{"conversationCode":"010-135","tapeNumber":10,"conversationNumber":135,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-010-135","startDateTime":"1971-10-07T17:03:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-10-07T17:20:00.000Z","startDate":"7-Oct-1971","startTime":"1:03 PM","endDate":"7-Oct-1971","endTime":"1:20 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Acker, Marjorie P.; Safire, William L.;","description":"On October 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, Marjorie P. Acker, and William L. Safire talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:03 pm and 1:20 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 010-135 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 10-135\n\nDate: October 7, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 1:03 pm and 1:20 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with the White House operator.\n\n[See Conversation No. 285-26A]\n\n     Request for a call to William L. Safire\n\n[The President conferred with Marjorie P. Acker in the background]\n\n     Acker's schedule\n         -Text of draft\n\n[End of conferral]\n\nThe President talked with Safire.\n\n     Phase II speech, October 7, 1971\n          -Acker\n          -Inflation\n                -Prices\n                      -Problem with wording","filename":["010-135.mp3"],"tapeStart":"04:18:20","tapeEnd":"04:20:06","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","White House operator","Acker, Marjorie P.","Safire, William L.","Nixon, Richard M. (President)","White House operator","Acker, Marjorie P.","Safire, William L."],"prevCode":"010-134","nextCode":"010-136","transcript":[{"start":0.18,"end":3.85,"text":"Just one minute."},{"start":3.87,"end":4.01,"text":"Please."},{"start":4.09,"end":4.79,"text":"Sapphire, please."},{"start":5.21,"end":7.65,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":7.67,"end":14.48,"text":"There you are."},{"start":14.5,"end":18.34,"text":"When you get half of it done, send it over and I can start reading it."},{"start":19.3,"end":19.88,"text":"Mr. Sapphire."},{"start":19.9,"end":20.42,"text":"Yeah, Bill."},{"start":20.74,"end":21.23,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":21.25,"end":21.79,"text":"Just a minute, Rose."},{"start":22.17,"end":22.53,"text":"Just a minute."},{"start":22.77,"end":23.25,"text":"Marge."},{"start":23.27,"end":23.53,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":24.69,"end":28.63,"text":"I think I should put in, and I'm not going to put it in the written text."},{"start":28.65,"end":29.41,"text":"I'm going to say it."},{"start":29.75,"end":38.74,"text":"But where we say, because it puts more balance into it, where we say that we are, we have just, we live in an inflation psychology."},{"start":38.84,"end":41.36,"text":"Everybody just assumes that prices will go up, you know?"},{"start":44.38,"end":48.49,"text":"It's time for some price reduction psychology."},{"start":50.21,"end":55.61,"text":"When there are windfall prices, profits, prices should come down."},{"start":57.28,"end":58.34,"text":"That doesn't bother you, does it?"},{"start":59.36,"end":65.49,"text":"Well, that's a nice quotable line for somebody that uses ammunition."},{"start":65.51,"end":66.91,"text":"Ammunition on windfall?"},{"start":67.07,"end":67.43,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":67.45,"end":74.32,"text":"In other words, any good profits at all will be called windfall by whatever attacking it."},{"start":75.36,"end":76.56,"text":"The trouble is labor will get them."},{"start":76.7,"end":78.32,"text":"If we don't get it, then prices."},{"start":78.44,"end":80.91,"text":"Well, it may be."},{"start":82.39,"end":86.21,"text":"I'm afraid the whole thing is subject to that, though."},{"start":86.27,"end":89.03,"text":"But, well, maybe that just gives them one thing that they can't."},{"start":89.59,"end":93.15,"text":"I hate to give a little short, horrible line that they can use as a slogan."},{"start":93.17,"end":97.48,"text":"And we've got it in there, of course, that prices should come down, the policy of the price."},{"start":98.52,"end":100.75,"text":"But what the hell, maybe we better not put it as sharply."},{"start":101.07,"end":101.41,"text":"Okay."},{"start":101.87,"end":104.13,"text":"I would think a fuzzier presentation would be better."},{"start":104.19,"end":105.86,"text":"All right, fine."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon consulted with speechwriter William Safire regarding the drafting of an upcoming speech on Phase II economic policies. The discussion centered on the political risks of incorporating a proposed phrase about \"price reduction psychology\" and \"windfall profits\" to combat inflation. Fearing that opponents and labor unions might weaponize the language, Nixon and Safire ultimately decided to adopt a more ambiguous, \"fuzzier\" presentation for the address.","topics":["Phase II","Inflation","Speechwriting","Economic policy","Windfall profits","Political messaging"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T23:14:47.432Z"},"topicSlugs":["phase-ii","inflation","speechwriting","economic-policy","windfall-profits","political-messaging"],"audioDurationSec":107,"audioFiles":[{"file":"010-135.mp3","bytes":2562924,"durationSec":106.72,"bitrate":192120,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:22.040Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/010-135.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/010-135","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/10/conversation-010-135","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}