Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 8 › Conversation 008-067
Nixon, Colson & Sanchez on State of the Union and Public Relations
Thursday, September 9, 1971 · 1:33 PM–1:39 PM ET · White House Telephone ·6 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Charles W. Colson discuss the positive reception of the President's recent address to Congress, focusing on the enthusiastic congressional reaction and the effectiveness of his delivery. They highlight specific rhetorical successes, including his lines on welfare reform, the "poker chips" analogy regarding foreign policy, and his partisan challenges to Democrats regarding the investment tax credit. To gauge the broader impact of the speech, Nixon instructs Colson to gather feedback from various observers and report back within twenty minutes.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
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No, no, it's fine.
Hello.
Mr. President, Mr. Coulson?
Yeah.
There you are.
Hello.
That was a hell of a rally, Mr. President.
My daughter, Tricia, has made an interesting point.
She said, well, you know, Daddy, economics is a terribly dull subject, and that was about as interesting as you could make it.
It was awfully hard to get those people off their hands.
Oh, you mean the Congress?
Yeah.
If you'd watched it on television, Mr. President, the beginning of it looked like a nominating convention that looked like you'd just been nominated for president.
It was an extraordinary welcome you got.
At least it came over the television that way.
Very, very strong.
Actually, Chuck, it was a hell of a good speech, if I say so myself.
That had more interesting lines.
You know, like last night I wrote the line, let us get rid of a system that makes it more profitable for a man to go on welfare than to go to work.
That will be part of the American...
Don't you think so?
Absolutely.
And any work is preferable to welfare.
You had more catch lines in that, Mr. President, when you hit that welfare and work point just beautifully.
The only word for it is beautiful because you just, that came through so strong.
But you had many, many catch lines in there.
The toughening the position of the United States in the world that
We've taken care of other people.
The analogy of the poker chips.
We've given the chips away, absolutely.
Generously passed out the chips, and now it's time to play the game.
Severide, oddly enough, CBS commentary gave you a good point on that one.
He said that the total contrast between John Kennedy's call in the early 60s for us to do anything and make any sacrifice for the world, he said now Nixon has recognized the realities and...
and all of the commentators said that that line got the strongest response from the Congress.
Of course, that basically was a response, Chuck, which is not too healthy.
It basically was terribly isolationist, you know, and that's why the latter part of the speech was important.
They didn't applaud it, but where I said, look, we've got to compete.
And got to be number one.
Yeah, but they applauded that.
They sure did.
No, I thought your response from the Congress was superb, and the commentators afterwards in the commentary made the point that,
The Congress was very receptive.
In fact, Roger Mudd came on and said that the Democrats obviously want this program badly, but they just hate to give you the credit for it.
But they're obviously enthusiastic, and that could be determined by the reaction.
I think you've got a marvelous reception.
And anybody watching it on television...
uh television yes sir that's the way to do it would come away feeling that uh it came over well on television extremely especially the beginning you first of all you looked very relaxed and very confident at the beginning and smiling and very receptive and they you couldn't quiet them down and then when you were introduced they went through it again it was a it really they always do that of course but people forget well they do but but coming as it does on the heels of
of a dramatic announcement coming up in the polls.
It had a buoyancy effect to it.
I hope the networks tonight replay the beginning of it because that was just a tremendous reception.
And there were some marvelous lines in that speech.
I think the welfare part was extremely good.
No work is too demeaning.
what jobs means to workers, you know, giving as well as getting, I just, I think it's terrific.
No, you did, and you covered, you made your partisan points in the beginning beautifully.
I just, the two points, one about the...
The investment tax credit?
The investment tax credit, I just love that because...
I looked over at the Democrats when I did it, too, you know, I looked at them.
Well, of course, that's the point...
I looked right at them.
I said, in a Democratic Congress, a Democratic president...
And it's good for the country now.
No, I think that point makes it very, very tough for them.
We've got to get our fellows up there, and we've been doing this, and we'll continue to do it, to keep hammering that point that this was good enough for the Democrats when they were in power, and here they are taking shots at it as a giveaway to big business.
and of course muskie in particular is vulnerable on that because he was very enthusiastic for the investment tax credit but you put it to him you just you you put it to him just right uh the tone was right you were very good you were very strong in your delivery uh no i did i did deliver this well i hit very well very hard very well and the fact keeping it to 30 minutes is a good idea too well actually it would have been 25 minutes without the applause
That's right, and it was, I think it ran just a little under 30, didn't it, in total?
Mm-hmm.
They said the, I didn't time it, but the commentator said, made some reference to 28 minutes.
That was a hell of a lot of applause, and you cut a lot of applause short.
Yeah, I always do that.
You were getting it, and you cut right into it.
I don't believe in letting applause dribble out, you know.
I think it's well to cut in on it.
It's more powerful.
Step on it a little.
It's more powerful.
But you're... Why don't you check around and give me a call back as to what members of the... Let's see.
I'll be here for 20 minutes as to...
what people who saw it thought of it.
I'll take a quick reading and call you back, sir.
And call me back in 20 minutes.
Yes, sir.
NARA Description
On September 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Manolo Sanchez talked on the telephone from 1:33 pm to 1:39 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 008-067 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 8-67
Date: September 9, 1971
Time: 1:33 pm - 1:39 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Charles W. Colson; Manolo Sanchez was in the room with the
President at the beginning of the conversation.
[See Conversation No. 278-6]
The President's recent speech to Congress
-Tricia Nixon Cox
-Subject of economics
-Congress
-Welcome
-Enthusiasm
-Content
-Welfare and work point
-Catch lines
-US position in the world
-Poker chips analogy
-[Arnold] Eric Sevareid
-Compared to John F. Kennedy
-President
-Recognition of realities
-Commentators
-Congress
-Isolationists
-Competition
-Congressional response
-Commentators
-Roger H. Mudd
-Democrats
-Credit for the President
-Reaction
-Television
-The President's appearance
-Relaxed, confident
-Congressional response
-Wage and price freeze
-Polls
Buoyancy affect
-Networks
-Content
-Lines
-Welfare
-Jobs
-Partisan points
-Investment tax credit
-Democrats
-Big business
-Muskie
-Tone
-Delivery
-Time
-Commentators
-Applause
-Reaction of the President
-Reactions
-Colson's return call
-TimingAlso recorded on September 9, 1971
- 008-066 1:20 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:33 pm.
- 278-001 1:20 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:33 pm.
- 278-002 1:20 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:20 pm and 1:33 pm.
- 278-005 1:33 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 1:33 pm.
- 278-006 1:33 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:33 pm to 1:39 pm.
- 008-068 1:39 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:39 pm and 1:48 pm.
- 278-007 1:39 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:39 pm and 1:48 pm.
- 278-008 1:39 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:39 pm and 1:48 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 008-067, September 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/008-067 (accessed September 18, 2026).