Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 19 › Conversation 019-178

Nixon phone call with Shultz on Face the Nation and Economic indicators

Sunday, January 30, 1972 · 5:26 PM–5:29 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Shultz, George P.Conversation019-178 on Tape 19StartSunday, January 30, 1972 at 5:26 PMEndSunday, January 30, 1972 at 5:29 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 019-178 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417192675 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon calls George Shultz to commend his performance on 'Face the Nation,' particularly his confrontation with journalist Daniel Schorr. The two discuss positive economic trends, specifically a drop in insured unemployment, while expressing skepticism regarding the reliability of volatile monthly economic statistics. Nixon also mentions his plan to send a firm note to Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns concerning the money supply and praises the recent appointment of Marina von N. Whitman to the Council of Economic Advisers.

Audio

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NARA Description

On January 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz talked on the telephone from 5:26 pm to 5:29 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 019-178 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 19-178

Date: January 30, 1972
Time: 5:26 pm - 5:29 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with George P. Shultz.

     Shultz's “Face the Nation” television appearance
          -The President's previous conversation with Charles W. Colson
                -Daniel L. Schorr
          -Shultz's reaction

     National economy
          -Economic indicators
                -Insured unemployment
                -Retail sales figures
          -Money supply
                -The President's forthcoming note to Arthur F. Burns
                -Burns's role
          -Statistics
                -Administration's reaction

                    -Unemployment
          -Marina von N. Whitman
               -Appointment
                    -Press coverage
                         -Washington Post

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 38% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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).

Oh, George, I didn't get a chance to see it, but Chuck Colson just called me and said you just did a hell of a job on that program.
So I thought you should know that he thought particularly you cut up old Daniel Shore very well, which was good.
Oh, sure, sure.
Well, you should feel good about it.
Did you enjoy the show or not?
That's right.
You're used to bargaining.
Right.
But we really have, you know.
You know, the significant thing about the leading indicators to me was the
figure of that drop in insured unemployment.
I don't know whether that means anything, but the drop of 40,000 is the lowest level apparently since June of 70, so I don't know.
That's bound to reflect itself eventually in the other figures, is it not?
Well, look, I'm
I'm doing some things in the Mike's environment that I trust will help, but I've got another little note to Arthur.
He doesn't know anybody that anybody else knows about it, but it's very strong.
It's only for whatever good that does.
I'm not sure Arthur, though, I think he may not be able to control it as much.
I don't know.
What do you think?
Well, I thought that on that meeting, it wasn't fair.
Yeah.
Admitted that...
They're the best at fishing.
Well, that just kept going on until the old theory that there's still a lot of steam in the boiler, you know, and it's bound to show up.
And also, as we know,
We live and die too much by monthly figures.
I'm convinced of that.
Don't you think so?
Yes, sir.
I thought that...
Marina Whitman got a good flight on first in the post.
She's intelligent.
She's articulate.
She's pretty.
All that, you know, she'll be a good... We now have three people on the council.
All of them can, you know, speak out.
Good.
Well, okay.
Get a little rest.

Also recorded on January 30, 1972

  • 019-172 4:53 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 4:53 pm to 4:56 pm.
  • 019-173 4:56 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:56 pm.
  • 019-174 4:57 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:57 pm.
  • 019-175 4:57 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 4:57 pm to 5:03 pm.
  • 019-176 5:07 PM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 5:07 pm to 5:24 pm.
  • 019-177 5:24 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:24 pm and 5:26 pm.
  • 019-179 5:29 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:29 pm and 5:33 pm.
  • 019-180 5:32 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 5:32 pm to 5:33 pm.

All 11 conversations from January 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 019-178, January 30, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417192675). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/019-178 (accessed November 1, 2026).