Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 10 › Conversation 010-009

Nixon phone call with Connally on Economic Policy

Friday, September 24, 1971 · 7:15 PM–7:24 PM ET · White House Telephone · 9 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.Conversation010-009 on Tape 10 (tape position 00:13:21–00:22:16)StartFriday, September 24, 1971 at 7:15 PMEndFriday, September 24, 1971 at 7:24 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 010-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Treasury Secretary John Connally discussed administrative updates and the orchestration of economic and judicial policy. They coordinated a meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns to ensure his alignment with the administration's economic program while managing his influence on public perception. Additionally, Nixon consulted Connally regarding his strategy for upcoming international trade negotiations and his decision to appoint two conservative judges to the Supreme Court to solidify a long-term ideological shift in the judiciary.

Audio

Download MP3 · 12.3 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 15% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
How'd your day go?
Like all of them, I'm afraid.
Yeah.
Oh, that's... No, we had a good day.
You had the Foreign Relations Committee.
Yes, sir.
And we had a good meeting.
Good.
When I have lunch with the Eastern Airlines people, they're quite happy and about the progress on the lockheed.
They're playing the music without performing anything.
Every expectation that they had, they're feeling good about that.
Then I met with a delegate who got into a 35-minute argument with Jimmy Roy.
Oh?
Well, not an argument.
Now, a delegate.
Well, he's one of the observers to the International Monitor.
Oh, I see.
Oh.
Right.
Sure.
How to run the rural.
I know.
Good.
Good.
Good.
We had a cost-living council meeting and made a little headway.
Boy, you've had a day.
My God.
Well, get a good rest.
Go to dinner tonight?
Yeah, we're going with a boss.
Oh, yeah.
Right.
I've got a...
I'll meet, uh, meet the Japanese, uh, tomorrow night.
We'll head to Germany, and British.
So, about tomorrow night, we'll, you know, come out and talk to you again.
Why do you sleep late?
I'm gonna try, I'm not getting too much.
Yeah.
Uh, you're leaving for Alaska, aren't you, this morning?
Ten o'clock, yeah, I go to...
Montana.
Mike's going on.
I'm going to be doing it for him.
Stopping in Montana for a couple of hours, looking over a couple of dams.
Then I go to Oregon and do a little media briefing and then go to Washington and Alaska the next day.
And I'll be back Monday night.
Mr. President, after the meeting with Bernie this morning, I'm convinced that he's committed to...
I am, too.
I could see that.
And as you know, I was playing it very cozy because I had your message.
You didn't get to see him, so I was trying to play it loose.
But I have no objection to the call.
You think I should just take a half hour to see him?
Yeah, I think you do.
I think Burns has got himself committed, and I don't think he... Well, now, the way we do this, though, you call Arthur and say that you've recommended the president that I see.
See?
Let's do it that way.
Let Arthur hear that I told you that you ought to see him, and he's going to hear you do it.
Yep, because Arthur is, you know, he's off into the game.
He's got his ideas.
Nothing.
Try to keep him getting out of line this week.
That's going to be hard.
Well, I don't think, I don't think, you know, if he's trying to set me up, I'm not going to let him do it.
Of course not.
Of course not.
Well, he said it quite simply the other morning that what we ought to do is that we really ought to play two games.
Two tracks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let him play one game and the other.
But then...
He'll get in the press.
That's what I'm afraid of, is being against Connolly, and I'm not going to allow that.
That's right, and I told him, I said, Arthur, the only problem with that is he's got white ass and black ass, and I said, I don't really really feel black ass.
That's the only problem.
I thought you'd appreciate what I said at the cabin meeting, where I talked about old John Foster Dulles, that every time he came back from the trip, the press gave him hell and said that he failed.
God damn it, you didn't give the star away.
You didn't give the star away.
I do appreciate it.
Well, it's the truth.
Damn it, John.
To me, it's a hell of a credit that these folks are, you know, saying, well, we didn't get into them.
Of course we did.
Charlie Bartlett's got a damn good story in college.
Has he?
They can do that same thing.
These people have learned that it's very complimentary of you for us to do it for you.
Well, as I said, too, it's really true that 25 years ago, 10 years, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, we could afford to give the store away, but we can't afford it anymore.
That's all.
That's all there is to it.
out and try not to say anything with Japanese or shit.
In the meantime, I'll see you probably Tuesday, huh?
Yes, sir.
I'm going to put off my Tuesday to Wednesday.
Good.
Whatever you want.
Certainly Tuesday afternoon so we can have a chance to do this.
Right.
Before I make it.
Sure.
We're going to listen to you.
We're going to obviously try to make them open up as much as we can.
We'll make no connection to you.
Until we have a chance to talk to you.
Yeah.
And I really think, John, you're judging me right that I shouldn't make a speech because I can make a very nice, generous, informal remarks when I welcome them all there and say all the nice things.
That's what I mean.
So I'm going to get to the specifics.
No, you ought not to do a speech.
Right, right.
Right.
No, I agree with you.
I don't...
Right.
Well, anyway, I'm sorry you didn't know I have to go out tonight, but...
Anyway.
That's our fault.
Well, that's... You got a chance.
I just really want to talk to you.
You got a chance to really change the course of history.
We're going to do it.
Oh, don't worry.
You got great opportunities.
You have some great opportunities.
And we are going to play it just that way.
We're going to be outgoing, but awful tough.
And I also... Ha ha.
for your information, I'm going to appoint two conservatives.
Is that all right with you?
We're going to put Poth in, well, at the, you know, for the Senate.
And the reason we're going to put him in is that it's awful hard for these people to vote in this Congress.
So that'll get him in.
And then for the one replacing Cohen, I told Mitchell I want a conservative
I've just got a man in mind at the present time.
There's no damn, I mean, some people say I'm a liberal.
The hell with it.
I'm going to, I'm, don't, I, well, listen, I decided, I told Mitchell, there's two conservatives appointed, just like, just like Berger and Blackman.
So we'll have four votes.
Right like that.
Well, I just think it's one of the golden opportunities to change this, you know, this last generation.
Both of the men we're having in mind, you see, Pop is only 49 years old.
The other guy we have in mind at the present time is a conservative.
If you do find him in New York, he's 53.
So that means you've got 20 years.
You see, because they can stay on until they're 70.
And by God, I'm going to stay in thermal now.
That's where it's going to be.
John's been in the game.
I'd say that's where it's going to be and he's going to find it.
You know, all this talk about the lemon thing.
We can't find the lemon.
It's ready yet.
Well, it'll break up the cart, basically.
Pearl Burger couldn't work around for one of them.
Now, there'll come a time.
Maybe one or two appointments later, we'll find one that's ready.
But there isn't one now that's ready.
Well, I hope you have a great trip through it.
Well.
We've got to keep the store running and going.
And we sure as hell won't give it away.
That's the truth.
Well, you just stand firm.
All right.
Okay.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On September 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 7:15 pm to 7:24 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 010-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 10-9

