Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 18 › Conversation 018-104

Nixon phone call with Connally on Federal budget and Public relations strategy

Tuesday, January 18, 1972 · 3:28 PM–3:29 PM ET · White House Telephone · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.Conversation018-104 on Tape 18 (tape position 05:01:36–05:03:09)StartTuesday, January 18, 1972 at 3:28 PMEndTuesday, January 18, 1972 at 3:29 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 018-104 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417192301 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon directed John Connally to coordinate with Arthur Burns regarding the strategic release and public relations management of the upcoming federal budget message. They discussed leaking information to the Sunday papers to build anticipation, aiming to maximize political impact by framing the initiative as a proposal under consideration. Connally agreed to manage the messaging with Burns to ensure the President could finalize and announce the decision during the official budget release.

Audio

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NARA Description

On January 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 3:28 pm to 3:29 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 018-104 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 18-104

Date: January 18, 1972
Time: 3:28 pm - 3:29 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with John B. Connally.

[See Conversation No. 650-13B]

     Budget message
         -Release
              -Timing
                    -Arthur F. Burns

     Leak on budget
          -Handling
               -Burns
               -Budget message
               -Background

     Announcement

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

hello secretary connolly sir yes sir john just in terms if you would handle with arthur guidance could it uh with regard to that uh budget thing i find that the message goes out monday rather than tuesday so the sunday papers is the right-hand leak on the leak however or the leak the way i think it should be handled rather than

rather than giving away the story, is to build it up by you in your own way.

And to the extent that you want to have Arthur do something, just simply say that

that strong consideration is being given to this, recommended by, you see what I mean?

Yes, sir.

Because then when I, the way I plan to do it is when I sign the budget message, then I will state it.

So that will give us two bites of the apple, which is not a great margin.

And so if you and he could both say that,

recommended by and then you can give all the background as to why we think it's a good idea what the problems are and so forth but the president is considering it and we'll make a decision on it and announce it tomorrow all right at the budget message thing that's fine i'll follow through with him good and you tell him i won't call him all right sir all right thank you

Also recorded on January 18, 1972

018-102 12:41 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, [Thomas] Hale Boggs, Gerald R. Ford, and Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr. talked on the telephone from 12:41 pm to 12:44 pm.
650-013 2:30 PM · 1 hr 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Alexander P. Butterfield, White House operator, Zosimo T. Monzon, and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:30 pm to 3:42 pm.
018-103 2:40 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:40 pm and 3:28 pm.
650-014 3:42 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:42 pm and 3:45 pm.
650-015 3:45 PM · 7 sec — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:45 pm.
018-105 4:12 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:12 pm.
019-001 4:12 PM · 52 sec — the recording device engaged at an unknown time between 4:12 pm and 5:23 pm, but the conversation appears to be blank.
019-002 5:23 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:23 pm.

All 28 conversations from January 18, 1972 →

Nixon phone call with Shultz on Cabinet appointments and Federal budget June 9, 1972 · 3 min
Nixon & Haldeman on Public relations strategy and Media relations June 16, 1971 · 46 min
Nixon phone call with Kissinger on India-Pakistan conflict and Washington Star November 8, 1971 · 8 min
Haldeman & Ziegler on Anne L. Armstrong and Media Leaks December 16, 1972 · 2 min
Haldeman & Armstrong on Cabinet appointments and Media leaks December 16, 1972 · 6 min
Nixon phone call with Ziegler on Henry Kissinger and Press relations June 13, 1973 · 2 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 018-104, January 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417192301). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/018-104 (accessed November 13, 2026).