Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 008-024
Date: Monday, August 16, 1971 at 9:54 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/008-024

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:01] Yeah.
[0:02] Yes, sir.
[0:03] How'd the briefing go?
[0:04] I thought first grade.
[0:07] Connolly was tired, but he rose to his subject, I'll tell you.
[0:12] And he wound it up on a very rousing note.
[0:16] Did he?
[0:16] Yeah.
[0:17] Very interesting angle that he had.
[0:20] He said, read the last two or three pages of the president's speech and think about him sitting
[0:29] the early hours of the morning in his cabinet, Camp David, thinking about this country all by himself.
[0:45] He said, this will give you a little of the flavor of the president's conviction, the depth of his conviction, the concern he has about the future of this country.
[0:52] He says, it's only if you understand how that speech was written that you begin to get a true appreciation for the
[0:58] the quality of his sincerity and the depth of his concern.
[1:13] Isn't that good?
[1:13] He's really got a touch.
[1:15] He sure has.
[1:16] There was an interesting little by-play.
[1:17] The vice president complimented him on his president.
[1:20] And the adroit manner in which he handled a number of questions.
[1:23] And he said, I might say,
[1:24] particularly the adroit manner in which you handled the question about your possible nomination as vice president.
[1:36] You got a great laugh.
[1:38] Well, that was good.
[1:41] They seemed to have a good spirit.
[1:42] Oh, very good.
[1:42] Excellent.
[1:42] Excellent.
[1:42] And I think the, I heard a lot of comments from people afterwards, and they were uniformly impressed with Arthur Burns.
[1:50] Good.
[1:51] Who did a very good job.
[1:54] Good.
[1:57] So I think it was worth doing, and we got an enormous turnout compared to other sessions that we've had at that same group.
[2:19] Considering it was the summertime, I'm very gratified.
[2:21] It was good for them.
[2:21] They all feel part of their team.
[2:22] Big play, part of a cause bigger than themselves, that sort of thing.
[2:24] They need to feel that.
[2:25] good situation yeah oh he really really challenged good good good i understand that uh you got a chance to talk to john mitchell a little bit about our antitrust problem yeah he said he's good oh he did fine yeah i told him the light of what we're doing here he said it violates all the laws we have
[2:55] I don't know if it violates all of the law.
[3:18] No, my information is that it definitely does not.
[3:19] And that's a very valid distinction.
[3:19] McLaren, of course, is really a menace.
[3:20] It's over.
[3:21] Well, but this was an insidious gun.
[3:21] It was really worthy.
[3:22] It was so perfect.
[3:22] Yeah.
[3:23] And John doesn't have time to get into his own depth, but he takes it pretty much as they advise him.
[3:44] But this may be a turning point.
[3:45] Well, having, you see, having taken the move you made some time ago, John, all these just-done, not-turned-down attempts at an American company to be competitive in the world, you need a big company, not a big steel company.
[3:53] Very good.
[4:04] Well, that's good.
[4:14] Fine.
[4:14] Yeah, I'm particularly appreciative of your coming over.
[4:15] I think that really sets the tone for the thing.
[4:17] Well, I should have lifted it up.
[4:17] Well, it was, it was, I don't know, very, you know, that's really done the cabinet a good thing.
[4:19] That's a good shot.
[4:20] How did the, how did the cabinet perform this morning?
[4:21] Did Romney have anything to say?
[4:21] Oh, yes, he did.
[4:23] It's sort of hard for Romney and Stanley, frankly.
[4:44] We really feel they should have been there.
[4:45] And they couldn't be there.
[5:01] If we ever started a freight boat, if you had to stand, you're going to have to watch how it's going to go.
[5:09] And, you know, we got everybody there, and we wouldn't have kept it up.
[5:11] And also, we'd never gotten through it.
[5:12] But it's all right.
[5:12] It's whatnot.
[5:12] Housing.
[5:12] Housing.
[5:13] Yeah.
[5:13] It's a foreign auto bill.
[5:13] Right.
[5:13] I don't think that's what we're talking about.
[5:15] Okay.
[5:16] All right, sir.
[5:17] Goodbye.