Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 15 › Conversation 015-170

Nixon phone call with Timmons on Tax Legislation and Senate Procedures

Monday, November 29, 1971 · 5:47 PM–5:50 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operator; Timmons, William E.Conversation015-170 on Tape 15 (tape position 04:36:37–04:40:24)StartMonday, November 29, 1971 at 5:47 PMEndMonday, November 29, 1971 at 5:50 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 015-170 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417191185 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with William E. Timmons regarding the status of pending Senate legislation and the prospects for an end-of-year tax bill. The discussion focused on legislative maneuvering concerning investment tax credits, the Economic Stabilization Act, and the challenges of scheduling a special session before year-end. They also reviewed political optics, noting the positive reception of the President's economic and China-related initiatives in the media.

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.5 MB

This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 04:36:37 – 04:40:24

part C, 36:35

015a.mp3
015b.mp3
015c.mp3
015d.mp3

NARA Description

On November 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and William E. Timmons talked on the telephone from 5:47 pm to 5:50 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 015-170 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 15-170

Date: November 29, 1971
Time: 5:47 pm - 5:50 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     William E. Timmons
The President talked with Timmons.

[See also Conversation No. 306-14D]

     Senate bill
          -Reintroduction
                 -Clark MacGregor
                 -Investment tax credit
                 -Automobile tax
                 -Personal exemption

     Conference
          -Wallace F. Bennett
                -Health
          -Carl T. Curtis

     MacGregor's position

     Gale W. McGee-Hiram L. Fong Bill
          -Federal government pay raise
          -Economic Stabilization Act

     Senate adjournment
          -Michael J. Mansfield
          -Special session
          -Tax Bill

     Conference
          -Wilbur D. Mills
               -Comments on the President's statement on check-off provision of Tax Bill

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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

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

Operator, I called McGregor, but he's in New York.
Get Timmons for me, please.
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
Mr. Timmons.
Yeah.
And Mr. President.
Hi, Bill.
With regard to that, did some of our boys go forward with trying to reintroduce the Senate bill?
They're going to do it tomorrow, Mr. President.
After we got the McGregor news today, then tomorrow they will reintroduce the bill trying to position us for them.
I wonder if they could... On one thing, of course, another possibility is to just introduce the...
I mean, the repeal of the automobile thing, and basically the best of both worlds.
I mean, the investment tax credit we could really get along without.
But if we get the automobile thing, plus the, you know, personal exemption thing, that'd be a pretty good bill.
Just the two points?
That'd be enough, yeah.
Okay.
The investment tax credit being controversial, to hell with it, leave it out.
But the automobile thing is the must.
Okay.
Access tax and a personal exemption.
Yeah.
That would be one way to do it.
Well, that would make it attractive, I would think.
The conference broke up just a little while ago, and they were fighting over little technicalities.
They made no decisions, and they were late getting started because Wally Bennett, you know, went to the hospital.
Yeah.
How sick is he?
I think it's just an ulcer.
He's out at Bethesda for checkups, and he'll be back in a couple of days.
And Carl Curtis has his proxy, but they were late getting started, and they were fighting over little technical things, and they go into 10 o'clock in the morning.
And we'll have this bill introduced tomorrow.
Now, were we able to line up some of our troops to stand up for the McGregor position?
Yes, sir.
I haven't seen much on the wires, unfortunately, but... Yeah, but you did call them.
Yes, sir, and we called a bunch of them, and they were going to get out with one-minute speeches and put some stuff up in the press galleries, but they just don't carry it much.
I know they don't.
Well, just so we have a few lip-cutters and take on the opposition.
Fine.
We got stuck in the Senate, you know, this afternoon with a McGee-Fong thing on the raises.
Five and a half?
Yes, sir.
For government employees?
For beginning now, I'll bet January.
January, uh-huh.
Well, we'll stay there on that.
What's the line?
Will that go to the House?
Yes, sir.
It was just added on the Senate on the Economic Stabilization Act.
And, of course, the House hasn't yet got that on the floor.
So it'll be considered in the House and then go to conference.
So we're some days away from... That may make it possibly the Economic Stabilization Act.
To move through, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
God damn, these guys aren't going to get out of here for Christmas, are they?
It looks like that.
Mansfield keeps talking about, you know, the end of this week, and most everybody expects the end of next week, but in truth, I don't see how they can get out of here before damn near Christmas.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, particularly if they fool around with this tax bill, they're going to...
I think we have no choice but the extra session, don't you think so?
I think so.
If they go out, if you release your statement this week when the conference reports, they may just stay in, and so they're not embarrassed being called back.
You know, they may just stay in.
Strange enough, one of the guys in the conference reported out that Wilbur Mills, when he read McGregor's statement with your authority in there, said, well, that's not a bad statement because I think he misread it, thinking that either clean up the budget deficit or the checkoff rather than both.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, he sure misread it.

Also recorded on November 29, 1971

  • 015-166 5:39 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 306-011 5:39 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 306-012 5:39 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 306-013 5:39 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:39 pm and 5:43 pm.
  • 306-014 5:39 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:39 pm and 6:14 pm.
  • 015-167 5:43 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone from 5:43 pm to 5:44 pm.
  • 015-168 5:45 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:45 pm.
  • 015-169 5:45 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:45 pm and 5:47 pm.

All 72 conversations from November 29, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 015-170, November 29, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417191185). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/015-170 (accessed October 29, 2026).