Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 017-024
Date: Friday, December 24, 1971 at 4:41 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rumsfeld, Donald H.; Nixon, Richard M. (President); Rumsfeld, Donald H.
Recording device: White House Telephone
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/017-024

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Yeah.
[0:04] Hello, Don.
[0:04] Yes, sir.
[0:05] How are you?
[0:05] I called to tell you that, uh, to wish you a Merry Christmas and, uh, to tell you that I thought you did a fine job on your press thing.
[0:14] Well, thank you.
[0:16] And, uh, the, uh, it just, uh, I just hope you can continue to get out now, man, and make some good positive news with that typical upbeat Rumsfeld style.
[1:25] We've had a great year, you know, if you think about it, the past months.
[1:33] Well, we've been, we've had, you know, natural ups and downs, we always do, but I know Henry, he's all worried about India-Pakistan.
[1:39] I said, now, Henry, look,
[1:41] We can't be responsible for everything that goes on in the world.
[1:49] And on that, we just thank God it's over and West Pakistan is safe.
[1:54] And I went further and I said, I've talked to quite a few people in the last week.
[2:02] I've never heard anybody raise the subject.
[2:04] It's too bad, but I'm afraid they don't care much about it in this country.
[2:05] I think that's true.
[2:06] It isn't like Vietnam or Israel.
[2:07] There are no Indians in this country or Pakistanis.
[2:09] I think there is a good deal.
[2:19] And also, they wanted us to stay out of it, too, I guess.
[2:26] We've got a couple of weeks coming up, too.
[2:31] Yeah, these meetings were a good idea, but they certainly filled the schedule.
[2:33] I talked to Bob Alden this week, suggesting that if there's an opportunity to come, given the public interest in the
[2:36] economic matters, but if periodically you could be involved from a leadership standpoint, it would kind of balance out some of the triplets.
[2:52] Well, I'm going to do a program with rather an hour with the CBS.
[2:55] Yes, sir.
[2:55] I heard that yesterday.
[2:56] And my guess is that he will take, I would think, at least a third of it on that.
[2:58] I just don't know, but you never know what these people are going to ask about.
[3:00] What's his name for it?
[3:01] They did.
[3:02] Don't worry, we didn't pick him.
[3:10] No, he's their white-ass man, and I guess they're trying to build him up, but it's all right.
[3:14] Let him have a little...
[3:16] He doesn't have an easy manner like the Cronkite does, or Severide.
[3:18] On the other hand, it might be just as well to have somebody that's a bit of bracy, you know, by contrast.
[3:24] That's the way I feel about it.
[3:25] I never worry about that.
[3:26] The minute you get a soft question, it's a bad one.
[3:28] You need them hard.
[3:34] You've got to have them press you.
[3:41] They've got to press, and it's got to look as if it's credible, too.
[3:44] That's right.
[3:48] Now, we'll have some opportunities, particularly after these trips, you see.
[3:54] Then comes all the, well, the whole State of the Union this year is domestic, so that's good.
[3:56] The Vietnamanos, another Vietnamanos we made, that'll be routine.
[3:57] So after the 3rd,
[3:58] or after the Senate meeting, we then sort of turn domestic until I leave for China, which is a full month.
[4:11] I think that'll be pretty good.
[4:13] I do, too.
[4:14] And I just hope the hell the economic news turns out to be pretty good.
[4:18] Looks like we had a pretty good Christmas sale, don't you think so?
[4:20] Retail sales.
[4:21] I've been watching that, but...
[4:22] Checked around the country, and it's very strong.
[4:23] Yeah?
[4:23] Rob Fincher was telling me yesterday that it was particularly strong in Southern California, you know, at a period where we have high unemployment, but he says there are
[4:28] Retail sales are 25% above last year there.
[4:33] For some reason, they just soared in that area.
[4:38] That's curious, isn't it?
[4:40] It is.
[4:40] Well, the feeling's good.
[4:42] What do you hear?
[4:42] I think people's attitudes are basically confident, and it's being reflected in their spending.
