Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 18 › Conversation 018-002

Nixon phone call with Rogers on Trade Policy and Election Year Strategy

Monday, January 3, 1972 · 9:19 AM–9:23 AM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.Conversation018-002 on Tape 18 (tape position 00:00:58–00:05:20)StartMonday, January 3, 1972 at 9:19 AMEndMonday, January 3, 1972 at 9:23 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 018-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers coordinated their strategy for an upcoming trade initiatives meeting, emphasizing a need to appear supportive of free trade while avoiding actual legislative action during an election year. Nixon explicitly instructed Rogers to manage the presentation to ensure that controversial tariff proposals would be effectively stifled without political fallout. The two also discussed personnel matters, including the decision to decline an appointment for Frederick M. Eaton and the planned announcement of Willis C. Armstrong as Assistant Secretary of State.

Audio

Download MP3 · 6.0 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
At the meeting at 3.30 today, I'm going to attend, and actually I'll open it, and then I'm going to turn to you to share it in a sense.
The main purpose of it is basically to give Peterson a chance to sing on his stuff.
But the thing I want you to know is,
that I feel, and I know Connolly feels it strongly, too, he will not be here.
We're inviting Volcker.
But I want to do everything we can, like at, say, your level, and Connolly's and the rest indicate that we're for all this, but I don't want to get us in the position that we have to carry it, because it's got about a chance of a snowball on hell at this point for us to...
to get in, you know, to reduce tariff barriers and all that sort of thing.
You know what I mean?
Yes.
Well, I don't think we can.
You mean you think we ought to go ahead and propose it as an administration?
The whole point is to set up
What Peterson has asked, he wrote me a long memorandum, we need a legislative strategy because, of course, he's coming off of what we said at the Azars, where we said we'd have preferential to this and that, general preferences.
And the point is that you handle it in such a skillful way that, you see, you get what I mean.
Sure, I do.
Let's kill it without getting caught at it.
I do, I do.
And I've talked to Peterson.
I said, now look here, I wrote him a little memorandum and talked to him, and I said...
This doesn't have a chance, and we've got to handle it skillfully.
We've got to be for it because of our European friends and the rest.
But on the other hand, we cannot move in this direction during an election year because we've got the labor unions against us, the politicians will be against us, and so we're for free trade, but we don't do a hell of a lot about it.
Don't you agree with that?
Absolutely.
And now, on the other hand, what I meant is what you say and the rest of
You've got to say the right things.
That I understand.
Well, of course, Mr. President, on the general proposition, the long-range view, we've got this committee of OECD studying the long-range trade matters, and we've got negotiations going with the community and with the Japanese.
This is not the time, really, to go for legislation.
uh maybe next year you're after something the other thing too is that i uh i've invited that fellow everly but i don't know whether he's in town if he is why he'll be here but otherwise it'll just be you and you and you stands and uh what time is the meeting 3 30.
Well, we had to move it at 3.30 because the others couldn't come.
I'll come over if I may on the Jerry Smith one.
I'd like to sit in on that.
10 o'clock?
Yeah, yeah.
You mentioned that last night.
The other thing you should know is that Fred Eaton called me this morning, and he's all set to go ahead if we're prepared to.
I still feel the way you do.
I think it's too much of a chance.
Yeah, I think it's going to be a disappointment to him, but Bill, they'll kill him.
I think so, too.
They'll kill him.
And second, he's too old and a little bloated and so forth and so on.
On this Willis Armstrong I mentioned to him, to you, him to you the other day, head of our economic assistance secretary of state, I put it all with your people over there, and they're all enthusiastic about it.
Can I go ahead and announce it?
You want to announce it over there, however, which way?
You go ahead.
I'll say that you plan to send his name up.
You might say, too, that I know him, if you don't mind.
I'd rather have you put it out over there, Mr. President, if you will.
Well, maybe we should.
I tell you, you prepare it, because after all, I've known the fellow since I was in England years ago.
We might just announce that he's going to go on.
He's a top-notch fellow in the business.
People like him very much.
You know, he's the executive director of the International Chamber of Commerce.
So I think you'd be very good for that.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, fine.
I'll see you 10 o'clock.
No, incidentally, make that 10.30, because I've got to get McGregor in here first.
Okay.
So make the 10.30 with Smith.
Thank you very much, Mr. Smith.

NARA Description

On January 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 9:19 am to 9:23 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 018-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 18-2

Date: January 3, 1972
Time: 9:19 am - 9:23 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William P. Rogers.

[See Conversation No. 642-14]

     The President’s schedule
          -Forthcoming trade initiatives meeting
                -Opening of meeting
                -Purpose
                      -Peter G. Peterson, John B. Connally, Paul A. Volcker
                            -Attendance

     Tariff proposals
           -Peterson's memorandum
           -Legislative strategy
           -Azores meeting
                 -General preferences
           -The President’s memorandum to Peterson
                 -Chances of passage of tariff changes
                       -European allies
                       -Opposition to free trade
                             -Forthcoming election

                                 -Labor unions, politicians

     Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] Committee
          -Discussions with European Community and the Japanese
          -Legislative proposals

     The President’s schedule
          -William D. Eberle's
          -Gerard C. Smith
               -Rogers

     Frederick M. Eaton
          -Proposals
               -Prospects
          -Age

     Willis C. Armstrong
          -Assistant Secretary of State
          -Announcement of appointment
                -Preparation
          -The President's acquaintance
          -Business ties
                -International Chamber of Commerce

     The President’s schedule
          -Clark MacGregor
          -Smith

Also recorded on January 3, 1972

  • 642-006 9:02 AM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:02 am and 9:07 am.
  • 642-010 9:07 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard A. Moore met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:07 am to 9:14 am.
  • 642-011 9:15 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Gerald L. Warren, unknown person(s), and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:15 am to 9:19 am.
  • 018-001 9:19 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:19 am.
  • 642-012 9:19 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at 9:19 am.
  • 642-013 9:19 AM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 9:19 am.
  • 642-014 9:19 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:19 am to 9:23 am.
  • 642-015 9:25 AM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Rose Mary Woods, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:25 am to 10:04 am.

All 105 conversations from January 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 018-002, January 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/018-002 (accessed October 12, 2026).