Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-064

Nixon phone call with Colson on USSR Summit and Edmund Muskie

Tuesday, October 12, 1971 · 1:55 PM–1:59 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation011-064 on Tape 11 (tape position 01:33:42–01:37:24)StartTuesday, October 12, 1971 at 1:55 PMEndTuesday, October 12, 1971 at 1:59 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-064 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss the political fallout and strategic success of the President's recent announcement regarding a planned USSR summit, noting its effectiveness in sidelining Democratic challenger Edmund Muskie. The pair also reviews the administration's leverage over labor leader George Meany regarding wage settlements and ongoing anti-inflationary measures. To capitalize on this momentum, they confirm an upcoming meeting between the President and pollster Louis Harris to assess the administration's improved standing.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Mr. Colson, sir.
Yeah.
Ready?
Yeah.
Congratulations, Mr. President.
Well, I thought that'd shake you up a little.
Oh, Jesus.
I went out and listened to your press conference, and I must say it was superb.
I leaned over to hold him during it, and I said, how would you like to be managing Ed Muskie's campaign right now?
God, you just...
It's breathtaking, really.
Well, you've got to give old... Henry just came in.
You've got to give him a lot of credit.
We're playing a game of tightrope back, but I'll tell you one thing, though.
These people on the other side, when we got those congressional group in, I think Henry will agree, they didn't know what the hell to say.
Well, there's not much they can say.
You've so preempted the field next year with... Yeah, for a while.
Of course, things can fall between then, but...
And I said, I think it's good meaning he came along.
He made his own conditions, but we don't care.
Well, he tried to.
Actually, the best thing that happened was that statement that we all worked on yesterday, we were able to release because even his self-serving reply to it, or his self-serving statement, doesn't have any credibility because what we laid out yesterday was exactly the terms we'd had from the beginning.
We didn't give him a thing, but...
I said that, too.
Well... Did George Shultz tell you about his call?
I called him.
Oh, you called me?
I called him.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I called him and thanked him.
Excellent.
What the hell?
Excellent.
Incidentally, Henry called him and informed me about this announcement, did you know, too?
Excellent.
Just to keep him off balance.
Well, that does.
Well, he called...
When he heard you had another statement this afternoon on labor, he called Shultz almost pleading...
for you to accept his statement and not to repudiate it.
So in fact, regardless of his outside bluster, he has come crawling to us.
He was in a box.
Some of the business people, we've got to just keep them on the box.
It's just having him in the game is what's important.
The business side, I don't worry about a bit.
We can handle them.
The thing that
Even if this thing sometime blows up, which Schultz and others are convinced it will, I... Well, I'm not convinced it will.
No, I'm not either.
As Manny said today, if we can get the inflation down to three and a half, we'd be doing well.
Mr. President, the thing that everybody loses sight of is that the biggest wage settlements are behind us.
And that next spring, they're going to be a hell of a lot less anyway.
And my point is that if we can make this thing work, even...
just make it appear to be working.
The results next spring, we're going to get the credit for it.
And that's the big thing.
But I think your announcement today on... Well, this will be a good stage for your meeting with Harris.
He's coming in tomorrow.
He's coming in to see you at...
I'll bring him in at 4.30.
I'll send you some background material.
Good deal.
We'll wait to see him then.
God, you're riding awful high.
Well, it's just, you never know what...
people, but at least it'll disturb Muskie.
Well, it's much more significant than that, really, Mr. President.
Of course it is, and the point is that... Any jackass can see that, even the bastards at Harvard.
Well, I tell you, if the...
I can tell Henry's with you.
If the election were tomorrow, or next week, or a month from now, I'd give them about three states at the most.
Okay.
Great, sir.

NARA Description

On October 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 1:55 pm to 1:59 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-064 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-064

 Date: October 12, 1971

 Time: 1:55 pm - 1:59 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

 [See Conversation No. 588-18]

        The President's announcement
             -US-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] summit
                  -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                  -Edmund S. Muskie
                  -Henry A. Kissinger
                  -Congressional reaction

        Economy
             -George Meany
                   -George P. Shultz
                   -The President's telephone call
                   -Henry A. Kissinger's telephone call
                   -Conversation with Shultz
                        -Position
             -Inflation
                   -Wage settlements

      Louis P. Harris

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

              -Meeting with Colson
              -Meeting with the President, October 13, 1971
                  -Edmund S. Muskie
                  -Harvard
                  -Kissinger

Also recorded on October 12, 1971

  • 588-013 1:43 PM · 23 sec — Rose Mary Woods and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:43 pm and 1:55 pm.
  • 588-014 1:43 PM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:43 pm and 1:55 pm.
  • 588-018 1:55 PM · 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Henry A. Kissinger, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:55 pm to 1:59 pm.
  • 011-065 1:59 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:59 pm and 9:07 pm.
  • 011-066 1:59 PM · 2 min — Henry A. Kissinger and Elliot L. Richardson talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:59 pm and 9:07 pm.
  • 011-067 1:59 PM · 11 sec — Henry A. Kissinger and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:59 pm and 9:07 pm.
  • 011-068 1:59 PM · 21 sec — the White House operator and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:59 pm and 9:07 pm.
  • 011-069 1:59 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:59 pm and 9:07 pm.

All 71 conversations from October 12, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-064, October 12, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-064 (accessed October 12, 2026).