{"conversationCode":"010-136","tapeNumber":10,"conversationNumber":136,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-010-136","startDateTime":"1971-10-07T19:25:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-10-07T19:32:00.000Z","startDate":"7-Oct-1971","startTime":"3:25 PM","endDate":"7-Oct-1971","endTime":"3:32 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Safire, William L.;","description":"On October 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 3:25 pm to 3:32 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 010-136 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. 10-136\n\nDate: October 7, 1971\nTime: 3:25 pm - 3:32 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe White House operator talked with the President.\n\n     Request for a call from William L. Safire\n\nSafire talked with the President.\n\n[See Conversation No. 285-39]\n\n     Phase II speech, October 7, 1971\n          -Text of draft\n                -Changes\n                      -Wholesale prices\n                      -Cost savings\n                           -Prices\n                -Length\n                      -Reading of letters\n          -Effect of speech\n                -Business\n                -George P. Shultz","filename":["010-136.mp3"],"tapeStart":"04:20:06","tapeEnd":"04:24:23","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","White House operator","Safire, William L.","Nixon, Richard M. (President)","White House operator","Safire, William L."],"prevCode":"010-135","nextCode":"010-137","transcript":[{"start":2.16,"end":4.06,"text":"Mr. President, Mr. Sapphire."},{"start":5.14,"end":5.34,"text":"All right."},{"start":6.18,"end":6.44,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":6.8,"end":9.15,"text":"Mr. President, I have a couple of minor changes that might be helpful."},{"start":9.39,"end":9.75,"text":"All right."},{"start":9.77,"end":14.47,"text":"On page two, where you say three and a half years, that's now seven years."},{"start":15.88,"end":16.48,"text":"Just a second."},{"start":16.88,"end":17.74,"text":"Page two."},{"start":19.2,"end":20.66,"text":"Are you reading, Captain?"},{"start":20.68,"end":20.86,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":21.58,"end":23.77,"text":"Wholesale prices in September posted the what?"},{"start":23.79,"end":28.67,"text":"The biggest price of industrial commodities has declined for the first time."},{"start":29.19,"end":30.81,"text":"Well, you say in three and a half years."},{"start":30.83,"end":31.11,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":31.13,"end":32.17,"text":"It's in seven years."},{"start":32.3,"end":33,"text":"All right."},{"start":33.18,"end":36.22,"text":"We'll get that because seasonally adjusted, it's seven years."},{"start":37.8,"end":37.9,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":37.92,"end":39.42,"text":"But you don't have to say seasonally adjusted."},{"start":40.01,"end":42.03,"text":"Oh, I don't need to say that."},{"start":42.05,"end":42.75,"text":"Page nine."},{"start":45.37,"end":45.87,"text":"Just a second."},{"start":52.64,"end":53.79,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":53.81,"end":56.97,"text":"On page nine, at the very end..."},{"start":57.9,"end":60.94,"text":"business should pass along a fair share of its cost savings to the consumer."},{"start":61.64,"end":66.01,"text":"I think it makes the point a lot firmer if you add in the form of lower prices."},{"start":70.42,"end":72.27,"text":"By cutting prices, is that better?"},{"start":73.29,"end":75.41,"text":"By cutting prices, I seem direct to you."},{"start":75.43,"end":76.35,"text":"Yeah, where are we?"},{"start":76.47,"end":77,"text":"Page?"},{"start":77.22,"end":78.64,"text":"Page nine, the very end of the page."},{"start":82.11,"end":83.41,"text":"Well, I must be looking at it."},{"start":83.43,"end":85.18,"text":"Do you have, what, my copy or another?"},{"start":85.2,"end":87.98,"text":"I have, I think it's your copy."},{"start":88.58,"end":91.89,"text":"Well, no, no, I have a different situation because I changed a few things."},{"start":91.97,"end":93.55,"text":"I mean, I've broken up the pages."},{"start":93.59,"end":95.03,"text":"All right, I'll find it in a minute."},{"start":95.64,"end":98.16,"text":"This is on the profit thing."},{"start":101.41,"end":105.89,"text":"Right if you say win-for-profits or another matter."},{"start":107,"end":107.28,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":113.21,"end":116.48,"text":"That business should pass along a fair share of its cost savings to the consumer."},{"start":116.86,"end":117.72,"text":"By cutting prices?"},{"start":117.74,"end":118.5,"text":"By cutting prices."},{"start":120.38,"end":123.89,"text":"I think by cutting prices is better than, say, in the form of lower prices, don't you think so?"},{"start":123.91,"end":125.41,"text":"By cutting is tougher, right."},{"start":125.43,"end":127.77,"text":"But somehow, when I read it again..."},{"start":127.79,"end":138.14,"text":"Hold, hold."