Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 014-114
Date: Monday, November 15, 1971 at 7:03 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/014-114
National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417190759 (NAID 417190759)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yeah.
[0:01] Yes, sir, Mr. President.
[0:02] Well, we had a pretty good day, Wood, shutting that Senate.
[0:08] Well, that was a hell of a thing for you to have to waste your time on.
[0:11] I just... Me?
[0:13] Oh, it was great.
[0:15] Yeah, no, I don't know whether you got a report, but I was nice to him, but I kicked a little bit of genius out of him.
[0:20] Oh, you did?
[0:21] I just felt badly that you had to involve yourself in such...
[0:24] There was no choice that they had, and I was glad to put Mansfield right to the sword on him.
[0:28] Well, he was put to the sword.
[0:30] And now they've announced?
[0:32] No, they're going to introduce the resolution.
[0:34] They're going to do it tomorrow.
[0:35] Tomorrow or Wednesday.
[0:36] It doesn't make any difference now that they've said they're going to do it.
[0:39] That's right.
[0:39] I just got the report.
[0:40] But don't you think it's good that we had him go up and down the hill?
[0:44] Oh, absolutely.
[0:45] Absolutely.
[0:46] My only regret was that you had to take time out of your day because it's a hell of a waste of time to have to listen to those jackass.
[0:52] I think it's good, though, to have presidential leadership.
[0:55] What do you think?
[0:56] Oh, absolutely.
[0:57] Absolutely.
[0:58] No, and I think you forced them to the wall and they caved in.
[1:02] That's just exactly right.
[1:06] They make you mad when you have to go through such a check.
[1:09] Well, I must say, our fellows stood up while the mayhem was gray.
[1:14] Ford and Scott and the rest.
[1:17] Well, you put the wit to them.
[1:20] No, they won't forget it.
[1:22] No, no.
[1:23] I did get a report.
[1:24] We got it to him again.
[1:25] Poor George Shultz was just exasperated.
[1:28] He said, my God, he said, what a hell of a way to have to spend a day is to make these people be what is so elementary and so responsible.
[1:36] But it's much better to do it than to have tried to horse around and skim by it another way and say, well, we'll try to, we'll just keep going.
[1:46] We'll trust you.
[1:47] Boy, we called them on it.
[1:49] Hitting it head on.
[1:49] They tried to bluff us, and we hit them.
[1:52] Exactly the right way.
[1:54] What's new on the other front?
[1:56] Well, we've got a few.
[1:57] The market's mixed today, they say.
[1:59] Well, it's about the lowest volume I've ever seen.
[2:00] It ended down a couple of points on 9 million shares.
[2:05] They're just hanging on their edges, their seats up there, waiting for Conley tomorrow, which I think the market isn't going to move until Conley speaks.
[2:14] He talks tomorrow night.
[2:16] Actually, with the balance of payments deficit being announced...
[2:19] It kind of makes Connolly look a hell of a lot better by being tough.
[2:23] Yeah.
[2:23] These guys on Wall Street.
[2:28] Yeah.
[2:29] I know that the Europeans.
[2:32] I'm just a little more to Connolly than I do to some of these others.
[2:35] I don't mean to panic too quickly here.
[2:39] The average American doesn't give a shit about these boys.
[2:41] No, they don't.
[2:42] In fact, quite the other way, the politics works.
[2:44] We will handle it.
[2:46] We'll handle it for you.
[2:48] We're going to make our deal.
[2:51] As I say, anybody who reads that balance of payment story today, the $12 billion deficit in the third quarter, has to realize that Conley was doing the only thing this country could do.
[3:04] That story is playing rather big.
[3:08] They don't blame that on us.
[3:09] That's why we did the August 15th.
[3:12] Passer got that right in the third graph of the story.
[3:19] He was great.
[3:20] He said this proves exactly why the president had to do what he did, and it would have been a disaster if he hadn't.
[3:32] No, he makes that point very well.
[3:32] What else is new?
[3:33] Well, Maurice Stans went out and did a job for us today, just as we asked him to.
[3:35] He gave a hell of a speech to a business group here in town, the public relations people business.
[3:37] He chided businessmen for not having the confidence the consumer has.
[3:41] I'm just looking at the wire stories coming in for a hell of a speech.
[3:49] We're hoping to get it replayed in the journal.
[3:51] He talks about all the great consumer statistics and how the business community is sitting on their hands.
[3:55] They ought to get off and start selling.
