Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 9 › Conversation 009-097

Nixon phone call with Walk on Economic policy and Phase II

Monday, September 20, 1971 · 2:09 PM–2:12 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Walk, William E., Jr.Conversation009-097 on Tape 9 (tape position 02:32:34–02:35:43)StartMonday, September 20, 1971 at 2:09 PMEndMonday, September 20, 1971 at 2:12 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 009-097 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard Nixon spoke with William E. Walk, Jr. to acknowledge Walk's public support for his recent economic initiatives and to discuss the ongoing development of the Phase II economic plan. Walk took the opportunity to recommend Charles S. Rhyne for a potential Supreme Court appointment, prompting Nixon to explain that the primary challenge for such appointments is the age factor of prospective candidates. The two agreed that Walk would channel future feedback regarding economic support through George T. Bell for coordination with the White House.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I have Judge Walk on the line.
Hello.
Hello.
How are you out there?
Fine.
How are you, Mr. President?
Fine.
I just called to tell you that I've greatly appreciated your support on this economic initiative we've taken.
You're very kind.
As an old Rotarian occurs, you follow through.
You bet I will.
Right.
And I know you do.
That's what I meant.
And you have.
And I...
I've really, really appreciated your personal support on the thing.
I'm getting some feedback on it now.
Yeah?
Good.
And when we accumulate it and I tally it and have some information, I will send it right on to George Bell and let him coordinate it and get it into you.
Great, great.
Fine, fine, fine.
How is everything going?
Just fine.
Going extremely well.
I just had a long meeting with Connolly and Arthur Burns, and we're moving along in good shape, we think.
We're going to have the Phase II ready in another...
a couple of weeks or so.
May I give you some completely unsolicited advice?
Sure.
As an attorney and I, we say that's worth just exactly what you pay for.
That's right, right.
Worth a great deal.
You have at your...
so close to you that I just don't want you to overlook him.
One of the finest men that it's been my pleasure to work with, and that's Charles Ryan.
He went down to Australia with me, as you'll recall.
He was a chairman for a forum which he moderated with three chief justices from all over the world.
I got to know Charlie even better than I've known him over the last three or four years.
And he is a gentleman.
He is competent.
He is everything I can think of.
He's qualified.
I'll say no more, except don't overlook him just because he's so close to you and his stones drove in the White House.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I appreciate that very much.
That's all I want to say.
That way, I'm not trying to be presumptuous.
I know.
It's all right.
It's perfectly right to do that.
The latter, too.
He's just a wonderful individual.
He really is.
There is one problem that, as we look at this present situation, I think you're quite aware of, and that's the age factor.
Yeah, I know.
Both men I have appointed are 61.
Yeah.
he charlie will be 59 or 60. i mean it's it's it's the i would say within one year of your age yes i think he's a year older than i am actually the problem is that uh is that you know when you think of how long these guys are going to be on i
That was the only feedback I got on the appointments of Berger and Blackman from my friends, at least.
They thought they were fine appointments, but they said they were about five years too old.
Everywhere that I traveled in the United States, I heard nothing but praise for these two appointments.
Let me say that I don't mean that I'm not considering the other thing, but that's the only factor that weighs the other way, as you can see.
Well, I didn't mean the evening flyer.
Right.
But I threw it in because I just have great respect for it.
He's a great fellow.
He was just in to see me reporting on his trip to Yugoslavia.
Uh-huh.
And he's, of course, a superb fellow.
Yes.
Superb.
Well, anything I can do to help you, I have only to ask.
Fine.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Thanks, Chuck.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
Give this to me.
Bye.

NARA Description

On September 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William E. Walk, Jr. talked on the telephone from 2:09 pm to 2:12 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 009-097 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 9-97

Date: September 20, 1971
Time: 2:09 pm - 2:12 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William E. Walk, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 577-8A]

     Economic policy
         -Walk's support
         -Question of feedback to Walk
               -Information for George T. Bell
         -President's meeting with John B. Connally & Arthur F. Burns
               -Phase II

     Appointments to the Supreme Court
         -Walk's advice
              -Charles S. Rhyne
                    -Trip to Australia
                    -Chairman of a forum
                          -Moderator
                    -Age
                    -Warren E. Burger
                    -Harry A. Blackmun
                    -Trip to Yugoslavia

Also recorded on September 20, 1971

  • 577-005 1:30 PM · 57 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:30 pm and 1:40 pm.
  • 577-006 1:30 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:30 pm and 1:40 pm.
  • 577-007 1:30 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:30 pm and 1:40 pm.
  • 577-008 1:40 PM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, William E. Walk, Jr., and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 2:59 pm.
  • 009-096 2:09 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:09 pm.
  • 577-009 3:00 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:00 pm to 3:01 pm.
  • 076-004 3:01 PM — President Richard M. Nixon and members of the National Security Council, including Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, William P. Rogers, Melvin R. Laird, John B. Connally, Gen George A. Lincoln, John N. Mitchell, Richard M. Helms, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, David Packard, John N. Irwin, II, Henry A. Kissinger, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Col. Richard T. Kennedy, John H. Holdridge, and [Name withdrawn], met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 3:01 pm to 4:40 pm.
  • 577-010 3:01 PM · 2 min — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:01 pm and 4:41 pm.

All 41 conversations from September 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 009-097, September 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/009-097 (accessed October 24, 2026).