Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-008

Nixon phone call with Safire on Economic policy and Public relations

Thursday, October 7, 1971 · 8:53 PM–8:57 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Safire, William L.Conversation011-008 on Tape 11 (tape position 00:15:18–00:18:21)StartThursday, October 7, 1971 at 8:53 PMEndThursday, October 7, 1971 at 8:57 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and William Safire discuss the positive reception and communication strategy following the President’s recent economic address. Nixon emphasizes the importance of using anecdotal stories from constituent letters to connect with the public, arguing that personal narratives are more effective than abstract policy discussions. The two reflect on favorable press coverage and the necessity of mobilizing public opinion to support the administration's economic program.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Well, you survived the thing.
You know, the letters were, you know, I know that you and Ray and all the rest, they sort of regurgitate whenever I mention letters, but they've checked around the country.
Three-fourths, that's all they mention.
It was a nice, you know.
You've just got to realize it's a way to get through to people.
You've got to mention the fact that folks are calling rather than historic praise.
Well, anyway.
I think the prophet thing went well.
Yeah.
And that line about the great momentous historic things coming up...
That was a good one, yeah.
I got a few reactions to that.
Don't you think that was good?
Yeah.
If it is.
Well, it seemed to be handled respectfully by the press, too.
Yeah, that killed him.
Well, along those lines, I haven't listened to television.
Around the country, that was the general feeling, you know, that we've made it understandable that people are for it.
The thing is that we have to mobilize the public opinion, and boy, we've got them with us on this.
We really have it with us, and that wasn't
what this speech is all about, don't you think?
Yeah.
That's right.
Oh, Christ.
Look at that.
Kill him.
Kill him and kill the program.
Great editorial saying, what a responsible, wonderful thing.
And boy, the folks out there say, well, ho-hum, what the hell was that all about?
But when they hear that a school teacher in Klamath Falls gave up 300 bucks a month, you know, that gets home.
That's why you can't emphasize too strongly.
Find a letter now and then, you know, a little story.
That's what people need.
They only relate to stories.
But you did a fine job in pulling it all together so fast, and I think it's really, I think it'll go well.
I think it'll go.
Zeger was very pleased.
He said that the press was
quite well taken.
And we had a lot of delicate problems rather well, I thought.
Right.
Okay, Bill.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On October 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 8:53 pm to 8:57 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-008

 Date: October 7, 1971
 Time: 8:53 pm - 8:57 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with William L. Safire.

        Assessment of the President's economic speech, October 7, 1971
             -Letters
                   -Safire, Raymond K. Price, Jr.
             -Profits
             -Economics
             -Press handling
             -Labor
             -Television
             -Silverstein [?]
             -New York Times
             -Letters
                   -Importance
                         -Future use

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

              -Ronald L. Ziegler

Also recorded on October 8, 1971

  • 011-009 8:57 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 8:57 pm.
  • 011-010 8:58 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 8:58 pm.
  • 011-011 8:58 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:58 pm and 9:03 pm.
  • 011-012 8:58 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:58 pm and 9:03 pm.
  • 011-013 8:58 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:58 pm and 9:03 pm.
  • 011-014 9:03 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:03 pm to 9:09 pm.
  • 011-015 9:09 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles G. ("Bebe") Rebozo talked on the telephone from 9:09 pm to 9:11 pm.
  • 011-016 9:17 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 9:17 pm to 9:20 pm.

All 28 conversations from October 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-008, October 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-008 (accessed October 6, 2026).