Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 10 › Conversation 010-072

Nixon phone call with Price on Public opinion and Presidential speeches

Wednesday, October 6, 1971 · 10:27 AM–10:29 AM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.Conversation010-072 on Tape 10 (tape position 02:30:00–02:31:55)StartWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 10:27 AMEndWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 10:29 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 010-072 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon instructed Raymond K. Price, Jr. to compile letters from citizens who are experiencing financial hardship due to the wage and price freeze but remain supportive of the policy. The President intended to use these anecdotes in an upcoming speech to illustrate the public's willingness to prioritize national interest over personal gain. Price was tasked with identifying several representative excerpts from working-class individuals, such as labor workers, to serve as impactful examples for the audience.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Mr. Ray Price.
President on the line.
Yes, sir.
Ray, would you have somebody go through the best of the letters that we have received from people who have
been hurt by the wage price freeze but say that they will support it you recall we used one from texas on one occasion there must be others that that you know that are around and if i could have three or four to look at i don't need it until this afternoon sometime i might want to use one and i'm going to talk quite briefly on thursday night but i might want to use one as an illustration of
how the American people are willing to put the public interest above their own personal interest.
So would you put your eager beavers to work on that and see if we could find three or four?
All right, I will.
We can't use the Texas one again, but something like that is what I mean.
Very brief, just a little excerpt that we can give me some recommendations.
All right, fine.
All right, Ray.
We had one from a girl who decided not to put her babysitting prices up from $60 to $75 an hour.
Yeah, that's good.
I think it would be fine in, for example, a speech, but I don't think it would be.
Well, what I want is something where I'm basically sort of a hardworking fellow, maybe a government worker or a labor guy or,
Yeah, and I remember when I was out at the airport at one place, a steel worker came up to me and said, you know, this has been hard on me because of this or that or the other thing, but I'm for it.
But it's that kind of thing I want.
It'll sort of hit more down to the average person, okay?
Fine, thank you.

NARA Description

On October 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 10:27 am to 10:29 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 010-072 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 10-72

Date: October 6, 1971
Time: 10:27 am - 10:29 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

[See Conversation No. 283-20]

     Wage and price freeze
         -Letters from people
               -Texas

          -President's schedule
          -Public interest above private interest
          -Support among American people

Also recorded on October 6, 1971

  • 010-071 10:10 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:10 am and 10:27 am.
  • 283-020 10:27 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 10:27 am and 10:29 am.
  • 010-075 10:29 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:29 am and 11:36 am.
  • 010-073 10:30 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:30 am.
  • 283-021 10:30 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 10:30 am.
  • 010-074 10:31 AM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 10:31 am to 10:32 am.
  • 283-022 10:31 AM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:31 am to 10:32 am.
  • 283-023 10:32 AM · 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William L. Safire, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:32 am to 11:10 am.

All 110 conversations from October 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 010-072, October 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/010-072 (accessed October 8, 2026).