Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 007-083
Date: Tuesday, August 10, 1971 at 9:28 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/007-083

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello.
[0:03] Good morning, Mr. President.
[0:04] Hi.
[0:04] Hi, Chuck.
[0:05] I was just taking a look at the news summary.
[0:10] It seemed to me quite interesting how they almost totally ignored the retail sales thing, isn't it?
[0:20] One network used it.
[0:21] One network used it, NBC, because they had some pretty negative stuff on the...
[0:26] on the economy, so I guess they thought they had to give us a little balance.
[0:30] Yeah.
[0:31] That was a pretty good story, though.
[0:33] Did we make an effort?
[0:34] Did Schultz and the bunch do something about it, or what?
[0:36] No, Mr. President, we relied on Peser.
[0:39] Well, he's good.
[0:40] He's usually pretty upbeat.
[0:41] The reason that, frankly, we made more out of it than a legitimate news story probably would warrant, because what it was basically was an updating of
[0:50] A revision upward of some existing figures, most of which had come out on the weekly totals.
[0:55] You know, it's like the casualties.
[0:58] They come out each week, and then they do a monthly compilation.
[1:00] Well, there probably wasn't much more that could be done about it.
[1:04] Well, it would be nice if we had gotten a little more out of it.
[1:09] It's a very good statistic, as a matter of fact.
[1:12] It's a very impressive statistic, Mr. President.
[1:14] 15% increase in retail sales is a hell of a lot.
[1:17] Well, it's the first of the year.
[1:19] Yes, it is.
[1:20] And the July figures that have been out each week but now will be consolidated into monthly figures show something, the same kind of a trend continuing.
[1:31] Percentage-wise, it won't be quite as dramatic because once you get up at a certain level, it stays there.
[1:36] But it is an encouraging story.
[1:38] Right, right.
[1:39] The July things will come out when?
[1:41] Well, let's see.
[1:42] The July weekly totals have been out, so we'll get the monthly one about a month from now.
[1:48] Right, right.
[1:49] Okay, fine.
[1:50] Fine, sir.
[1:51] Thank you.