Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 15 › Conversation 015-141

Nixon phone call with MacGregor on Tax legislation and Congressional relations

Monday, November 29, 1971 · 10:45 AM–10:58 AM ET · White House Telephone · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); MacGregor, ClarkConversation015-141 on Tape 15 (tape position 04:06:08–04:07:10)StartMonday, November 29, 1971 at 10:45 AMEndMonday, November 29, 1971 at 10:58 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 015-141 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Clark MacGregor strategize the rollout of a formal presidential statement regarding pending tax legislation. Nixon instructs MacGregor to draft the statement in the third person for his review and outlines a plan to brief key congressional leaders. The strategy involves providing last-minute courtesy notice to Wilbur Mills and Russell Long while giving Republican and Democratic allies advance warning to ensure they are prepared to publicly support the measure.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.

Yes, Mr. President.

It occurred to me that what you ought to do is to sort of get off a statement that you could let me sort of take a look at as to what you, that you go out and say, I have a statement with regard to this, the tax bill, which I've been, which the President has authorized me to make, and so forth.

Fine.

And then you do it in a third person.

And then, and get off the best thing, you could bring that in to me.

Then it seems to me that in order to build a little sentiment for our statement,

that you ought to have that bicycled around to, I mean, in courtesy, give it to, I'd give it sort of to the last minute to Mills and Long, you know what I mean?

Right.

So that they have it before.

All right, sir.

So that it doesn't hit them that way.

But then I'd give it to the Republicans and say, now, it's a half hour...

half-hour, give them a half-hour notice so that some of them can really get up and back it up.

See what I mean?

Good.

Absolutely.

Right, Mr. President.

Democratic people, to say the same.

All right.

I think we will.

Thank you.

NARA Description

On November 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Clark MacGregor talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:45 am and 10:58 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 015-141 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 15-141

Date: November 29, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:45 am and 10:58 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Clark MacGregor.

[See also Conversation No. 625-14A]

     Statement for the President
          -Tax Bill
          -Circulation
                -Wilbur D. Mills
                -Russell B. Long
                -Republicans
                -Democrats

Also recorded on November 29, 1971

015-140 10:45 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:45 am.
625-013 10:45 AM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 10:45 am.
625-014 10:45 AM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Clark MacGregor, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:45 am to 11:02 am.
015-142 11:02 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:02 am and 11:11 am.
625-015 11:02 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:02 am and 11:11 am.
625-016 11:02 AM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:02 am and 11:13 am.
015-143 11:11 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 11:11 am to 11:13 am.
015-144 11:13 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:13 am and 11:14 am.

All 72 conversations from November 29, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 015-141, November 29, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-141 (accessed October 9, 2026).