Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 8 › Conversation 008-119

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on George Meany and Labor Relations

Monday, September 13, 1971 · 7:55 PM–7:58 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation008-119 on Tape 8 (tape position 05:32:42–05:35:08)StartMonday, September 13, 1971 at 7:55 PMEndMonday, September 13, 1971 at 7:58 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 008-119 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman discussed how the administration should respond to a partisan attack by labor leader George Meany. While Nixon expressed concern about jeopardizing future cooperation with Meany and George Shultz, he concluded that the administration needed to mount a strong public rebuttal. Haldeman agreed that any pushback against Meany must be significant rather than minor.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Yes, sir.

Bob, one thing that occurred to me on the Meany thing is that, you know, we are sort of reluctant to, I mean, naturally reluctant for me to take him on because we may have to work with him and Schultz and all the rest to feel that way.

But I feel that somebody, I don't know who we can find to do it, and if we can't, we'll have to put, I don't know who the hell we can put in the ring, but somebody ought to take him on pretty strongly on his...

you know, his rather partisan statement today.

What do you think?

Well, what is the judgment on that?

I don't know.

Apparently, he was on the Hill today, and up there he said he made the point that he hoped that there would be no partisanship in this and all that.

I see.

So he may be trying to take a different tack himself.

But he generally took an attack line, though, Bob, the way it was.

He may have said no partisanship, but he also was saying, you know, taking us on.

Well, we'll see how it sorts out.

We're going to do it.

We've got to do it pretty strongly and big.

There's no point in just piddling in the pond with him.

Absolutely.

Okay, fine.

All right, bye.

NARA Description

On September 13, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 7:55 pm to 7:58 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 008-119 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 8-119

Date: September 13, 1971
Time: 7:55 pm - 7:58 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

[See Conversation No. 276-15]

    Labor
         -George Meany
              -Possible administration response
                   -The President’s role
                   -George P. Shultz
                   -Partisan statement
                   -Capitol Hill
                         -Comment about partisanship
                   -Attack

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[Duration: 52s ]

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Also recorded on September 13, 1971

008-115 7:43 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 7:43 pm to 7:47 pm.
008-116 7:47 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:47 pm and 7:51 pm.
008-117 7:51 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 7:51 pm to 7:54 pm.
276-014 7:51 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:51 pm to 7:54 pm.
008-118 7:54 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:54 pm.
276-015 7:55 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:55 pm to 7:58 pm.
276-016 7:58 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:58 pm and 8:50 pm.
276-017 7:58 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:58 pm and 8:50 pm.

All 26 conversations from September 13, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 008-119, September 13, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/008-119 (accessed October 9, 2026).