Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Economic Policy and Public Opinion

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Mr. Haldeman calling, Mr. President.

Hello.

Mr. Haldeman calling.

Okay.

There you are.

Oh, hello.

I've got a pretty good cabinet rundown now, if you want it.

Yeah, yeah, fine, okay.

Cabinet reaction.

Rumsfeld says, excellent speed, absolutely 4-0, substance excellent, thoroughness excellent, and delivery couldn't have been better.

And he talked to some of the members on the way out and said that they were, you know, he had excellent reaction from members, both Democrats and Republicans.

Uh,

Dave Kennedy, excellent follow-through on the nationally televised address.

Strong leadership with a plan and spoken as a statesman.

Thinks he will receive wide acceptance by business, labor, and public.

And he makes the point the president made a number of quotable statements that we will all be able to use, which is true.

There's a lot of stuff they can pick up out of this to pick up.

John Mitchell said tone, text, and delivery was great.

Contained all the other qualities of leadership and the cooperative attitude toward the Congress.

The contents were such as to provide nothing for the other side to shoot at.

The ball is again passed to Congress, and they'll have to produce.

Hodgson was very pleased on three points.

One, that you laid the groundwork for Phase II, particularly like the fact of getting back to a free labor market and free collective bargaining.

Endorsed the position on the welfare bill, which would be helpful, and emphasized jobs and employment, which is perfect.

He says, I think the president has sensed better than ever before his position as a national leader.

It's as though he's realized there's a great deal of momentum going for him now, and he's capitalizing on it.

It was a really leadership-type speech.

And that's like some of that other that's come through on that.

Volpe had an orgasm.

He says it was dynamic, cogent, logical, stirring, concise, and delivered with confidence.

The president has now reached another plateau with the American people.

He's all excited.

Raj Morton says, I thought it was super.

I thought the president got to the mood of the American people precisely, and certainly better than in any previous speech.

I've sat through a lot of joint sessions for appearances of several presidents, and I can tell you without reservation that the president's reception today by the members of Congress was the warmest I have ever seen.

I heard a number of comments from Democrats, such as Tip O'Neill, who's partisan as hell.

All of them said words to the effect that they thought they ought to go along with the president.

Of course, what happens in the committee rooms is another story, but I think the president pitched his speech just right.

Romney says a great speech needed, timely, balanced, realistic and inspirational.

President put together a completely new American model with this speech.

He captured the American people.

There is no question about it.

And I feel certain he captured most of the Congress as well.

I couldn't be more enthusiastic.

There's no question the president really established himself as a great leader.

And Conley says, probably the best speech I've ever heard the president make.

It was forceful in his delivery.

He spoke like the true leader he is.

He's captured the mood of the American people.

And I'm sure most of the Democrats, and I've already talked to many, will agree with this assessment.

The fact that those guys had to stay for the astronauts gave them a chance, I guess, to talk to some people a little.

Yeah.

That's good.

Very enthusiastic cabinet stuff.

I've got some of our around-the-country editors, if you're interested in any of those.

Okay.

Mike O'Neill at the New York Daily News.

The best element of the speech was President's delineation of the new relationship we now have with the rest of the world, meaning we're no longer as free and easy as we were.

We now pay closer attention to our own problems.

The speech was highly effective in terms of explaining our competitive posture in the world.

I expected the President would announce an end to the freeze after 90 days.

I was not surprised.

Overall, he has himself in a good political situation.

uh dick laney at the deseret news i was favorably disposed to what the president had to say we're still anxious to see what will happen after the freeze particularly happy to see that while he's calling for tax cuts he's also calling for spending cuts had the feeling that he was jawboning the whole country in one swoop i think it's apparent the president is fighting for his economic policies i think the president gave a vigorous reason to dress

Rocky Mountain News.

Vincent Dwyer, who's the new editor.

I thought it was very good.

I was surprised at the warm reception he got.

