to be money involved and how much and so on.
which Javits is sort of inclined to do at this point, I understand.
If the strike runs for more than three days, it can give the economy a real wallop, and that's what we're most concerned about.
I think if we can get back to work by tomorrow, it won't have a serious impact.
That's why we went right at it this morning, first thing,
I've been after these people.
Staggers is the chairman of the House committee that considers this.
He went to the railroad station to take a train back to Washington this morning and found no train running.
He's also the man who has refused to have any hearings at all on the emergency transportation bill that he sent out years ago.
So that's where we stand on it.
The negotiations...
They worked, Bill Ussery worked at it from every angle imaginable.
Firstly, people are out striking to get an increase over what others have agreed on, and that settlement is already just outlandish.
It's 12% per year for three years.
And Barrera broke to begin with.
So it's a very unreasonable position they're in.
Nevertheless, I do have the rail that was shut down.
I think that we should see what the situation is tomorrow and how this thing begins to shape up.
And if it looks as though it's going to drag a lot, then I think
you might consider some special appeals to the union to get these people back to work.
Which union?
The Sickleman.
The Sickleman?
Yeah.
Because if it goes longer, it's going to have quite a serious impact.
It's amazing to see how fast auto assembly plants, for example, are going to be closed.
They'll be closed if it goes any longer than two days.
and so on.
It can have quite an impact on the economy and just as the economy is always beginning to go.
That can be recovered as long as there isn't too big a sort of a crescendo of shutting down.
but then has to reopen and kind of get the productive processes linked up in a balanced fashion again.
For example, if you start getting steel furnaces shut down, then it takes them a while to get going, get that sort of thing.
Yeah.
So I don't think we should... Well, if you want to bring in those signals tomorrow, let's do it.
Why not?
Well...
Don't hesitate to do it.
All right.
Don't hesitate to do it.
He's got the hoodie.
If he's got to put the arm on him, let's do it tomorrow.
All right.
Well, suppose we see how we stand with the House committee tomorrow.
We should know the hearing.
I'll meet the leaders in the morning and I'll tell them.
All right.
Yes.
Well, I think, again, we ought to be banging on this fact that we've had no hearings on the basic bill to help get this straightened out.
Again, we ought to be...
But that's not going to get the strike settled.
No, no, no, no.
But I'm the signalman.
I'll talk to you.
Are they totally unreasonable people?
No, they're not.
Well, then let's get them in.
I think that if they look here, maybe tomorrow afternoon, if it looks as though we're hung up, then we might try to do that.
But I'd suggest that we wait and see.
tomorrow morning, how the House goes, what goes on in the Senate, and if it looks as though we're going to get a resolution by tomorrow night, then I think that's all right.
But if it's going to drag on, there's no telling where it goes, and probably we'll have to take some other course.
You may not know by tomorrow, do you?
Well, I guess... Well, we won't know for sure, but I think we'll have an idea.
For example, in the hearings with Hudson this afternoon, they were
pretty perfunctory.
They didn't badger in the way they have on some other occasions, and they seem to have a sense of the fact that there's a real problem here.
And if the House has some straightforward hearings and then goes into executive session and the Senate has got something going, why, maybe we'll be all right.
But if the whole thing has an air of acrimony, we'll have to think this over for a few days and so on, and I think we should move
Okay.
I'll keep you posted.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz talked on the telephone from 7:35 pm to 7:40 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 003-057 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 003-057

Date: May 17, 1971
Time: 7:35 pm - 7:40 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with George P. Shultz.

     Railroad strike
          -Administration proposals
                -James D. Hodgson's testimony
                -Congressional hearings
                -Possible outcome
                -Jacob K. Javits
          -Possible effect on economy
                -Length
          -Harley O. Staggers
                -Role
          -Negotiations
                -Willie J. Usery
                -Previous settlement
          -Possible administration action
                -Signalmen's union
          -Possible effect on economy
                -Auto industry
                -Length of strike
                -Steel producers
          -Possible meeting of President with Signalmen's Union
          -House of Representatives
                -Committee action

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

                 -President's May 18, 1971 meeting with leaders
                 -Hearings
            -Possible meeting of President and Signalmen
            -House and Senate
                 -Possible May 18, 1971 action
                 -May 17, 1971 hearings
                       -Hodgson
                 -Future action

Also recorded on May 17, 1971

  • 003-053 6:37 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:37 pm and 7:29 pm.
  • 003-054 7:29 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 7:29 pm to 7:30 pm.
  • 003-055 7:30 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:30 pm and 7:34 pm.
  • 003-056 7:34 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:34 pm.

Cite this conversation

Conversation 003-057, May 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/003-057 (accessed September 28, 2026).