[3:58] I think we'll get some play out of it.
[4:01] I hope our little meeting with the cost of living comes to an end.
[4:08] That's come over the news very well, Mr. President.
[4:09] Yes, it was a damn good idea.
[4:10] Of course, I haven't seen the networks, but on the wires, now I've just been working here, I haven't turned this on, but the wires play it very well.
[4:21] The wires give it a darn good story.
[4:22] Well, you know, George Allen, he said, you know why the market's going down?
[4:34] That's why he said, well, these guys, they like to kid you.
[4:35] He said, isn't it because they're uncertain?
[4:37] He said, they think phase two is going to work.
[4:39] They think that basically that prices are going to be down, and that inflation's not going to be there, and they're just getting the market ready for it.
[4:47] He says, that's what it is.
[4:48] And I think he's exactly right.
[4:49] And I, you know what I think, Chuck?
[4:51] We're really building for a much stronger, more healthy economy.
[4:54] That's my answer to that question.
[4:58] I should have gotten more employees.
[5:00] That's what Allen said.
[5:03] You know, the answer to the question on Friday, the chief, he had said he'd seen an excellent review of it.
[5:06] I didn't see it, but he said it was pretty good.
[5:07] Good comments over the weekend, generally in the financial press and the news magazines played it well.
[5:17] No, you're absolutely right.
[5:18] You know, I was amused.
[5:19] You sent me a copy of Paul McCracken's memo to you on retail sales.
[5:23] And Jesus Christ, if a man could take information and make it sound less interesting and less encouraging than that.
[5:32] And I just had fun with Paul today.
[5:34] I sent him up a copy of the...
[5:37] lead outlook article in the Wall Street Journal this morning.
[5:40] How was that?
[5:41] And I just, I asked him how he explained this in view of his memo to you that I was very confused.
[5:46] Well, he said that it's one of the most superb articles that has yet appeared, and I've sent you a copy of it because it's really worth reading in full.
[5:56] It says that, I'll read it, hidden behind the figures are the sales of consumer durables, which are now 31% above last year.
[6:05] And it goes on to talk about how retail sales are heading 8% to 10% higher, that everybody is planning a huge Christmas season.
[6:12] All the surveys of retailers show that the big worry they now have is shortages of merchandise.
[6:20] Michael thinks that.
[6:20] Well, the ending.
[6:21] Oh, and that happened.
[6:22] Damn inventory.
[6:25] Well, once that happens, that's all it takes is something like that.
[6:30] And that business rushes out.
[6:32] starts producing like hell.
[6:33] They don't like to be caught without products.
[6:36] But this is written by O'Reilly, who writes the weekly output.
[6:40] He's good, I know.
[6:41] He's damn good.
[6:42] I wish you'd get him in.
[6:45] Well, we really should.
[6:46] Get him in.
[6:47] Just say, I'd just like to say hello to you.
[6:50] I will, sir.
[6:51] I'd like to see what he looks like.
[6:54] He's been great with us.
[6:56] His conclusion here is that the expansive forces that are at work in the economy right now
[7:01] He says it doesn't matter what business is saying.
[7:04] They're confused and they don't understand it.
[7:06] But the expansive courses are there.
[7:09] And the fork of uncertainty is going to lift a lot sooner than they expect.
[7:13] And when they do, they're going to see the economy booming.
[7:16] It's a hell of an article.
[7:18] And he bases it completely on what we talked about over the weekend, the retail sales and the consumer.
[7:25] And I've got to read it.
[7:27] What was the, incidentally, the...
[7:30] With regard to my press statement, that generally, according to Allen, was played extremely well.
[7:36] Very well, Mr. President.
[7:37] What you've been is all over the country.
[7:39] Not only the papers, but he's got the notes.
[7:42] But he meant the style of it somewhere, and he made some comments on that.
[7:52] He thought it was confident.
[7:53] He's, of course, a great believer in how the man looks.
[7:54] Right.
[7:54] Apparently, some of them carried that out.
[7:55] Well, they did in both of the news magazines today.
[7:58] even though we don't pay much attention to them.
[8:00] They both gave you high points on the press conference.
[8:03] Hi, Mark.
[8:03] How'd they handle it?
[8:05] Well, let's see.
[8:06] Yeah, as the president spoke, this is Newsweek.
[8:09] As the president spoke, he exuded confidence, conveying the impression of a man still riding high in his foreign policy coups.
