Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 16 › Conversation 016-072

Nixon phone call with Mills on Tax legislation and Congressional relations

Thursday, December 9, 1971 · 2:38 PM–2:39 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Mills, Wilbur D.Conversation016-072 on Tape 16 (tape position 02:29:51–02:31:28)StartThursday, December 9, 1971 at 2:38 PMEndThursday, December 9, 1971 at 2:39 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 016-072 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon calls Congressman Wilbur Mills to commend him for securing the House passage of recent tax legislation despite opposition from George Meany and Edward B. Miller regarding the "check off" provision. Mills reports that key Senate figures, including Russell B. Long, Herman E. Talmadge, and Carl T. Curtis, have expressed confidence in the bill's prospects in the upper chamber. Nixon offers to intervene by calling senators if necessary, though both agree to monitor the situation for any signs of obstruction.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Hello.

Congressman Wilbur Mills, Mr. President.

Yeah.

Hello, Mr. President.

How are you?

Well, congratulations.

The main thing, congratulations to the country.

Well, it had to pass.

Yeah, we needed it.

And it's truly, we were battling what I thought was a combination that might

some trouble though so many of them didn't like any of that check off deal yeah they got this letter from uh meanie or from miller yeah asking them to vote against the whole thing but only 74 followed 300 i was surprised at the size of that boat yeah but uh well it shows that the chairman's got some got some influence jerry ford and john burns and others

Yeah, well, we do appreciate it.

What's the next step now?

The Senate's supposed to take it up either later today or tomorrow.

And what is your view as to what will happen?

Are they trying to get through, or are they going to get through?

They are.

They are, and Russell and Herman Talmadge told me when we broke up that they didn't anticipate a bit of trouble in the Senate.

And Carl Curtis chimed in and said the same thing.

That's fine.

Well, if you hear anything, if I'm needed to call anybody, I'll do it.

I haven't, but if you'll keep us posted, I would appreciate it.

We'll certainly do it.

Otherwise, I'll just assume that it's on track over there.

Because, you know, over there you can't call one person, you call a hundred.

One knows really what they're going to do.

And then you don't know.

Well, okay.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate your time.

Your hard work.

Bye.

I appreciate it.

Thanks a lot.

NARA Description

On December 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills talked on the telephone from 2:38 pm to 2:39 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 016-072 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 16-72

Date: December 9, 1971
Time: 2:38 pm - 2:39 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Wilbur D. Mills.

[See Conversation No. 634-3]

     Tax legislation
          -"Check off" deal
                -George Meany
                -[Edward B.?] Miller
          -Vote
                -Gerald R. Ford
                -John W. Byrnes
                -Senate role
                     -Timing
                     -Russell B. Long
                     -Herman E. Talmadge
                     -Carl T. Curtis
                     -President’s possible telephone calls

Also recorded on December 9, 1971

634-003 2:38 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Wilbur D. Mills met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:38 pm to 2:39 pm.
016-073 2:39 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:39 pm and 2:46 pm.
634-004 2:39 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:39 pm and 2:43 pm.
634-005 2:43 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John W. Byrnes, unknown person(s), and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:43 pm to 2:59 pm.
016-074 2:46 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John W. Byrnes talked on the telephone from 2:46 pm to 2:48 pm.
016-075 2:48 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:48 pm and 7:42 pm.
634-006 2:59 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:59 pm to 3:00 pm.
634-007 3:00 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Hubert Maga, Sophia K. Porson, White House photographer, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:00 pm to 3:29 pm.

All 44 conversations from December 9, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 016-072, December 9, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/016-072 (accessed October 12, 2026).