Date: September 24, 1971
Time: 7:15 pm - 7:24 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John B. Connally.

     John B. Connally's schedule, September 24
          -Foreign Relations Committee
          -Eastern Airlines
                -Lockheed
          -International Monetary Fund [IMF] delegates
                -Henry S. Reuss
                -Wright Patman
                -Wallace F. Bennett
                -[Unintelligible name]
          -Cost of Living Council [COLC] meeting
          -Dinner
                -Mr. and Mrs. Emil (“Bus”) Mosbacher, Jr.

     Connally's schedule
         -Meetings with IMF delegates, September 25
                -Japanese
                -Italian
                -Germans
                -British
                -Cost of Living Council

     President's schedule, September 25
          -Montana
                 -Michael J. Mansfield
          -Oregon
          -Washington
          -Alaska

     Connally's schedule
         -Arthur F. Burns
                -Commitment to economic program
                -Meeting with President
                -Views

     Trade
          -President’s comments at the Cabinet meeting
                -John Foster Dulles
                     -Treatment by the press
                     -Compared with John Connally
          -President’s views
          -Charles L. Bartlett’s column
          -US economic position

     President's schedule
          -Forthcoming statements
                 -Japanese
          -Connally
                 -Schedule
          -Forthcoming statements
          -Mitchell
                 -Previous golf game with the President

     Supreme Court appointments
          -Conservatives
          -Richard H. Poff
          -John M. Harlan
               -New York
          -Warren E. Burger, Harry A. Blackmun
          -Potential ramifications
          -Unknown candidate
               -Age
          -Woman

Also recorded on September 24, 1971

  • 010-002 1:11 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 1:11 pm to 1:13 pm.
  • 010-003 1:13 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:13 pm and 1:52 pm.
  • 010-004 1:52 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 1:52 pm to 2:02 pm.
  • 010-005 7:12 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 7:12 pm.
  • 010-006 7:12 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:12 pm and 7:15 pm.
  • 010-007 7:12 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:12 pm and 7:15 pm.
  • 010-008 7:12 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:12 pm and 7:15 pm.
  • 010-010 7:24 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:24 pm and 7:35 pm.

All 27 conversations from September 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 010-009, September 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/010-009 (accessed October 24, 2026).