Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 015-038
Date: Thursday, November 18, 1971 at 3:47 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Colson, Charles W.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-038

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:01] Mr. Colson, Mr. President.
[0:04] Hello.
[0:04] Yes, sir.
[0:05] How about, did you get to John on that?
[0:08] Yes, sir.
[0:08] We had an hour together, and let's see, does he look to it with favor?
[0:12] No, he started out just the way I thought, with a little bit of apprehension over all the pressures on him.
[0:17] And as we talked and went through all the reasons, he came around on it entirely.
[0:23] He, at one point, said, well, I'll do it if the president wants me to do it anyway, and there's no point.
[0:27] discussing that i said no no i said that isn't the point he specifically said that he didn't want to do it on that basis only if you agreed with us
[0:35] And I gave him all the reasons, and then he turned around and said, yes, I do agree with you, and let's do it.
[0:40] So I promised him a briefing book and stuff.
[0:43] What day?
[0:44] Monday.
[0:45] Monday.
[0:45] And he would meet with you on Tuesday.
[0:46] And then he'll have the meeting with Schultz and, what's his name, Kissinger Tuesday.
[0:52] I would assume all I told him is that... Well, this comes first.
[0:56] He's got to have the time and everything on this, and...
[0:59] Briefing book and so forth good.
[1:00] Well, I'll give him all of that.
[1:02] We had a very good discussion of a lot of other things How is he feeling good?
[1:05] He's way up and he was did he been did you did you get into money supply about burns?
[1:11] No, that's the one subject that I guess we didn't hear we talked about everything What's he think of what the Senate is doing in that tax bill I
[1:26] He's probably apoplectic.
[1:28] I am.
[1:29] I'm just unbelievable.
[1:30] You mean on the campaign check-off?
[1:31] No, that damn thing.
[1:32] No, but the other irresponsible things.
[1:34] You know, they're going to have babysitter deductions.
[1:37] That's awful.
[1:38] Jesus Christ.
[1:39] I mean, it's unbelievable.
[1:42] We'll have to sign it.
[1:44] Well, I said to him, we ought to veto it if it has this campaign check-off.
[1:47] And he said, oh, hell no.
[1:48] No, no.
[1:49] He said, I got a way around that.
[1:50] He said, the forms have already gone out for next year.
[1:53] And he said, yeah.
[1:55] And we'll modify it.
[1:56] He said, well, I'll send out a special bulletin to taxpayers.
[1:58] And he said, then we'll put out a lot of stories about how confused the Treasury is and they can't handle all this.
[2:03] And he said, nobody will give any money.
[2:05] That's right.
[2:06] He said, God, he's a clever fellow.
[2:08] Well, on this thing, though, he felt, though, he could take a bullish position, right?
[2:14] Oh, yes, and we went into the GNP thing, and he wants to really hit that.
[2:19] His attitude is just like yours and mine, Mr. President.
[2:21] I'm going to talk to you just based on what Connolly said.
[2:24] He just said we should stop putting out the preliminaries.
[2:26] Yeah.
[2:27] And he really gets very... Good.
[2:32] He said, look, I've been here in this town.
[2:35] I know what those bastards and those agencies do.
[2:37] And he said, we've just got to get a handle on it.
[2:42] Well, let's help them all we can, and let's build it up.
[2:44] When can it be announced?
[2:45] Will he announce it?
[2:46] Yes, sir.
[2:47] And what I...
[2:49] suggested to him was he do it tomorrow, I'll work with him on it.
[2:52] But then we want to just build up that thing as a major press conference.
[2:56] I went through the whole thing with him and I think he's all on board.
[2:58] You told him that I was going to hit the next week.
[3:00] Yes, sir.
[3:01] I just told Haldeman of the conversation and told Bob that if he filled you in, you might want to call Connolly and say, great, if you get a chance.
[3:10] I made it very clear we weren't ordering him out.
[3:13] In other words, not to call him yet, though.
[3:16] Or I am to call him.
[3:17] Well, I think you could do it almost any time.
[3:19] Oh, yeah.
[3:19] All right, fine.
[3:20] I mean, any time you feel like it, just... Fine.
[3:22] Because he was very flattered that you had read his economics speech.
[3:28] I told him you had read that.
[3:29] Yeah, I did.
[3:30] And he said, did he read it?
[3:32] He responds to that.
[3:33] He told me to.
[3:34] Okay, I'll check with Holloman.
[3:36] Yes, sir.