Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 18 › Conversation 018-089
Nixon phone call with Price on State of the Union and John Ehrlichman
Monday, January 17, 1972 · 2:39 PM–2:43 PM ET · White House Telephone · 7 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. discussed the drafting and tone of the upcoming State of the Union message. The conversation focused on refining specific policy references, particularly balancing mentions of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Vice President regarding tax reform, and adopting a more assertive posture toward Congress by emphasizing the need for legislative action in 1972. Nixon requested that Price consult with John Ehrlichman and Clark MacGregor on these revisions and finalize a draft that strikes the appropriate balance in its concluding appeals to Congress and future generations.
Audio
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.
Hello.
Hi, Ray.
Well, any further thoughts today?
Well, I think... How did you see it in the cold light?
Well, I think it looks pretty good.
John Erlichman thinks it looks good, and just go over to Len Garment, who thinks it looks good.
Len hasn't left yet.
No, he hasn't.
He's going to Shakespeare, huh?
I think they're going to take a trip.
That's right, they were going to, yes.
It's a great thing.
He's going to visit those...
Trade fairs and so forth.
They have a great time.
They're going to Asia.
But they both feel all right about it, do they?
I think so, yes, in terms of tone and approach and so forth.
And John was very enthusiastic.
What's that?
And John Ehrlichman was very enthusiastic.
He wanted to talk to you about the reference to the Secretary of Treasury in there.
He thought it would possibly raise a couple of questions, which he wanted to take up with you first.
whether it might be seen as a slap at the vice president because it was an intergovernmental thing.
Well that's true but we've got to find a way to do both then that you have the intergovernmental thing but we need the if you could have a reference to the Secretary of the Treasury
where you talk about the tax reform, in other words, a sentence like the tax reform, and then say I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to initiate studies in this field, and then go to the IRA or whatever it is, and say under the chairmanship of the Vice President, is doing this and that.
Could you do it that way?
I could try it.
If you could try it that way.
Well, any further thoughts today?
Well, I think... How did you see it in the cold light?
Well, I think it looks pretty good.
John Ehrlichman thinks it looks good, and I'll just go over to Len Garment, who thinks it looks good.
Len hasn't left yet.
No, he hasn't.
He's going to Shakespeare, huh?
I think they're going to take a trip.
That's right, they were going to.
It's a great thing.
He's going to visit those trade fairs and so forth.
They're going to have a great time.
Mm-hmm.
I think they're going to Asia.
But they both feel all right about it, do they?
I think so, yes, in terms of tone and approach and so forth.
And John was very enthusiastic.
What's that?
And John Ehrlichman was very enthusiastic.
He wanted to talk to you about the reference to the Secretary of Treasury in there.
He thought it could possibly raise a couple of questions, which he wanted to take up with you first.
whether it might be seen as a slap at the Vice President because it was an intergovernmental thing.
Well, that's true, but we've got to find a way to do both then.
You have the intergovernmental thing, but we need the...
If you could have a reference to the Secretary of the Treasury where you talk about the tax reform, in other words, a sentence like the tax reform, and then say I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to...
you know, to initiate studies in this field, and then go to the AI, IRA or whatever it is, and say under the chairmanship of the vice president, is doing this and that.
Could you do it that way?
I could try it.
If you could try it that way.
I just want to be very sure that we have great sensitivity there.
And I'm not so concerned about the Agnew, more on the Treasury thing, because the Treasury really has to depend upon, and Agnew I don't.
well i've got two or three other thoughts that i'll work in the night that have to do with that just a second let me get see if i can find my notes here i was wondering if you might uh
try out at that where we come toward the after giving the laundry list that something along this line welfare reform has been for the before the congress for over two and a half years revenue sharing government reorganization our programs on the environment on health on education have been before the congress for as long as the uh for uh for
you know, a period of almost a year or as long as a year or something like that.
1971 was a year for consideration.
1972 should be the year for action.
I'm just thinking of making it a little tougher in that respect.
Would you play with that a bit and run it by Ehrlichman to see what he thinks and by McGregor, that part, okay?
let's see the other things i've i'll note myself i'll take whatever uh if you have any further things don't don't have a new draft i have a draft that you left there today this morning and you have nothing to add to that at this point not uh anything that you'd like to that you might want to add you just to send it in and uh then i'll tonight uh add a couple three little thoughts that i have and then and we'll have another one now
drawn off tomorrow.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, fine.
Sure will do.
Fine, fine.
Any special time you'd want this, anything set in?
Yes.
Yours, anything that you have, I won't need a seven.
30 to 9.
But not as a folder draft?
No, I see no reason to.
In other words, I see no reason to type the whole thing off just to put on a page.
But if you have an insert, like if you've got an insert on this like this or a couple of others, you might say on this page I do this, on this page I do that, and this.
Then I'll take the whole thing and fiddle around with it and try to...
I have a couple of thoughts that might lift a bit.
Do you think the conclusion comes off all right now?
I think it's a little stronger with the great Congress idea, don't you?
I think it's a pretty good idea.
I'm not sure whether the great Congress is the best thing to do when you're talking about... A bunch of slobs like this.
Or when you're saying what the generations to come will say.
Yeah.
uh there might just be some some some different some way of putting it in yeah this was just describing it a little bit yeah fine try fine all right good good try and find some other way to put it but we can always play with that right to the last okay all right great
NARA Description
On January 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. talked on the telephone from 2:39 pm to 2:43 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 018-089 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 18-89
Date: January 17, 1972
Time: 2:39 pm - 2:43 pm
Location: White House Telephone
The President talked with Raymond K. Price, Jr.
[See Conversation No. 315-4]
Thoughts on the State of the Union message
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Leonard Garment
-Trip to Asia
-Tone and approach
-Ehrlichman and Garment
Ehrlichman
-References to the Secretary of the Treasury
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Intergovernmental relations committee
-Tax reform
-Intergovernmental relations committee
Revisions
-The President's notes
List of programs before Congress
-Revision of statement
-Welfare reform, revenue sharing, government reorganization
-Environment, health, education
-1971
-Compared to 1972
-Tone
-Ehrlichman, Clark MacGregor
-Handling of draft
-Additions
-Timing of delivery to the President
Conclusions
-Appeals to Congress, future generationsAlso recorded on January 17, 1972
- 315-017 2:34 PM · 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:34 pm and 3:43 pm.
- 315-018 2:34 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:34 pm and 3:43 pm.
- 315-019 2:34 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Roger Staubach met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:34 pm and 3:43 pm.
- 315-004 2:39 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Raymond K. Price, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:39 pm to 2:43 pm.
- 018-090 2:43 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:43 pm and 2:47 pm.
- 315-005 2:43 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:43 pm and 2:47 pm.
- 018-091 2:47 PM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 2:47 pm to 3:10 pm.
- 315-006 2:47 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:47 pm to 3:10 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 018-089, January 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/018-089 (accessed September 29, 2026).