Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 7 › Conversation 007-122
Nixon phone call with Connally on Wage-price freeze
Sunday, August 15, 1971 · 9:46 PM–9:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Treasury Secretary John B. Connally discuss the positive public and media reception following Nixon’s televised address announcing a wage-price freeze and international economic policy changes. Connally confirms that the domestic focus on wages and prices successfully overshadowed complex international monetary issues, which the President intentionally downplayed to maintain public appeal. The two finalize plans for Connally to hold a live, televised press conference the following morning to maintain momentum and reach a broad audience, including the financial markets.
- Wage-price freeze
- International monetary policy
- Nixon Economic Policy
- Economic psychology
- Press relations
Audio
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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I have secretary Conley.
All right.
Hello?
Mr. President, you did a great job.
Well, the baby's born.
Well, that's great.
I hope I didn't say anything that would embarrass you.
No, sir.
I thought it was wonderful.
I thought it was great.
I'd like my little comment about that the dollar will not be a hostage of international... That I thought of last night at 3 o'clock in the morning.
I thought it was good, and I wrote it down.
Well, it was worth staying up all night for.
I thought that was the best line in it.
Well, I thought you'd love that one.
Yeah, I really did.
But as a matter of fact, if I'd had a little more time, I could have done it a little more polished way.
Oh, you did a beautiful job on it.
I really thought it was great.
I thought it was a very fine, effective speech.
You shook up Pierre Paul Fletcher.
We're in here, Paul Volcker.
Where are you?
I'm at Treasury now.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I just walked over here.
Yeah.
I sat in Ron's office and watched you on three sets, and I watched CBS in particular, and they did a fine job for you.
Bob Pierpont and Daniel Shore, they just said this is the domestic visit to pay keys.
They just... Well, that's good.
Yeah, it really is.
They did a fine job.
Yeah, the main thing is that the average person doesn't understand the international monetary system, but he will understand that this is something dramatic.
Oh, he sure will.
And the press is labeling it bad.
I saw a few of the... Have you?
What are they saying?
What did you say?
The lead is the wage price thing.
And then they go on.
That's good.
That's the best lead.
And they say it's far-reaching, it's sweeping changes, it's a dramatic move, and so forth.
I think you're going to really be pleased with the lead in the story.
Are you going to do the thing, the press tomorrow, the press conference or not?
Yes, sir.
Good.
Great.
But now, incidentally, I told Holloman, the one thing about that is do it on live television if you want, but if it inhibits you in any way.
Oh, it won't inhibit me.
Well, that's good.
That's the best thing.
You get between 7 and 10 million listens that hour, but if it does, then you just go on the news thing.
The best thing is to have live television.
But if you're going to do it, announce it at 9 o'clock in the morning, and then everybody in Wall Street will be listening.
See what I mean?
You're sure they know.
Well, congratulations.
I thought the speech was wonderful.
I just thought it was a very fine way to present the problem in a very complex way.
You know that I put it...
I tried to...
I mean, I know that some of the fellows thought I should have led off with international money.
No, no, no.
Nobody understands that.
I led off with peace, jobs.
That's right.
Don't you agree?
Yes, sir.
No question.
Because in all the... See, I did the press briefing at 7.30.
I know you did.
I went at 8.15.
And all their questions... How'd it go?
Fine.
I think Ron will give you a better, more objective analysis, but I thought it went very well.
All of it, sir.
It went very well.
And they led on the wage and price thing, and then on the international monetary thing.
That's what they hung on those two things.
Because they use big leads, but wage and price freeze is a big lead.
Well, John, it wouldn't be done without you, by gosh.
Well, Mr. President, you showed... You've got a lot of guts.
You showed rare courage.
You showed great insight into the problems of this country.
I just...
But the main thing is we've got to get the psychology to come through.
That's right.
Well, I... You know, the last part was...
I spent a lot of time on that one.
Sort of the idea that people have ran down this damn country 200 years ago.
And isn't that the important thing?
The spirit's got to return.
That's right.
Well, I just couldn't have been more pleased.
I just really... And when you talk about...
you're going to fight for this country, that you're going to make this country respected, you're going to make this country strong.
I just... You notice I got in your line about burden sharing.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Okay.
I think that's great.
I really do.
Well, if we gave them $143 billion, they've got to get off their ass and help us.
Now, that's what the people are going to remember, too.
If they did it and said it was right, they've got to help us now.
Good.
All right.
Couldn't be more pleased.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
NARA Description
On August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 9:46 pm to 9:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 007-122 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 7-122
Date: August 15, 1971
Time: 9:46 pm - 9:50 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with John B. Connally.
Wage-price freeze speech
-Connally's reaction
-Effectiveness
-Paul A. Volcker
-Ronald L. Ziegler's office
-Television networks
-Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
-Robert Pierpoint
-Daniel Schorr
-International economics
-Public understanding
-Press
-Wage-price lead
-Connally press conference
-The President's talk with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Timing
-Wall Street
-International monetary factor
-Peace
-Jobs
-Connally's press briefing
-Ziegler
-Haldeman
-Wage-price freeze
-International economy
-Psychology
-Connally's reaction
-Burden sharing
77
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)Also recorded on August 16, 1971
- 007-118 9:30 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 9:30 pm to 9:39 pm.
- 007-119 9:39 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:39 pm.
- 007-120 9:39 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford talked on the telephone from 9:39 pm to 9:44 pm.
- 007-121 9:44 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:44 pm and 9:46 pm.
- 007-123 9:50 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:50 pm.
- 007-124 9:50 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 9:50 pm to 9:55 pm.
- 007-125 9:55 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:55 pm.
- 007-126 9:56 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 9:56 pm to 10:02 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 007-122, August 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/007-122 (accessed October 12, 2026).