[8:19] Kept his secret so well.
[8:20] Mr. Nixon's self-assurance was not unfounded.
[8:23] This is Timer.
[8:24] That's Newsweek.
[8:25] And then Time had similar comments.
[8:29] They said that the President had tart answers for tart questions about other facets of the war.
[8:34] Went on to your amnesty question, and then sliding into Vietnam, saying that the Nixon Doctrine is that Cambodia is the Nixon Doctrine in purest form.
[8:43] You know, that's really damn good.
[8:46] They picked up our good answers.
[8:47] Yes, they did.
[8:49] Then Time says he stopped short of announcing what the force levels would be next year.
[8:55] And it was a shrewd move.
[8:57] And then goes on to explain why it was a shrewd move, including all your options on it.
[9:02] So they both played a role.
[9:03] Now, you know, that's good for us, John.
[9:06] Yes, it is.
[9:06] And as much as those bastards take to give us any credit, when you are in as superb form as you were on Friday, they have to.
[9:14] Because American people see it, and if they turn around and pan it,
[9:18] they lose their credibility.
[9:22] Even though this wasn't on television.
[9:25] Well, a lot of people see that.
[9:27] They have to do it.
[9:29] They have to.
[9:29] I think it's the same reason, Mr. President, that we've had very little Democratic criticism.
[9:32] Muskie did his general criticism of the war last night, but he didn't direct it at the press conference or at you.
[12:57] So basically, we are doing a good job.
[13:15] It's not that, you know, I've got all of the men coming to the House, all of the mayors, all of the mayors.
[13:20] But at this point, I just can't believe the House is going to do it.
[13:21] I can't.
[13:21] Not on that amendment.
[13:22] It would be a terrible thing.
[13:22] In the final analysis, I cannot see the House doing that.
[13:23] You know, that's the same amendment that was beaten in the Senate.
[13:26] That's basically Cooper Church.
[13:29] And I just don't believe that the House will go for that.
[13:33] And especially, as a matter of fact, with the timing of your press conference, the way it was, I think that was good we had it.
[13:38] Oh, Jesus.
[13:39] You know, let me ask you this.
[13:41] I was thinking about having a televised press conference this week, next week.
[13:54] I'm not inclined to do it.
[13:55] I'm inclined to think that you should let this rise.
[13:58] Well, I was going to say the week after Thanksgiving is a hell of a lot better than Thanksgiving week.
[14:11] Do you think so?
[14:11] Yes, I do.
[14:11] Let's get through Thanksgiving.
[14:12] That's not a good...
[14:14] The week of the 22nd is not a good week.
[14:16] I would think the week after...
[14:23] I think that first week in December, the week after...
[14:26] The week before Thanksgiving is not a good time.
[14:28] No, it isn't.
[14:30] No, it isn't.
[14:36] You have a lot of people who are, well, it's a holiday atmosphere, and you have a lot of people who are traveling, and they're just not thinking about where they settled out for a couple of weeks before the holiday season.
[14:51] And that times nicely because there is that day program that the Chancellor is having at the ICC, which is excellent.
[14:53] And that comes, hopefully, mid-December, so press conference early would be the month it began to.
[14:56] Well, okay.
[14:57] Good housing figures coming tomorrow, Mr. President.
[14:59] Oh, what is that?
[15:00] Well, let's back up.
[15:01] Remember, it dipped a little bit in September, and it's back up now over two million a year.
[15:08] And interestingly, the permits for new construction have been hit in October, the all-time one-month high, the highest single month in history.
[15:22] And that's kind of encouraging, because the permits for new construction...
[15:27] kind of tell you something about the direction that it'll keep going.
[15:34] So that's more of that consumer, you know, that consumer trend is great.
[15:42] All right, that is good.
[15:51] Well... Oh, yes.
[15:51] And incidentally, I would not be concerned about this market.
[15:56] I'd like to get it down a bit.
[16:00] Well, I think it's a very good time to take the water out of it.
[16:03] Take the water out.
[16:04] I really believe this inflation theory.
[16:09] Alan was just categorical.
[16:12] And this guy bets big money.
[16:14] He said that's what it is.
[16:17] He's just not betting on inflation anymore.
[16:18] Sure, if you think so, the market's got to come down.
[16:21] Exactly right.
[16:22] And that is healthy.
[16:23] If we then get a healthy growth, that's what it ought to be.
[16:29] Okay.
[16:29] Thank you, Mr. President.