Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 16 › Conversation 016-080
Nixon, Annenberg & Connally on International Monetary System
Friday, December 10, 1971 · 4:20 PM–4:27 PM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Treasury Secretary John Connally speak with Ambassador Walter Annenberg to discuss upcoming diplomatic meetings and the status of international monetary negotiations. Annenberg shares his observations on European perceptions of the U.S. economic position, while Connally emphasizes the American effort to secure a fair deal regarding trade and balance of payments. The participants express mutual admiration and exchange holiday greetings as they prepare for the President's scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Edward Heath in Bermuda.
- International Monetary System
- John B. Connally
- Walter H. Annenberg
- Balance of Payments
- Edward Heath
- U.S.-European Relations
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Well, a week in about two weeks.
No, about ten, yeah, yeah.
In Bermuda.
I think that you will find the Prime Minister in a cordial frame of mind.
I think he was a bit unhappy for a period.
Yeah, well, we're going to have to, you know, we'll talk very candidly, honestly with him, but I think we'll get along.
We'll get along.
All right.
Mr. President, I'm just delighted to...
that you like the genre?
Well, it's one of the most beautiful things I ever saw.
I can't tell you how much I like it.
It shows so much of a design on your part, too.
I know what that is.
I know what that involved.
Well, I know, but the... And the good taste.
And the good taste is...
Very, very meaningful.
Oh, yes.
Being to me.
Well, let me say it's in good taste.
You're going to be... Oh, incidentally, when you come over to Bermuda, are you going out to your California or you...
What I'm going to do is hopefully my plane at Andrews Air Force to pick me up when we return to Washington.
Sure, sure.
And I'll fly from there directly to California.
Good, good.
Incidentally, would you please give my very best to John Connolly?
Yeah, I'll let you do it.
I'll let you say hello to him.
Here he is.
Mr. Buster?
Walter?
John?
How are you?
Couldn't be better.
That's great.
Well, I'm delighted to hear from you, and I'm looking forward to seeing you.
Because I'm anxious to see how the Star of the President came out.
I planned it about five months ago, went over the drawings.
Yeah.
Naturally, it was executed by Stupin up at Corning, New York.
Yeah.
And I'm
I thought it was an original approach, you know.
Well, I'm sure it is.
I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it's magnificent.
If you had anything to do with it, I know it's superb.
Don, may I tell you how very much I admire your drive, your initiative, and the change of pace you use.
Well... You keep everybody guessing, and that's right.
Well, we've got some tough problems, Walter, as you well know.
It's hard to deal with ten nations at the same time, and it just takes a lot of everything out of us.
And the president has just been magnificent in his approach and his support, so I'm trying to carry out his wishes as best I know them.
And I think we're going to make some headway.
And don't you let anybody kid you that we're trying to tear things up.
We've been the most forthcoming, the most expansionist nation in this world.
You just take it from me.
We want to settle this thing, and we've offered more to settle it than any other nation in the world has offered water.
And so don't let them...
I think our friends here in Europe are attempting to organize...
to play their string out just as firmly and as long as they can.
Well, that's right, because they've got the advantage of it, of us, and they want to keep it as long as they can.
Well, let me give you an example, Walter, without belaboring this.
In the paper the day before yesterday, we saw where Great Britain was going to run a $3 billion surplus in her balance of payments this year.
Mm-hmm.
the largest surplus in her history, the largest in the history of the nation.
That's right.
Now, that's fine.
$3 billion doesn't sound like too much.
But on a $100 billion economy, it's an awful lot.
In our terms, that would mean the equivalent of us running a $33 billion surplus.
And we've never done that, never even come close to it.
If we talked about running a $33 billion surplus, the world would stand on its head.
They don't think we entitled any such thing.
The reaction around Europe is that you're pretty close to a deal, that a deal has been roughed out.
It's just a question of the president and some of the leaders putting the finishing touches on it.
