Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 7 › Conversation 007-144

Nixon phone call with Gosden on Wage-price freeze and New Economic Policy

Sunday, August 15, 1971 · 11:12 PM–11:14 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Gosden, Freeman F., Jr.Conversation007-144 on Tape 7 (tape position 05:39:12–05:41:31)StartSunday, August 15, 1971 at 11:12 PMEndSunday, August 15, 1971 at 11:14 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 007-144 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon spoke with Freeman F. Gosden, Jr. to gauge public and professional reaction following the President's televised address regarding the New Economic Policy's wage-price freeze. Gosden relayed overwhelmingly positive feedback from business associates and personal contacts, noting that even political opponents viewed the action favorably. Nixon emphasized the importance of the psychological impact of the policy on the American public and the need to bolster national economic confidence.

Audio

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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?
Mr. President?
Hi, Freeman, how are you?
Fine.
I know you have heard some nice things, but I have heard nicer things than you have.
Well, how nice of you to call.
Well, I'll tell you what.
First of all, I called to talk to Dave Martin in New York, so that you won't think I'm just making up names.
He has talked to two or three people there.
They were simply delighted.
Dave said, like I did, I told him that I got a tear in my eye about this thing again because you were so sincere about it.
And he said he did too.
He was very excited.
My broker, who is 70 years old but very active, I had a Henson company.
It's a broker's firm here.
He got up there.
He said, I was alone.
My wife was out for dinner.
He said, I danced around the room.
He said, I had called eight people, and they are all excited.
I just talked to Justin Dart, Lee Batson.
Lee Batson went out 100%.
Justin Dart thought it was great.
I called the Democrats.
who doesn't like the Republicans.
Right.
And he said, well, the big so-and-so should have done that sooner.
That's all he could say.
That's the only detrimental thing he could say.
Now, the thing on the radio that faces the man, and I told General Haig about it tonight, that after you finished on CBS...
Instead of the media giving a fair chance, he says, now what does this mean about this free?
He says, well, it means this.
If you're going to get a raise next week, you can't have it.
But he wouldn't say, but if you're buying an automobile, you'll save a couple of hundred bucks.
Yeah, that's right.
But I'll tell you, the people I have talked to are ecstatic about it.
Well, we just hope that that's great to hear.
You've had great comment, haven't you?
We have, up back here, yeah.
But, you know, the thing is, it's more important than what we did as a psychologist.
We could turn the psychologist around.
This country is strong, and the economy is moving, and people just got to get off their asses and start to work.
That's right.
I tell you what you got me doing.
I was going to look at a Mercedes, and I'm not going to look at it.
Okay.
Nice talking to you.
Thank you for calling back.
Bye, Chrysler.
Bye, Chrysler.
Okay.
Okay.
Bye.

NARA Description

On August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Freeman F. Gosden, Jr. talked on the telephone from 11:12 pm to 11:14 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 007-144 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 7-144

Date: August 15, 1971
Time: 11:12 pm - 11:14 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Freeman F. Gosden, Jr. talked with the President.

     Wage-price freeze speech
         -Gosden reaction
         -Gosden's talk with Dave Marks (?)
         -Gosden's broker's reaction
         -Justin W. Dart
         -Lee Paxton (?)
         -Radio coverage
               -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
               -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
         -Reactions
         -Psychology
         -Mercedes-Benz
         -Chrysler

Also recorded on August 16, 1971

  • 007-141 11:05 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:05 pm and 11:07 pm.
  • 007-142 11:07 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and George W. Romney talked on the telephone from 11:07 pm to 11:10 pm.
  • 007-143 11:10 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:10 pm and 11:12 pm.
  • 007-145 11:14 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 11:14 pm.
  • 007-146 11:15 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Pierre Rinfret talked on the telephone from 11:15 pm to 11:17 pm.
  • 007-147 11:18 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 11:18 pm.
  • 007-148 11:18 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 11:18 pm.
  • 007-149 11:18 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:18 pm and 11:20 pm.

All 88 conversations from August 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 007-144, 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/007-144 (accessed October 21, 2026).