Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 007-120
Date: Sunday, August 15, 1971 at 9:39 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ford, Gerald R.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/007-120

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello.
[0:01] Hi, Mr. President.
[0:02] Hi, Jerry.
[0:03] How are you?
[0:03] I'm fine.
[0:04] How are you?
[0:05] Couldn't be better.
[0:06] I thought that was a great speech.
[0:08] Well, we got your excise tax.
[0:10] Well, I was...
[0:12] I think maybe, Jerry, we pulled the rug out from under those bastards who've been after us.
[0:16] What do you think?
[0:16] Well, I think Wilbur Mills will have a few seconds on.
[0:21] Well, my reaction... You really thought it was right, though, do you?
[0:26] Absolutely.
[0:27] The tax package is tremendous.
[0:30] The cutback in spending, what, 4.7 domestically.
[0:36] I like that.
[0:36] And the 10% on foreign aid, that'll be damn well received.
[0:45] And the only thing I don't understand, and I'm not an expert in this area, is the international side.
[0:50] Well, that's so technical.
[0:52] What it really gets down to is they're trying to bust the dollar, and it doesn't have anything to do with the American market.
[0:58] So we just have to quit redeeming in gold, and we work out a new system.
[1:03] That's all it means.
[1:05] But the key line there was I said the dollar would not be the hostage of international money traders anymore.
[1:11] The imposition of wage, price, and dividend controls, I think all you have to do is prosecute one or two, and that'll take care of the rest.
[1:23] We're going to.
[1:24] Well, I think that's the key, Mr. President.
[1:28] The people probably want it, don't they, Jerry?
[1:30] I think they do, although... You can't tell.
[1:34] The polls show they do, but you never know what they'll do in a quench.
[1:37] Well, it all depends, you know...
[1:40] The guy that raised his prices yesterday, he'll love it.
[1:44] But the point is, the main thing is having it 90 days.
[1:47] Right.
[1:47] Then moving off to a wage price board, which is what we're going to do.
[1:51] We've got to get out of it.
[1:52] After 90 days, it'll break down, you know.
[1:55] Well, the main thrust, though, of the whole package is, I think, going to be damn well received.
[2:01] Well, it's jobs, fighting the cost of living, and protecting America abroad.
[2:06] They may not...
[2:07] understand the dollar, but I think they understood when I said that we've given $143 billion to build up our competitors, and now, by gosh, we're not going to fight with one hand tied behind our back.
[2:17] Q And I think the 10 percent imposition of a duty or whatever you call it is going to be damned helpful in some of these areas where there's been a lot of competition.
[2:27] A That's right.
[2:28] That's right.
[2:29] Q Does that begin tomorrow?
[2:31] Today.
[2:32] Oh, this minute.
[2:34] See, I can oppose that unilaterally, and I can oppose the wage-price freeze unilaterally.
[2:41] So that, as of this moment, it's done.
[2:44] The other things require congressional action.
[2:47] Well, overall, the parts that I understand, I think, are damn good, substantively as well as politically.
[2:55] You will have to get your expert to explain to me the form.
[2:59] Don't try to understand it.
[3:01] Don't try.
[3:02] Believe me, I've been over it for months.
[3:03] I think I understand it, but it isn't worth the trouble.
[3:06] Let me ask you one thing.
[3:08] Yeah.
[3:08] The comment about the convertibility of dollars...
[3:13] Into gold and other assets.
[3:15] Right.
[3:15] And that's special drawing rights, SDRs, and it's so damn complicated.
[3:20] Let me say this.
[3:22] It really...
[3:23] isn't something we should be worried about.
[3:25] There needs to be a new international system.
[3:28] I felt it for many years, and the last two years I've told Arthur Frank, everybody agrees we have to have it.
[3:34] You've got to give shock treatment to other countries.
[3:36] The major countries that are really giving it to us are the Germans and the Japanese.
[3:43] So we're trying to force them to get in line.
[3:45] The French and the British are okay.
[3:47] The other countries don't matter, see?
[3:49] That's what it is.
[3:51] But don't try to understand international things.