Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 7 › Conversation 007-137

Nixon phone call with Hodgson on Wage-price freeze and Economic policy

Sunday, August 15, 1971 · 10:37 PM–10:38 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Hodgson, James D.Conversation007-137 on Tape 7 (tape position 05:11:19–05:13:18)StartSunday, August 15, 1971 at 10:37 PMEndSunday, August 15, 1971 at 10:38 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 007-137 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of Labor James D. Hodgson discussed the positive reception and strategic necessity of the recently announced wage-price freeze. They reviewed the administration's decision to maintain secrecy regarding the policy to prevent economic instability, specifically citing concerns about runs on the dollar and preemptive price hikes. Nixon emphasized the importance of maintaining a firm stance with labor leaders like Lane Kirkland and corporations like General Motors while preparing to coordinate the administration's messaging during an upcoming cabinet meeting.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Hello, Mr. President.
Hi, how are you?
Well, pretty darn good, especially tonight.
Well, we shook them up a little.
Yes, we sure did, and we gave them a basis for staying shook for a while, too.
I particularly like that combination of international and domestic.
That's the kind of combination that we can use to explain why we didn't do bits and pieces all the way through.
Oh, well, as a matter of fact, Jim, we can now explain.
why Connolly and I and all of us took the line.
We had to say we weren't going to do anything.
If we'd have said anything, then there'd have been a run of the dollar.
Everybody would have raised their prices.
But we, as a matter of fact, made this sort of thought about 60 days ago.
We decided we had to do it this way.
Well, I think your timing is right, too.
And I'm so glad we took that trip out to San Francisco now.
because you know i got your report on that yeah those guys are all squealing about this and now they got a reporter oh that's right they're going to have a devil of a time and that was the manifest tonight by i called wayne lane kirkland their number two man to meet oh yeah over there and what do you think of that well it was a lot of wariness but he was
obviously impressed by the size of the package and the scope of it, and there are things in there that he couldn't balance quickly in his own head, and he says, we're going to have to have a real skull session on this tomorrow.
I said, well, afterwards, let me take a peek inside your skull, and he said, fine.
Yeah, because we've got to be very hard on them, as you noticed, and I was hard on the General Motors and the rest, much the same, we're going to pass it on.
Yeah, but you were real good on emphasizing the American worker part of it and the employment part of it.
All the way through.
Right on the button.
Yeah.
Well, we've got a fine couple of days to get rolling on not only sampling the attitudes, but starting to condition them.
Right.
We'll have a cabinet meeting tomorrow, and we'll chat it over.
Okay, fine.
Bye.
Bye.

NARA Description

On August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and James D. Hodgson talked on the telephone from 10:37 pm to 10:38 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 007-137 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 7-137

Date: August 15, 1971
Time: 10:37 pm - 10:38 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with James D. Hodgson.

     Wage-Price freeze speech
         -Hodgson's reaction
               -International and domestic issues
          -John B. Connally
         -Timing
         -San Francisco
               -[Joseph] Lane Kirkland
         -General Motors

           -Dividends
           -Cabinet meeting

Also recorded on August 16, 1971

  • 007-133 10:24 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Clifford M. Hardin talked on the telephone from 10:24 pm to 10:33 pm.
  • 007-134 10:33 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:33 pm.
  • 007-135 10:33 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and [Dwight] David Eisenhower, II talked on the telephone from 10:33 pm to 10:37 pm.
  • 007-166 10:33 PM · 1 min — the White House operator and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at 10:33 pm.
  • 007-136 10:37 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:37 pm.
  • 007-167 10:38 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:38 pm and 10:40 pm.
  • 007-138 10:40 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 10:40 pm to 10:42 pm.
  • 007-139 10:43 PM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 10:43 pm to 11:01 pm.

All 88 conversations from August 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 007-137, 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/007-137 (accessed October 12, 2026).