I didn't expect such enthusiasm.

I'm disappointed that he wasn't more specific about what will follow the freeze.

George Healy at the Times-Picayune.

I thought it was the best speech the president has made since the inauguration.

His repeated references to welfare were bound to strike a responsive chord.

I liked his poker game reference.

It was down to earth and right on target.

Jack Kruger at the Dallas Morning News.

Damn good summation of his program.

Of course, the question is, what's going to happen following the freeze?

The appeal to Congress was quite effective, and I thought he got an unbelievably warm reception.

Now, these are all guys that saw it on TV, so that's the impression they got.

Jimmy Stallman.

My entire editorial staff watched this with me, and the reaction was unanimous.

The president did a terrific job and laid it out cold turkey.

We hope and believe he will get the cooperation he deserves from Congress and will editorialize so in tomorrow's paper.

That's good.

And Carl DeBloom at Columbus Dispatch, the editorial staff which watched the president agreed that this was the strongest statement of the U.S. position both domestically and internationally since World War II.

The president's deep faith showed through.

He was talking directly to the American people and the Congress regardless of interest groups.

The president showed great courage and true leadership.

He is very clearly in the driver's seat.

The reaction should be excellent, and this will be a very tough speech to take apart by the opposition.

Preston Wolf was among those who watched with DeBloom, and he agrees with DeBloom's reaction.

Hmm.

Well, that's very good.

Then we've got the other cabinet guys here.

Saying presidents rung the bell clearly and loudly, he's reaffirmed our national commitment toward a healthy free enterprise system, a free and fair world market.

Consider his proposal essential.

Congress can't ignore the recommendation to put aside partisanship.

I'm putting on a press release in the lines of these remarks.

Richardson, it was magnificent.

Particularly outstanding, I thought, was the breadth of vision underlying his agenda for America.

He seemed to have reached a new inspirational level.

I would say it's the most effective speech I've heard him give to date, signaling a turn to peace after 30 years of hot and cold war.

And of course, speaking for myself, I was glad to hear his recommitment to early action on welfare reform.

President's delivery was outstanding.

There was an underlying note of confidence in the way he addressed the Congress.

He's put himself in an excellent posture to get what he wants and proceed with future programs.

Bo Rogers, it was an excellent speech.

I thought the first part was a little repetitious for me, but the last part was very, very moving.

My entire staff here watched it on television and all agree with me, and they're a critical group.

It will have great impact on the American people and will serve to put Congress on the spot.

The president has preempted the high road, has told America and the world we're not against anyone, we're just for the United States.

I also thought his reception was outstanding.

It was very warm indeed.

That reception obviously really impressed people.

It really wasn't all that good, but it was... No, it wasn't, but it had the feeling of being, I guess... On TV.

And probably surprised them, you know, they didn't expect it to be that good.

Yeah, because of the, they feel it, yeah.

For whatever reason, but...

It's difficult.

In Roger's case, of course, I had to put that stuff at the last end or the State Department would be down the tube.

But it was good.

Hale Boggs commended the President's announcement he would not continue the freeze.

This is the wire story.

What is needed now, however, said Boggs, are specific proposals for removing the root causes of wage price spiral.

House Democratic leaders will assign top priority to economic stabilization recovery efforts.

He's sure the Democrats will advance alternatives to some parts of the president's package.

Okay.

None of them are really, you know, even the worst is the things like McGovern saying it was interesting.

We'll have to see what comes out.

We didn't really hear much that was new.

That's true.

That's the closest anybody can come.

Mac Mathias is...

praised Nixon's analysis of America's economic position in the world and said it meant the United States must roll up our sleeves and meet the competition from other strong economies.

We got some of our own left wing coming along with us at least on this, which helps too.

So I think we've got a damn good positive reset on it.

Try to keep it going.

Okay.

Right.

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on Economic Policy and Public Opinion

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on September 9, 1971

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