Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 6 › Conversation 006-193

Nixon phone call with Colson on National Economy and Unemployment

Thursday, July 22, 1971 · 7:55 PM–8:07 PM ET · White House Telephone · 12 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation006-193 on Tape 6 (tape position 04:45:07–04:56:50)StartThursday, July 22, 1971 at 7:55 PMEndThursday, July 22, 1971 at 8:07 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 006-193 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discussed strategies for improving public perception of the administration’s handling of the national economy and unemployment rates. They analyzed current polling data and examined how positive economic indicators might be better communicated to the public. Nixon directed Colson to coordinate with pollster Louis Harris to ensure that recent positive trends and public sentiments were more accurately reflected in upcoming survey results.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 4 minutes of this recording (about 31% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
Well, anything new in your front today?
Good, good.
Yeah.
It's going to be less even next week, I think.
Maybe less than ten.
I didn't check tomorrow, sure.
Right, right.
Well, you're checking tomorrow.
News, I mean, race, health.
I didn't do the job.
Oh, really?
Oh, I know.
You can't go over the door.
But on the other hand, God damn it, somebody was saying that when George Shultz was saying that we had the low unemployment thing, that they just can't give this administration credit for any good news.
Oh, they hate you, that's for sure.
No, I didn't get that.
You mean 6%?
I mean, that's the same as last month.
Five-tenths of a percent after.
Right.
Well, as a matter of fact, we'll get a better bounce from that in the summer, though.
Food prices generally will go down then.
No.
You look at it for the year-to-date, how would you know?
I never worry about them.
The difficulty is they do get in a little one-day flood, but that's where it happens.
All right.
Right.
Right.
How about Harris and Spohr?
Has he given you the results yet?
No.
when would he do that?
I think the main thing of this is that apart from the general public reaction, which we can't talk about, is that the moving from, you know, well, only fair to
Hey, you were talking earlier today.
The main problem is the economy, Chuck.
The difficulty there is basically psychological.
Everybody's talking this and that, and the economy's pretty good, but we just can't seem to get people off the dime to say it, isn't it?
Well, the main thing is that the economy is just going to move for reasons that have nothing to do with all these retailers that people are going to buy.
It's going to go up.
It's got to go up.
But your friend Harris, I was telling you, everything we hear shows up.
You know, you'll trigger that a bit up, too.
Right.
And it's also one of those things that fills.
It may not show in the first two or three days afterwards, but it may show more as you go on, you see.
Right.
Why don't you give Harris a call tomorrow and tell him what's going on with the Chipotle show.
Right.
Tell him it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What can we do with
Nothing to do with the smoke.
Must be out in the morning.
He's playing a very low-key game.
He's playing a very low-key game.
He's playing a very low-key game.
The prosthetic goes out with the real all-the-way thing.
That's popular.
Right.
Yeah.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Let me say this.
If Harris can reflect that, even in a modest way in his poll, that would be very important.
Good.
Okay.

NARA Description

On July 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:55 pm and 8:07 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-193 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 6-193

Date: July 22, 1971
Time: Unknown between 7:55 pm and 8:07 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

     Vietnam casualties
          -Television coverage

     George P. Shultz's comments on news coverage
          -Unemployment rate

     National economy
          -Economic indicators
          -News stories
          -John B. Connally's forthcoming "Face the Nation" appearance

     Louis Harris poll results
          -Timing
                -Field poll

     National economy
          -Popular perceptions
          -Prospects

     Harris poll

           -Causes of change
           -Results
           -Cumulative impact of positive events

     Colson's conversation with Thomas W. ("Teddy") Gleason
          -Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson, Hubert H. Humphrey
          -Reaction of hardhat audience to speech

Also recorded on July 22, 1971

  • 543-007 6:20 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:20 pm and 6:25 pm.
  • 543-008 6:25 PM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:25 pm to 6:46 pm.
  • 006-188 6:46 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:46 pm and 7:00 pm.
  • 543-009 6:46 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at 6:46 pm.
  • 006-189 7:41 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Robert J. Dole talked on the telephone from 7:41 pm to 7:45 pm.
  • 006-190 7:45 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:45 pm and 7:52 pm.
  • 006-191 7:45 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:45 pm and 7:52 pm.
  • 006-192 7:52 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 7:52 pm to 7:53 pm.

All 41 conversations from July 22, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 006-193, July 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-193 (accessed October 12, 2026).