Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 6 › Conversation 006-173
Nixon phone call with Romnes on AT&T labor dispute
Wednesday, July 21, 1971 · 2:43 PM–2:47 PM ET · White House Telephone · 5 min
AI Summary
President Nixon contacted AT&T Chairman Haakon I. Romnes to commend the company for its management of a recent labor dispute and the dedication of employees who maintained telephone service during that period. Nixon highlighted the critical importance of reliable telecommunications, citing his recent use of the system to rapidly coordinate the announcement of his China initiative. The conversation transitioned into a broader discussion on the steel industry, where Nixon expressed concern over declining competitiveness and stressed the urgent need for labor-management cooperation regarding productivity and work rules.
- AT&T labor dispute
- People's Republic of China initiative
- Steel industry
- Labor productivity
- Telecommunications infrastructure
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Yeah.
You are?
Hello?
Yes.
Well, I knew that you had called me, George Schultz was saying, while I was in California, and I was good news about it, but I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated the fact that the company found a way to keep that service going.
I used a lot of telephones during that period, as you probably guessed by now.
And also, I think it's really fine the way you worked your settlement out.
Well, thank you, Mr. President.
I appreciate it.
That's what I wanted to say to you.
I fully understand your concern about much more important things, but just your problems, I wanted to reassure you.
We had things under control.
Well, everything is important.
But I thought one graphic way you got it across, and I liked it, was they had a fine picture, at least in Los Angeles times, they had a...
picture of you know supervisors and others working you know getting the phone thing and it shows you you can do it you know yeah and uh that's uh that's that's one thing yet we we think of things that are are indispensable these days and i suppose that before the days of the telephone people of course got along without them but now like when we had to inform within the space of 15 minutes before this china announcement just almost six days ago we had to inform
20 foreign governments, ambassadors, and about 50 people and so forth.
We couldn't give them more than 15 minutes advance notice because of the possibility of leaking, but we could only do it with telephone.
We couldn't use telegraph, so we just banged those phones and ran up quite a bill.
But I think we can pay the bill.
I'm sure you can, but the main thing is I certainly appreciate your taking the time to say this to me.
I wish you would convey, if you would, I know there must be somebody in your organization, but the people that really kept it going in that period.
I know the settlement was one thing, that was a high management decision, but there must have been an awful lot of very loyal people that...
Really broke the you know went around the clock to make that done and just say that there's one guy that appreciated it That kind of loyal people in an organization are really hard to come by aren't they and Organize and you appreciate it, right?
Well, thank you very much for calling me, and I assure you we're going to work our head off to do this kind of a job.
We just hope now we can get steel settled in a reasonable way.
That's our next big one.
We've had fairly constructive reports, at least on the local issues.
Of course, the money thing is tough.
It's just because the steel people haven't had a strike for a long time, but
When I had them in, I told them quite candidly, that is, speaking particularly to the Union side,
Here they are.
In the last 10 years, they have less people working in steel than they had 10 years ago.
In the last 20 years, we've gone from 50% of the world's production to 23% of the world's production.
And if these fellows don't buckle down and find some way to increase productivity, they may have very high wages and damn few jobs.
That's what American business has got to understand.
I mean, the ones where...
They have this competitive problem.
That's absolutely true.
They have a real problem.
I happen to be on the board of USDUS.
Oh, well, you know exactly what it is, then.
My, this is a very serious matter.
The one only thing that looks...
a little bright, and I hope that it'll work out this way, is that they have really been working hard in the steel industry in the last two or three years to catch up on technology.
In all honesty, they've been pretty slow.
Yeah.
Well, the thing that we're trying to emphasize on the labor side, of course, and the industry side is working on it, as you know, in these settlements, the public eye, and of course everybody's eye, naturally is on the amount, how much.
But the important thing is to get...
some progress on work rule, you know.
And there the unions are just tough as they can be.
And if they just have a big settlement here, and just without announcing that there's going to be some rather new attitudes on the part of union working with management to make steel more competitive, that's going to be very bad news.
So if even that could come out of it, it would be helpful.
But anyway, we'll...
hope for the best and uh i do appreciate what you've done well thank you mr president this is uh much appreciated and anything we can do we will do thank you bye
NARA Description
On July 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Haakon I. Romnes talked on the telephone from 2:43 pm to 2:47 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-173 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 6-173
Date: July 21, 1971
Time: 2:43 pm - 2:47 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Haakon Ingolf Romnes.
[See Conversation No. 264-12]
Romnes’ call to President in California
-George P. Shultz
AT&T labor dispute
-Conduct and settlement
-AT&T employees
People’s Republic of China [PRC] initiative
-Use of phones
AT&T
-Settlement
Possible steel dispute settlement
-Steel industry problems
-Productivity
-Competitiveness
-Wages
-US steel corporation
-Technology
-Work rules
-Labor-management cooperationAlso recorded on July 21, 1971
- 006-172 2:39 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 2:39 pm to 2:42 pm.
- 264-011 2:39 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:39 pm to 2:42 pm.
- 264-012 2:43 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Haakon I. Romnes met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:43 pm to 2:47 pm.
- 006-174 2:47 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 2:53 pm.
- 264-013 2:47 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 2:51 pm.
- 264-014 2:47 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 2:51 pm.
- 541-002 2:52 PM · 2 hr 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Willie J. Usery, Jr., Stephen B. Bull, Stephen B. Bull, John B. Connally, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, Charles W. Colson, George H. Mahon, White House operator, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:52 pm and 5:04 pm.
- 541-001 2:53 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Miss Lund (secretary to J. Curtis Counts) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:53 pm to 2:54 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 006-173, July 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-173 (accessed October 12, 2026).