},{"start":138.16,"end":138.26,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":138.28,"end":140.19,"text":"I think folks understand cutting prices."},{"start":140.21,"end":141.45,"text":"By cutting prices."},{"start":144.03,"end":144.97,"text":"Okay, that's all I have."},{"start":145.39,"end":146.65,"text":"Is there anything you want me to do?"},{"start":146.67,"end":149.6,"text":"No, I think I've got everything I need."},{"start":152.6,"end":160.4,"text":"I'm just going over the final pages now to get some up in my head."},{"start":161.17,"end":162.17,"text":"Okay, I'll be here."},{"start":162.19,"end":163.13,"text":"I think it reads fine."},{"start":163.77,"end":167.64,"text":"15 minutes, it's all it's going to take, 15 minutes, which is good."},{"start":168.48,"end":170.24,"text":"It's about 1780 words, isn't it?"},{"start":170.64,"end":171.3,"text":"Maybe 19."},{"start":171.52,"end":173.02,"text":"Yes, I had 1750 last year."},{"start":173.04,"end":174.04,"text":"Well, it's fine."},{"start":174.08,"end":174.86,"text":"It's not too long."},{"start":175.06,"end":175.74,"text":"It's too long."},{"start":175.76,"end":178.72,"text":"Although some take a little longer to read because you know those letters and things."},{"start":178.81,"end":180.09,"text":"I don't want to rush them."},{"start":180.23,"end":182.23,"text":"You've got to let people sort of sink in on those."},{"start":183.85,"end":186.17,"text":"15 minutes is a pretty short speech for a major speech."},{"start":188.23,"end":191.08,"text":"Anything over two minutes is too long."},{"start":191.38,"end":192.58,"text":"People get so bored."},{"start":193.36,"end":200.47,"text":"But if you go past two minutes, then I think people are ready for a meat and potatoes meal, you know, on your speech."},{"start":202.51,"end":202.71,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":203.13,"end":205.42,"text":"Well, actually, I think we've got a good thing here."},{"start":205.44,"end":208.92,"text":"We just don't know how people are going to take the business community."},{"start":208.94,"end":210.6,"text":"They've been squealing for all this thing."},{"start":210.62,"end":214.77,"text":"When they see a little of it hurting them on the profit thing, they're likely to go right up the goddamn wall."},{"start":215.09,"end":216.43,"text":"and the interest and so forth."},{"start":216.47,"end":217.19,"text":"But that's fine."},{"start":217.23,"end":220.53,"text":"I mean, if this is going to work, you've got to let it apply to everybody."},{"start":221.03,"end":225.34,"text":"And everybody's going to, if everybody screams equally, then it'll play well."},{"start":225.88,"end":226.24,"text":"That's right."},{"start":226.26,"end":229.77,"text":"Except the business guys take it out to you by their market and so forth."},{"start":229.79,"end":230.35,"text":"But I don't care."},{"start":230.83,"end":231.93,"text":"I think we're doing the right thing."},{"start":232.31,"end":234.29,"text":"I don't think this is going to hurt the market."},{"start":234.31,"end":236.84,"text":"Well, if it does, I don't care because it's only temporary."},{"start":236.91,"end":238.86,"text":"What's going to count in the market is what happens."},{"start":238.98,"end":241.16,"text":"And if the inflation is down and"},{"start":241.61,"end":244.36,"text":"Jobs go up gradually, and the market's going to go up."},{"start":244.38,"end":245.18,"text":"That's what's going to happen."},{"start":246.93,"end":249.43,"text":"The market is basically, as George Shultz says, neurotic."},{"start":251.88,"end":252.96,"text":"Okay, I'm here if you need me."},{"start":253.02,"end":253.44,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":253.47,"end":253.99,"text":"Right there."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and speechwriter William Safire reviewed final revisions for a major upcoming address concerning the administration's Phase II economic policies. The discussion focused on refining specific phrasing regarding wholesale prices and business cost-savings to ensure the message was clear and firm for the public. Nixon emphasized that the policy must apply equitably across all sectors and expressed indifference toward potential short-term volatility in the stock market, which he characterized as neurotic.","topics":["Phase II economic policy","speechwriting","inflation","stock market","George P. Shultz","business regulation"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T23:14:53.008Z"},"topicSlugs":["phase-ii-economic-policy","speechwriting","inflation","stock-market","george-p-shultz","business-regulation"],"audioDurationSec":257,"audioFiles":[{"file":"010-136.mp3","bytes":6170330,"durationSec":257.03,"bitrate":192047,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:22.040Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/010-136.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/010-136","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/10/conversation-010-136","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}