Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 13 › Conversation 013-154
Nixon phone call with Colson on Soviet Union grain deal and Cabinet meeting
Friday, November 5, 1971 · 12:52 PM–12:55 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Charles Colson reviewed the success of a recent cabinet meeting, specifically praising a presentation by John Scali. They discussed the public relations strategy for the Soviet Union grain deal, with Colson outlining efforts to ensure the President receives personal credit for the diplomatic and economic success. Additionally, they touched upon the status of current unemployment figures, the performance of the stock market, ongoing negotiations regarding the Pay Board, and the necessity of maintaining favorable relations with pollster Louis Harris.
- Soviet Union grain deal
- Cabinet meeting
- John A. Scali
- Public relations
- Pay Board
- Unemployment figures
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Yeah?
Uh, Chuck?
Oh, I just wanted to check, how'd the cabinet thing go?
I've got to leave.
It was very, very good, Mr. President.
The presentations were all good.
John Skelly brought them out of their chairs at the end.
He was absolutely superb.
Great.
That was a good stroke.
And as you know, I built him up a little, too.
You sure did.
And he gave them a Moynihan kind of speech, but with more bite than Moynihan gave.
Marvelous.
with specifics, and said, here's what you fellows have got to do.
One, two, three, four.
And they gave him an ovation afterwards, which was... Great.
I think they took it.
I mean, it was tough, but he really laid it on the line.
Just great.
The second thing, how about the farm thing?
Are you working on that?
Yes, sir.
That's moving beautifully.
We have Gibson in line, and he's briefing up on the hill with the agriculture people right now.
That started, and...
We've got the networks alerted.
Ziegler has gotten out the line to several of them, so we'll have a scoop in Chicago.
Agriculture this afternoon.
The hill people are all lined up and they're all enthusiastic as hell.
So it's going very well.
I've sent a note in to you to call Gleason and Calhoun at some point when you get an opportunity, because we want to wrap the story around the fact that you personally engineered this.
And Johnson and Kennedy had both failed completely, and this is a big triumph in the Midwest.
We'll play that, and I haven't seen how the unemployment story is playing.
I'm sure it's on the wires by now, but it'll be a good shot for us today.
It damn well ought to be.
Well, at least the market held yesterday.
It didn't go down.
It's off a little bit this morning, but not much.
How much?
Drifting.
Let's see.
Is the unemployment figure already out?
Well, no, sir.
In fact, my report is two hours old.
It was down four points, but it...
Maybe it's still going to go down.
No, I don't know.
The unemployment figure would normally move, let's see, 1030.
It would be on the wires by 1130.
So that should...
The market shouldn't really be down with that figure.
Well, it may be that damned...
uh you know a banking person oh well what the hell that would uh that would have an impact oh yeah that would have a hell of an impact we don't care it's uh it's going to be up and down as i say it ought to be up but if it is it just just reacts and recalcitrant matters well they're they're moving to it a uh all the intelligence is they're moving toward an agreement upstairs if something doesn't go wrong on the uh on the pay board so if we i'd better go it'll go we'll keep it on the track too
Oh, did you talk to Lou Harris yet after the dinner?
No, sir.
He's headed off for the Virgin Islands, but I talked to him before.
Yeah, you ought to get him a call, see how he liked the dinner.
Would you do it?
Yes, I'll call him this afternoon.
He'll be arriving down there just about now.
You know, get a little feel, and I'll check with you tomorrow.
i imagine it was a big thrill for him i played up to him a little bit he was through the line he was so excited coming that he just he couldn't stand it at seven o'clock he said it was such a thrill for his wife you know that that has a hell of an impact it really does so that well i can safely leave town then you think yes indeed we'll keep the payboard thing under control and we should be
We should make the farmers happy for a day or two.
I had a good talk with Clark Molyneux last night.
I won't bring you with it now, but we're making some progress.
Did he see our problem?
Yes, sir.
And he was very, very impressed that we wanted his advice and counsel.
I think we may bring that around.
All right, Chuck.
Thanks for the farm thing.
Bye.
NARA Description
On November 5, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 12:52 pm to 12:55 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 013-154 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 013-154
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
Date: November 5, 1971
Time: 12:52 pm - 12:55 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Charles W. Colson.
[See Conversation No. 615-26]
Cabinet meeting
-John A. Scali's talk
-Daniel P. Moynihan
-Response
National economy
-Soviet Union grain deal
-Public relations
-Andrew E. Gibson's briefing
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Department of Agriculture
-Colson's note to President
-President's possible call to Thomas W. ("Ted") Gleason and Jesse M.
Calhoun
-President's role
-Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy
-Unemployment figures
-Stock market
-Unemployment figures
-Pay Board
Louis P. Harris
-Schedule
-Forthcoming conversation with Colson
-Attendance at dinner
-Wife
President's schedule
-Pay Board
-Farm issue
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542
Clark R. Mollenhoff
-Previous conversation with ColsonAlso recorded on November 5, 1971
- 615-018 11:13 AM · 9 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:13 am and 11:20 am.
- 615-019 11:13 AM · 7 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:13 am and 11:20 am.
- 615-023 11:21 AM · 1 hr 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Indira Ghandi met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:21 am to 12:20 pm.
- 615-024 12:20 PM · 55 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:20 pm and 12:25 pm.
- 013-153 12:25 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:25 pm and 12:52 pm.
- 615-025 12:25 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:25 pm to 12:49 pm.
- 615-026 12:52 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:52 pm to 12:55 pm.
- 615-027 12:55 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, John K. Andrews, Jr., John K. Andrews, Sr., and Mrs. John K. Andrews, Sr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:55 pm and 12:57 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 013-154, November 5, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/013-154 (accessed October 12, 2026).