Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 37 › Conversation 037-096

Nixon phone call with Ehrlichman on Cost of Living Council and Economic policy

Monday, March 12, 1973 · 2:38 PM–2:41 PM ET · White House Telephone · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation037-096 on Tape 37StartMonday, March 12, 1973 at 2:38 PMEndMonday, March 12, 1973 at 2:41 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 037-096 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman coordinate preparations for an upcoming Cost of Living Council meeting, emphasizing the need for realistic goals, deadlines, and direct reporting through the OMB. They discuss personnel issues regarding Attorney General Richard Kleindienst’s attendance, ultimately agreeing to have Donald Santarelli represent the Justice Department. The conversation also briefly touches on the progress of a draft for an upcoming veterans speech and a speculative proposal for a wrap-up address to a joint session of Congress.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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How are you coming on the meeting for tomorrow, John?
I think very well.
We had a good session this morning, had everybody in, and they'll be prepared to tell you what they're going to do about the problem, establish goals and deadlines.
And you've extended it far beyond food, I understand.
Oh, yes.
Which I want.
All the way across the board.
And I just don't want to hear what they can't do.
No, no.
They know that.
They're going to come, and I told them to come prepared with realistic timetables and realistic goals.
And you told them that I had already made the national security decision on the stockpiles.
There's no confusion about that at all.
I told them that there was unmitigated heat under this subject, that they should be prepared to make daily,
or at least weekly accountings to you that it was going to be mainlined through the OMB directly to you.
You'd be looking for reports every morning and so forth.
Good, and we meet at 3 o'clock or something?
Right, 3 o'clock.
Good.
What is the situation, incidentally, with regard to tomorrow's meeting?
I'm going to talk later about it, but I understand Kleindich told me he couldn't come.
He had to be in Florida.
Huh, for a briefing?
No, he's got a...
Make a speech down.
I see.
Now that I didn't know.
Well, let me regroup and find out about that.
He said he could send one of his other people, you know.
Peterson?
I don't know.
That's too bad.
Let me get on top of that.
I hadn't heard that.
I had assumed that was all set.
Why can't you?
Maybe you could do it.
Possibly I could.
You could with the Justice Department backup.
Yeah, get Peterson over to give me some backup.
And Shepard from here.
Yeah.
Well, Kleindies really ought to...
I hope he rides that horse when he goes down there.
Well, he will, won't he?
Because he must be totally aboard.
Yeah, I talked to him Saturday about it.
He's all aboard.
There's no problem there.
He was thinking of sending the Italian over.
He said he's very good.
To Santa Raleigh?
Yeah.
That isn't bad, too.
That's a good idea.
You damned impressive.
That's a good idea.
Why don't we do that?
Let's put him up front.
Fine.
I think that'll work fine.
I'll get something going there, and then I'll just write her down.
Right, right, right.
Good.
Third thing, about the veteran speech, you've got somebody working on one for me.
Yes, sir.
You better have.
Nice, positive veteran speech.
I haven't seen anything on it yet.
I've also had them working on a speculative idea.
I've just gotten a draft and haven't read it.
for a joint session of the Congress, State of the Union, wrap-up.
And I'll talk to you about that some more.
But I thought it was worth putting together to see if we could give this whole thing a proper perspective and make it appear that you had always intended to come up there and wrap up this series.
Well, that's it.
It's speculative.
The problem is really whether the forum is...
I understand.
It's going to be good.
We'll look at it.
Okay.
Fine.

NARA Description

On March 12, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman talked on the telephone from 2:38 pm to 2:41 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 037-096 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 37-96
                                            - 73 -

                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Date: March 12, 1973
Time: 2:38 pm-2:41 pm
Location: White House Telephone

John D. Ehrlichman talked with the President.

[See Conversation No. 419-8A]

       Cost of Living Council meeting
              -Issues
                      -Goals and deadlines
                      -Food and other surpluses
                      -Stockpiles
                      -Office of Management and Budget [OMB] reports
              -Scheduling
                      -Richard G. Kleindienst
                             -Florida speech
                             -Henry E. Petersen
                             -Geoffrey C. Shepard
                             -Donald E. Santarelli

       President's veterans speech
              -Drafting

       Joint session of Congress
               -State of the Union

Also recorded on March 12, 1973

  • 037-095 1:16 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Adele (Langston) Rogers talked on the telephone from 1:16 pm to 1:18 pm.
  • 419-006 1:16 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Adele (Langston) Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:16 pm to 1:18 pm.
  • 419-007 1:18 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:18 pm and 2:33 pm.
  • 419-008 2:33 PM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:33 pm to 3:02 pm.
  • 876-010 3:06 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:06 pm and 3:08 pm.
  • 876-011 3:08 PM · 2 hr 30 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Col. Robinson Risner, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:08 pm to 4:34 pm.
  • 876-012 4:24 PM · 53 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:24 pm and 6:34 pm.
  • 876-013 4:24 PM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:24 pm and 6:34 pm.

All 27 conversations from March 12, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 037-096, March 12, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/037-096 (accessed October 5, 2026).