{"conversationCode":"008-109","tapeNumber":8,"conversationNumber":109,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-008-109","startDateTime":"1971-09-13T02:05:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-09-13T02:08:00.000Z","startDate":"12-Sep-1971","startTime":"10:05 PM","endDate":"12-Sep-1971","endTime":"10:08 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Lewis, Hobart D.;","description":"On September 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Hobart D. Lewis talked on the telephone from 10:05 pm to 10:08 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 008-109 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 8-109\n\nDate: September 12, 1971\nTime: 10:05 pm - 10:08 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis.\n\n     Economy\n         -Business Advisory Commission\n              -The President's appreciation\n              -President’s staff\n              -George [Surname unknown]\n              -Leonard Woodcock\n              -Teamsters\n              -Phase II\n                    -90-day freeze\n                    -Public policing\n                         -Wage and price increases\n\n                -Enthusiasm\n                      -Henry E. Ford, II\n                      -Fred J. Borch\n                -Union membership\n                -Freeze\n                -Public support\n                -John B. Connally's comment\n                -Labor Day speech\n                      -Work theme\n                      -Herbert C. Hoover\n                      -Welfare theme\n                -Briefing\n                      -Peter G. Peterson\n                      -Japanese\n                            -Trade\n\n**********************************************************************\n\nBEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n[Personal Returnable]\n[Duration: 28s ]\n\nEND WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n\n**********************************************************************","filename":["008-109.mp3"],"tapeStart":"05:13:03","tapeEnd":"05:16:11","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Lewis, Hobart D."],"prevCode":"008-108","nextCode":"008-110","transcript":[{"start":0.72,"end":8.63,"text":"Mr. President, Mr. Hobart Lewis is returning your call."},{"start":8.65,"end":8.95,"text":"Oh, yeah, fine."},{"start":8.97,"end":9.25,"text":"There you are."},{"start":9.27,"end":10.11,"text":"Hello, Hobart, how are you?"},{"start":10.95,"end":11.99,"text":"Well, fine, fine."},{"start":12.38,"end":14.88,"text":"I'm down here in Washington with the Advisory Commission."},{"start":14.9,"end":15.22,"text":"Yes."},{"start":16,"end":19.18,"text":"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate your doing that job."},{"start":19.4,"end":24.53,"text":"It's a thrill to do it, and your staff is terrifically helpful."},{"start":24.55,"end":29.19,"text":"Well, we couldn't do it without you heading it up, and..."},{"start":29.46,"end":43.6,"text":"That's a good twist."},{"start":43.62,"end":52.84,"text":"It's particularly important when we come to the second phase, you see."},{"start":53.1,"end":77.43,"text":"When we get past the 90-day freeze, then it's going to have to depend on a great deal on public support, public policing, and a public attitude of holding down wage and price increases and so forth."},{"start":77.45,"end":77.71,"text":"That's right."},{"start":77.73,"end":77.99,"text":"That's right."},{"start":78.01,"end":78.37,"text":"Well, that's fine."},{"start":78.39,"end":78.69,"text":"Great."},{"start":79.39,"end":80.49,"text":"Great."},{"start":80.69,"end":86.68,"text":"That's great."},{"start":86.7,"end":87.16,"text":"That's great."},{"start":87.18,"end":87.9,"text":"So far, yeah."},{"start":88.74,"end":97.99,"text":"That'll come down some as they begin to hurt a bit, but that's why the freeze can only last, you know, beyond a certain point, the freeze hurts too much."},{"start":98.01,"end":101.15,"text":"Then you have to make some exceptions, and then it breaks."},{"start":101.17,"end":108.86,"text":"But all in all, the public support is..."},{"start":109.72,"end":117.39,"text":"Yes, the dignity of work."},{"start":124.18,"end":133.65,"text":"I'm sure it's always been the other theme of what are we going to give you."},{"start":133.67,"end":133.77,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":133.79,"end":133.97,"text":"Right."},{"start":138.78,"end":139.62,"text":"Oh, you are?"},{"start":139.84,"end":142.24,"text":"Yeah, yeah, good."},{"start":142.26,"end":144.28,"text":"Tough, tough."},{"start":144.3,"end":146.23,"text":"We have to handle them very firmly."},{"start":146.25,"end":149.05,"text":"Of course, we've got to have them as friends, but it's right."},{"start":149.09,"end":150.11,"text":"It's a delicate problem."},{"start":152.33,"end":154.16,"text":"That's right."},{"start":154.18,"end":154.5,"text":"That's right."},{"start":155.68,"end":157.14,"text":"Well, I hope I do appreciate it."},{"start":157.26,"end":160.48,"text":"I will keep you from your briefing."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon spoke with Hobart D. Lewis to express appreciation for Lewis's leadership of the Business Advisory Commission. The two men discussed the challenges of transitioning from the 90-day wage and price freeze into \"Phase II,\" emphasizing the critical need for public support and self-policing to curb inflation. They also touched upon the necessity of maintaining firm relations with labor groups while promoting themes regarding the dignity of work.","topics":["Phase II","Wage and price freeze","Business Advisory Commission","Economic policy","Labor relations","Inflation"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T22:48:44.604Z"},"topicSlugs":["phase-ii","wage-price-freeze","business-advisory-commission","economic-policy","labor-relations","inflation"],"audioDurationSec":188,"audioFiles":[{"file":"008-109.mp3","bytes":4525243,"durationSec":188.48,"bitrate":192077,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:21.707Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/008-109.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/008-109","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/008/conversation-008-109","catalogNaId":645078889,"catalogUrl":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/645078889","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}