At least that's a reaction that I get occasionally.
out of all the countries over here.
Well, Walter, that's right.
The president's options are entirely open to him.
We've tried to structure it in such a way that we're fairly close, but those countries over there have to be forthcoming a bit now.
We've already gone further than we should, but the president has the options, and if Pompidou, Heath, and the rest of them are halfway reasonable, I think it can be settled in the next month.
Very important because if we let it drag on after January, you could get into a sticky situation.
I understand.
And psychologically, that could be unattractive.
That's right.
That's what I tell them.
They all preach that we're going to have a recession, a worldwide depression.
And I say, well, if you already believe that, you all come up with something.
We've made you an offer.
We're willing to take less than we deserve to keep that from happening.
Now y'all come forward.
But they talk one way and act another.
That's the problem.
But we're not going to be... We can't give on everything, Walter.
We can't take... And you know that.
They want us to give on everything.
But I want to wish you and Lee a very Merry Christmas.
Well, I'll see you before then, but I want to...
Please give our very best to Nellie.
I shall.
All the best to you, John.
Thank you, Walter.
Bye.
NARA Description
On December 10, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Walter H. Annenberg, and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 4:20 pm to 4:27 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 016-080 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 16-80
Date: December 10, 1971
Time: 4:20 pm - 4:27 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Walter H. Annenberg; the conversation begins in progress.
[See Conversation No. 636-8A]
President's schedule
-President’s trip to Bermuda, December 20, 1971
-Prime Minister [Edward R.G. Heath
Gift from Annenbergs
-Star of the President”
Annenberg's schedule
-Bermuda
-California
-Plane
-Andrews Air Force Base
-Washington, DC
John B. Connally
-Greetings
Connally talked with Annenberg for the rest of the conversation.
"Star of the President"
-Steuben
-Corning, New York
Praise
International Monetary situation
-US position
-Expansionism
-European view
-Great Britain
-Surplus in balance of payments
-Amount
-Analogy to US economy
-European view
-Possible deal
-President’s options
-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Heath
-Timing of negotiations
-Recession and depression
-US offer
******************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National Security (B) withdrawal reviewed under MDR guidelines case number LPRN-T-MDR-
2012-005. Segment exempt per Executive Order 13526, 3.3(b)(1) on 06/17/2019. Archivist: DR]
[National Security]
[016-080-w002]
[Duration: 42s]
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND [IMF]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
******************************************************************************
Christmas greetings
-Lenore (Cohn) Annenberg
-Idanell B. (“Nellie”) ConnallyAlso recorded on December 10, 1971
- 636-005 4:05 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:05 pm and 4:07 pm.
- 636-006 4:05 PM · 53 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:05 pm and 4:07 pm.
- 086-002 4:07 PM · 6 min — during the Signing of the Revenue Act of 1971 (HR 10847), President Richard M. Nixon, Russell B. Long, Wallace F. Bennett, Clinton P. Anderson, Herman E. Talmadge, Carl T. Curtis, Jack R. Miller, Robert P. Griffin, Wilbur D. Mills, John W. Byrnes, Jackson E. Betts, Charles J. Chamberlain, Herman T. Schneebeli, Al Ullman, James E. Smith, Larry Woodworth, Thomas Vail, John B. Martin, George P. Shultz, Clark MacGregor, William E. Timmons, and Warren McEleney met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 4:07 pm to 4:18 pm.
- 636-007 4:07 PM · 15 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 4:18 pm.
- 636-013 4:07 PM · 27 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:07 pm and 4:18 pm.
- 636-008 4:18 PM · 52 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:18 pm to 5:11 pm.
- 016-081 4:27 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and John B. Connally talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:27 pm and 4:36 pm.
- 016-082 4:36 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Arthur F. Burns talked on the telephone from 4:36 pm to 4:42 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 016-080, December 10, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/016-080 (accessed October 5, 2026).