[4:46] They are more confident, aren't they?
[4:48] They really are.
[4:49] And you know, really, when you come down to it, Don, the wage price thing has worked.
[4:53] Now, in looking to the future...
[4:55] It can't work this well, but my gosh, if we had ever thought of having a two-tenths month, three months in succession, we'd have thought you're out of your mind.
[5:06] That's right.
[5:08] It's really fantastic.
[5:09] And that's going to affect the children as you keep moving along.
[5:11] Sure.
[5:12] If we can keep it at about, not two-tenths, but around three-tenths next month, next year, that's really, that's great.
[5:20] Sure is.
[5:20] And I think we will.
[5:22] Three-tenths to four-tenths is livable.
[5:24] Well, we're going to keep on lifting the controls on some of these.
[5:34] Right, oh boy.
[5:35] It's unmanageable like we've been doing.
[5:36] What about rents?
[5:37] What should we do about rents?
[5:38] Well, Tom Curtis has come in with some recommendations that go pretty far, and we've announced some of them, and they've been received fairly well.
[5:45] We've got some plans for January and February after these.
[5:47] that the program that's in place now is settled to actually decontrol.
[5:53] And one thing we'll do is we'll decontrol luxury apartments.
[5:58] Then we'll probably decontrol all rents in cities where the vacancy rate is, say, above 7% to show that there's competition.
[6:06] That's right.
[6:07] Like Los Angeles.
[6:08] It's silly to have rent control.
[6:09] My God, they've got so many vacancies.
[6:11] And Florida.
[6:11] That's the way I feel.
[6:12] To hell with it.
[6:12] In a city where they've got a lot of vacancy, why should we be messing around with it?
[6:15] Excellent idea.
[6:15] Excellent idea.
[6:17] So that'll probably be the way it'll go on radio.
[6:19] And I would do it with the decontrol with as little fanfare as possible, you know, just get it done.
[6:27] Because when you do decontrol, and it's a big story, then people think, oh, they're giving up.
[6:32] But just sort of slip it in on a weekend or sometime when there's another big story.
[6:36] Let it be a secondary story.
[6:38] The more you can handle those stories, the stories in this place you can't win on.
[6:43] So the thing to do is to sort of, the best way is to make very little publicity, except about the overall good figures, if you've got any good figures.
[6:51] Don't you agree?
[6:52] Yes, sir.
[6:53] I think maybe we'll do that when you leave for China.
[6:55] That'll be the biggest news in town.
[6:57] That's a good idea.
[7:00] That's a good idea.
[12:03] Okay.
[12:04] Well, have a good Christmas and don't worry about anything over the weekend.
[12:10] Just watch football games.
[12:12] Okay, I'll do it.
[12:13] We're delighted to be in your... Oh, incidentally, did you see, when they asked you, did you see Brian's song?
[12:20] No.
[12:21] You know what I'm talking about?
[12:23] No.
[12:24] The Piccolo story?
[12:26] No.
[12:26] Never even heard of it.
[12:28] Well, the Chicago Bears in 1965 and 6 had this...
[12:30] Halfback, Brian Piccolo, who played with Gail Sayers.
[12:37] Piccolo got cancer and died.
[12:40] He and Sayers were close friends.
[12:45] ABC had made a movie of it, an hour and a half movie, and it is, I saw it last night at the White House.
[12:49] It is the most beautiful movie.
[12:50] It's very emotional and corny in many ways.
[12:51] But I'm having it put on at the White House Monday night for anybody in the White House family that would like to see it in the theater here.
[12:55] And I would urge you to bring your children.
[12:58] It is a beautiful story.
[12:59] It is the best story on race relations.
[13:02] It'll do more good on race relations than anything I have seen in years.
[13:06] It's that good.
[13:08] It shows how Sayers and Piccolo room together.
[13:12] And, you know, really, and how Sayers saw him through to his death and all that.
[13:17] But you be sure to come see it.
[13:18] We'll do that.
[13:19] Okay.
[13:19] Very good.
[13:19] Okay.
[13:19] Have a good trip.