Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 009-099
Date: Monday, September 20, 1971 at 5:04 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/009-099

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yeah.
[0:01] Mr. Colson, sir.
[0:02] Yeah.
[0:02] Yes, sir, Mr. President.
[0:03] Any reports today?
[0:05] Well, you...
[0:07] I think we got a very good...
[0:08] I haven't looked at all the wires today, but got some very good stuff from the appointment of...
[0:15] I'll never pronounce it right, because... Mexican?
[0:18] Yeah.
[0:18] Mrs. Buenales?
[0:19] Oh, yes.
[0:20] Buenales?
[0:20] Yeah, that's going to be good.
[0:21] That's a good one, and... That's got to be written across the country.
[0:24] Oh, yeah.
[0:25] And your comments, asking for...
[0:29] signature with conley there they played it up as a very nice little story yeah on the wires i think that'll get good play and miss america will oh yeah she would they were so pretty both of them by the way those girls when they came out of there told henry cashin that they wanted to
[0:45] The new Miss America said that you were the most marvelous man she'd ever met in her life, that she wanted to start working for you politically and would campaign for us and speak for us.
[0:59] Apparently there were a couple of them.
[1:01] Well, she's a graduate of Ohio University, you know, so they're both smart as a hood.
[1:05] Well, they are.
[1:06] And they're both conservative and they're both on our side.
[1:10] I want to get them both lined up for... We sure got a good man in that little JC guy, that Chinese.
[1:17] Isn't he a fire guy?
[1:18] He's going to go hog wild for us.
[1:20] Well, we've talked to him about several things, and since he...
[4:26] I've just been going through the Sindlinger material today that I have now right up to date.
[4:33] And you'll be interested that the trend Sindlinger shows is what Harold Passer told me also, that it continues very strong, just edging up week after week.
[4:50] This last week it leveled off with Sindlinger, but it...
[4:54] It has gone, since August 15th, it has gone steadily up.
[4:58] It's back up now.
[5:00] Is there a reason for it leveling off?
[5:03] Well, I guess it doesn't go up every week.
[5:04] Well, it leveled off one-tenth of one percent, nothing.
[5:08] It's at 120 now, basically.
[5:10] It was at 118 right after the speech.
[5:15] It's at 120.7 this week.
[5:18] And it had hit a low this summer of 117, which was...
[5:23] which was very low by Senliger standards.
[5:26] So, Passer says that the auto sales were very strong in the first 10 days of this month, but the general retail sales running week to week, 7, 8, 9% ahead of last year.
[5:41] One good week was 9%.
[5:43] And he feels quite bullish.
[5:46] He said that there'll be a little waiting to see now as we get closer to the data phase, too, but
[5:53] But he thinks the trend is continuing very strong.
[5:56] I checked with him today because they get usually the preliminary on the weekly figures on Sundays.
[6:04] And he said that he's particularly encouraged by the auto sales, which he thought were coming very well.
[6:11] Also, we had last week for the first time some reports back from our people who have started these trips out into the road.
[6:19] They went to Columbus and Dallas last week.
[6:22] And their reports are just excellent.
[6:25] I'm getting a full memo on it, and I'll just send you in the highlights.
[6:30] But the attitude out in the country, at least in those two areas, very, very good.
[6:36] Very receptive to the briefings.
[6:38] Good.
[6:39] Very strong on what you're doing.
[6:43] Still very enthusiastic.
[6:44] You know, you kind of expect it after a month to wane a bit.
[6:47] Yeah.
[6:48] The reports from these two, at least, and we'll see how the others go this week, but the reports from these two were very, very good.
[6:55] People still wanting to participate, wanting to cooperate, feeling encouraged and bullish.
[7:03] Right.
[7:05] Okay, well, we'll see how that... Once the CPI out today, yeah?
[7:12] No, the CPI comes out on Wednesday, this week, Mr. President.
[7:15] Yeah.
[7:16] That'll be, well, it'll be a confusing one because it covers the whole...
[7:19] I know, it covers both segments, but nevertheless, it'll tell something.
[7:23] Well, it should be, of course, it was low in July, and if we, with any luck, if it's...
[7:28] It may hold about where it is.
[7:30] That's all right.
[7:31] Well, I would consider that...
[7:32] Very good.
[7:33] Yeah, I'd consider that great news if it holds there.
[7:35] Sure.
[7:36] But we are getting, we're getting good, good play still from all of our organized groups.
[7:41] Good.
[7:43] Information that they keep sending back into us.
[7:47] I think the attitudes out there are excellent towards the economic picture.
[7:52] That's good.
[7:53] Well, just keep your spirit up.
[7:55] We'll do it.
[7:56] Okay, sir.
[7:57] Thank you, Mr. President.