Nixon phone call with Colson on India-Pakistan War and Public Opinion

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Hello.

Good evening, Mr. President.

Everything quiet over the weekend?

Well, it was quiet except for the India-Pakistan stories, which... Oh, yes.

That's going to be quite a story for a while.

I think it is, but it's been carrying quite well for us, I must say.

Well, we're going to play it very cool and do the best we can to keep out of it.

Of course, we'll keep out of it, but it'll eventually run out of steam.

It can't go on if it's just too damn bad that we're in India.

Right.

Good.

Surprisingly so.

Now, we've only seen the first wave of it.

I think when the second wave comes, we'll start getting some of these endophiles who will be the bleeding hearts.

But so far, it's carried quite well.

As far as our press was concerned this weekend, there were just two or three things that I thought were good.

The Vice President's speech played very well.

I don't know if you saw any part of that.

No, I didn't.

I'm going to look at it on Monday morning.

Well, it was good.

You hit the Democrats very, very hard.

The weekend wrap-up wires were playing your victories in the Congress.

This was kind of the major theme of the wire services company.

The Sunday wrap-up story.

The fact that we'd beaten the Democrats on the check-off.

The fact that we had gotten our Phase II Economic Stabilization Act through.

pretty much the way we wanted it.

And they were very good.

In fact, they were very positive.

And then Romney, yesterday, gave a damn good speech that got played well today, initially.

His defense, after that, for his attack on the Democrats, for the mess that he inherited.

He did a brilliant job.

Where did he make the speech?

Let's see, it was...

I think somewhere in the south.

Put a note on my desk in my telephone call tomorrow.

Good.

I'll send it over to you.

That's very helpful when you do that.

Sure, sure.

Because it spurs them on.

George is asking me to.

great guy when they could get up cranked up to do it all right it's hard at times but we maybe we'll have a little more luck if we pat him on the back uh mrs nixon is going up

Wow.

We're going to have a busy one tomorrow, we'll see.

Yeah, we're just going to get a lot of stuff on that plate.

But I think it'll be a good way to have NBC run a good story, which is fun.

Yeah, Kelly's in control of it, and I think it's really, I really think that'll be a hell of a positive thing.

Kind of a campaign documentary.

Could be.

We'll have a layout I've looked at next weekend, too.

It's a very, very impressive talent.

When I have to express that, it's an additional effort.

It goes as well as... Do you hear anything further in the meeting?

I think he has actually had some problems.

Well, I would have to conclude it.

There's no question about that.

I do not think it's critical, but I'm very sure...

Well, if he's over the first seven days, the doctor told us that if it were a heart attack, and was what one of the diagnoses needed, if it was that, after seven days he would be out of danger.

Presumably it would be serious, but not to... Well, I may be able to get some more intelligence in the morning.

Most of the reports I've had indicate that he is.

that he has had a heart problem.

Yeah, heart attack.

But as I say, if he gets through this week, I think he's probably all right.

He will not be able to be affected.

When at his age, I would think he can do it.

He has to make a choice about being cautious.

Yeah.

As much as he was.

I wouldn't mind having him stay right there.

Yeah, I wish he would.

Well, I don't think he's going to quit either.

No, he's the kind of guy that would go with you.

Sure.

But if he stays there and he isn't quite so active...

Well, they probably will seize on India-Pakistan and say, well, it's a failure of our policy again.

But it's rather hard to do that in a way.

My God, we provided the money for the refugees.

We've taken the damn thing to the United Nations.

We just want to go with it.

great tragedies.

Well, I don't think that's not really, you know, Kennedy can talk about that.

I'm sure we'll hear from him.

I checked it out.

No, but they're kind of hard for us to find an issue.

If you look around and try to anticipate their strategy, I read their

Lou Harris obtained for us a copy of the confidential strategy report that was read by O'Brien in which they took all of the polls over the past year and tried to analyze the vulnerable points against you and circulated that they're all Democratic contenders.

And when you get through reading it, there's nothing there.

They argue that the

yeah the confidence issue is uh it's legitimate and it's a problem that anybody's going to have right now in this office but

You just have to plow along.

Well, actually, it's common to all institutions.

It's just the establishment.

The public is kind of tuned out on almost everything.

I had a call from Simlinger yesterday.

He said he's really bullish.

The market this week had noticed a pickup in the consumer psychology of the function of the market.

It's almost like now it's going too fast.

It's a little bit like we had once before when we had a high-rocketing accident.

But it's just, it is so bullish, the attitude of the public, that we hope it doesn't

we just hope it stays up through christmas if you need a good christmas what he said is

Also, we'll get the tax bill.

That'll help some.

That's for sure.

But he was a very upbeat guy.

He was just in a spectacular trance.

Okay.

Well, we'll get through tomorrow and then check the next day.

We'll get Powell through tomorrow anyway.

I think he's expected tomorrow, isn't he?

Yeah, that'll be easy.

A little bit of a fight on record.

Oh, there'll be a fight.

It's all right, too.

The real fight is going to be trying to get that darned foreign aid thing through.

Mansfield's being awful tough on that.

I just don't understand what that guy's trying to accomplish.

I really don't.

He's much more of a partisan than that.

He just doesn't want it to work, so.

Well, I'm increasingly of the opinion that he really needs to become really an obstructionist, if you can take it being an obstructionist.

That's what I think.

He's got to just imagine himself as a reasonably responsible guy.

I was kind of wondering, really, whether he's that responsible.

But these don't hurt, Mr. President.

You know, it's interesting, it's like the butt sprain.

We go through a hell of a fight, which we win at, and the more they escalate the fight, the more that the public has the impression that if you're fighting these things, you're going to get what you're getting.

And when they make a fight over something like, well, butt, or wrist sprain, or...

even foreign we know we're going to win it and the more they escalate the country the more dramatic the victory i really think there's a great opportunity which we're going to keep plugging away at which is which is the fact that you all the odds fight hard for what you believe is right and win the hell of a betting

That impression, I think, is more important to the public than the fact that we have these fights.

I mean, I think they may score a point on a hero they want to be.

Attack Butts for being a big business hero.

Attack Lindquist for his civil rights record or what have you.

But I think in the end, we come out winning on these as long as we... As long as we win them.

As long as we win them.

Keep our heads down and keep plugging them.

All right.

McGregor's doing a fine job.

McGregor and Timmons, they're really counting very, very carefully.

And Scott, Ford, their whole bunch are really putting their...

Nixon phone call with Colson on India-Pakistan War and Public Opinion

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on December 6, 1971

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