Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 11 › Conversation 011-085

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Labor Unions

Wednesday, October 13, 1971 · 1:43 PM–1:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation011-085 on Tape 11 (tape position 02:06:59–02:12:39)StartWednesday, October 13, 1971 at 1:43 PMEndWednesday, October 13, 1971 at 1:50 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-085 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417190067 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon initiated this call to thank Frank E. Fitzsimmons, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, for his assistance in resolving recent wage policy disputes. The conversation highlights the administration's reliance on Fitzsimmons to maintain labor cooperation and mitigate negative press surrounding economic negotiations. Additionally, the two discussed the President's upcoming diplomatic trips to the USSR and China, as well as the status of ongoing trade negotiations regarding the U.S. surcharge on Canadian and Japanese goods.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 13, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 1:43 pm to 1:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-085 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-085

 Date: October 13, 1971
 Time: 1:43 pm - 1:50 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with the White House operator.

 [See Conversation No. 590-12]

      Frank E. Fitzsimmons
 The President talked with Fitsimmons.

        Economy
             -Fitsimmons's support
                   -Wage proposals

        Fitzsimmons's schedule
              -Chicago
                   -Central Conference of Teamsters

        Economy
             -Press briefings
             -Fitsimmons's proposals

        US foreign relations
             -The President's trip to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
                  -The President's announced trip to the People's Republic of China [PRC]
                  -Philosophical concerns
                  -Negotiations
                  -Prevention of conflicts
             -Vietnam
             -Support for Teamsters Union
             -US-Canadian relations
                  -Surcharge
                         -John B. Connally
                         -Situation
             -US-Japanese relations

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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Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Hello.
Mr. President, Mr. Frank Fitzsimmons, returning your call.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
There you are.
Hello.
Hello.
Hold on for Mr. Fitzsimmons, please.
Hello.
Hello, Frank.
Yeah, Mr. President.
I just wanted to thank you for your very strong support yesterday in working out that little...
problem we had over there with the, you know, on this wage thing.
And I think without you, we couldn't have made it.
And we want to work with you, and we hope that we can have some good cooperation.
But I just wanted, didn't want you to, I understand you've already left town, but I wanted to call you, and I got you into Chicago, didn't I?
Yes, we're here at our central conference at Teamsters, you know.
Right, right.
And I just made the report to them and told them what was necessary and the reason why my persistence in it.
But I was very, very happy to do it, Mr. President.
Well, you noticed, I'm sure, that I initialed the understanding.
I think there was basically a misunderstanding, Frank, in the thing.
I intended all along, but you know, by the time the press begins to brief and all that, then one guy will say something that he wasn't quite supposed to say, and then there'll be a misunderstanding.
But it takes fellows like you to sort of keep them from rocking the boat too much.
Well, you know, I laughed yesterday whenever we was over to the meeting, you know?
Yeah.
The sanctimonious group was in the meeting, and he was in there with them.
Yeah, yeah.
And I just took one position.
as far as i'm concerned i understood i know what was meant and i know that as far as you were concerned you have the power to make the committee and you had the power to destroy the committee and there's only one responsibility we had that we was going to cooperate today to take a look at the goals and try to adjust ourselves to achieving that goal and i said you know
I mean, damn, I don't know about you people, how you think.
But I learned from long experience, it's better to fight from within than fight from without.
Exactly.
Good point.
I was very happy, and rest assured that... We're going to try to do our best to get along, and I know this is tough.
It's awful tough.
Gee, it was...
I mean, the pressures of your locals and so forth.
But it's a good battle.
It's a good fight.
And it's one where I think if we are all responsible, we can make some headway on it.
I just want to congratulate you.
Whenever you say thanks to me for just a little effort that I make, I can have the intestinal fortitude that you had and think the positions you did yesterday.
Rest assured that...
i'm sure we're heading for a great country which we deserve incidentally as i'm sure you know our our russian trip which uh uh now with the chinese trip means that uh just exactly what it says as i point out to the press it doesn't mean that we in any way uh have changed our philosophy but it does mean that we're now going to negotiate on some of these things that otherwise might get us involved in a
some kind of a conflict, much worse than Vietnam.
And I think your membership would approve that.
Particularly because, as you well know, I know who I'm dealing with, and they know who they're dealing with, which is good.
That's the big item, when you go right to the horse's mouth, you know?
Nobody can say, well, what the hell, he misunderstood this or misunderstood that.
And I think this is just great, and I think this is the way to get to the base of our problem and get it cleared up.
Well, I may take the privilege.
What do you think the outcome is going to be on the Canadian situation on that surcharge?
Frank, I'm not up on it at the moment, but Connolly just got back.
My last report was that that was rocking along pretty well.
I mean, I can't be held to it, but my recollection is that they were going to work out some separate deal on that one.
I told our people... And fairly soon.
But I don't... What did you tell your people?
I told our people that I was sure that with the understandings we had with Canada...
We will come up with a solution.
It may not just be... Oh, that you can absolutely share.
I'm telling them that you've talked to me and that I say that the Secretary of Treasury and I are working on the Canadian thing as a special thing.
We don't want to... We can't, of course, give in our bargaining position until we work something out.
But we're going to work out the problem with Canada.
We're going to work it out.
And also the other countries, too.
But take, like, the Japanese.
They've got a couple of ways where we can work out anything with them.
And I think you agree with that.
I was very abruptly informed today
that about a statement was made that Japan being our best customer, that that wasn't so, that Canada was our best customer.
Actually, the statement basically is that, to get out of context, was that Japan is our best overseas customer.
That's the way it should have been.
And Canada is our best customer in the world.
That's right.
Okay.
You tell our Canadians we're all for them.
Okay, Mr. President.
All right.
Very kind of you.
Always good to talk to you.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Thank you.

Also recorded on October 13, 1971

  • 011-082 12:41 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mrs. Dean G. Acheson talked on the telephone from 12:41 pm to 12:45 pm.
  • 011-083 12:45 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:45 pm and 1:09 pm.
  • 590-011 1:00 PM · 42 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:00 pm to 1:43 pm.
  • 011-084 1:09 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:09 pm.
  • 590-012 1:43 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Frank E. Fitzsimmons met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:43 pm to 1:50 pm.
  • 590-013 1:50 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 2:57 pm.
  • 590-014 1:50 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 2:57 pm.
  • 011-111 2:24 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:24 pm and 4:56 pm.

All 31 conversations from October 13, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-085, October 13, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417190067). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-085 (accessed November 2, 2026).