Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 5 › Conversation 005-157

Nixon phone call with Byrnes on H.R. 1 and Legislative strategy

Thursday, June 24, 1971 · 10:45 AM–10:47 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Byrnes, John W.Conversation005-157 on Tape 5 (tape position 04:49:12–04:51:14)StartThursday, June 24, 1971 at 10:45 AMEndThursday, June 24, 1971 at 10:47 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 005-157 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon calls Congressman John W. Byrnes to express appreciation for his collaboration with Wilbur D. Mills in securing legislative support for H.R. 1. The two discuss the political difficulty of rebranding the bill's provisions, specifically refuting public criticism that the legislation constitutes a 'guaranteed annual income' by emphasizing work requirements. Nixon notes his intention to lobby Senator Russell B. Long to ensure the bill's continued progress in the Senate.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Coming for John Burns, Mr. President.
Hello?
Yes, sir, Mr. President.
Hi, Johnny.
I'm going to be seeing you Monday, I guess, or Tuesday.
Yeah, Monday night, I guess.
Yeah, but I wanted you to know that I'm most grateful for the way that you and your sidekick Mills came through on that bill.
That was really something.
Well,
Getting 43 votes majority, that really surprised me.
I didn't think you, on the key vote, I just... Well, everything, you know, they got polarized.
I was sorry that we didn't have a better, a little better Republican vote than we had.
Forget it.
What the heck.
Nobody's going to remember who voted for what.
That's right.
But, you know, it would have been nice if more of our boys... Yeah, the only thing, of course, that disturbs me, Johnny, is that...
You know, I hear so many of our friends say this is a giveaway and that sort of thing.
And when they say that about you and me, good God, it really burns me.
Well, it burns me.
We're trying our best.
Mills said an interesting thing to me.
He said, you know...
When you talk about this guaranteed annual wages thing, he says, at the present time, we have a guaranteed annual income for people for doing nothing.
That's right.
But this is a guaranteed income for people that do something.
And nothing for anybody that does nothing.
That's right.
That's a good point, isn't it?
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Well, we've been trying to get that message across, but, boy, it's just hard to do it.
Right.
They've got this concept of...
guaranteed income.
Well, I've said over and over that it is not a guaranteed income, and I think we've got to continue to say that.
I said it is not a guaranteed income provides that a man gets paid whether he works or not.
This provides if a man can work,
and refuses to work that he doesn't get paid.
So that's not a guaranteed income.
Well, I think you can point out that it's a guarantee that we will help somebody who is willing to help himself.
That's right.
No guarantee for a guy that is unwilling to do so.
Nobody wants to sit in his can.
Yeah.
Well, anyways, a good job.
I'm going to work on, of course, our good friend Russell now.
Yeah, yeah.
He'll come around the end.
He may put too much on it, but that's up to you guys to cut it out in conference.
Yeah.
Okay, Johnny.
Talk to you.
Okay.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On June 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Byrnes talked on the telephone from 10:45 am to 10:47 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 005-157 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 5-157

Date: June 24, 1971
Time: 10:45 am - 10:47 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John W. Byrnes.

[See Conversation No. 528-8]

     President's schedule
          -Byrnes

     Byrnes’ and Wilbur D. Mills’ legislative support

     H.R.1
          -Guaranteed annual income
               -President's previous conversation with Mills
          -Provisions

          -Russell B. Long

Also recorded on June 24, 1971

  • 005-155 10:33 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:33 am.
  • 528-005 10:33 AM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:33 am.
  • 005-156 10:42 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills talked on the telephone from 10:42 am to 10:44 am.
  • 528-006 10:42 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:42 am to 10:44 am.
  • 528-007 10:45 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:45 am.
  • 528-008 10:45 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Byrnes met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:45 am to 10:47 am.
  • 005-158 10:58 AM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:58 am.
  • 528-009 10:58 AM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:58 am.

All 28 conversations from June 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 005-157, June 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/005-157 (accessed October 10, 2026).