Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 46 › Conversation 046-061

Nixon phone call with Shultz on Minimum wage and Youth differential

Tuesday, May 15, 1973 · 3:38 PM–3:42 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Shultz, George P.Conversation046-061 on Tape 46StartTuesday, May 15, 1973 at 3:38 PMEndTuesday, May 15, 1973 at 3:42 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 046-061 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and George Shultz discussed adjustments to the administration's minimum wage bill to facilitate progress in congressional committee negotiations. They agreed to drop the proposed youth differential for 18 and 19-year-olds, implement a notification-based policing process for 16 and 17-year-olds, and concede on the coverage of state and local employees. Additionally, they reaffirmed the decision to avoid concessions on common-situs picketing, agreeing that Secretary of Labor Peter Brennan should lead the minimum wage negotiations to allow him to claim a legislative victory.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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Hello, Mr. President.
Hi, George.
I guess we're going to see each other tomorrow at 3, but you had something you wanted to pick up now.
We have some questions for you on the minimum wage that are urgent because Wrighton is working with the cashier.
Sure.
Give him some.
Right.
Go ahead, I think.
Al Cui has been working with him effectively.
Right.
And we have some changes that...
I think we probably need to make in our position if we're going to get anywhere with the committee.
All right.
And they are as follows.
First, in terms of the youth differential, the idea of a differential for 18 and 19-year-olds seems to be almost impossible to sustain.
Okay.
The Republicans are not very strong for it now.
uh they point out that these people are vietnam war veterans and voters also know they vote so i think that we probably ought to drop that drop it okay now on the 16 and 17 year olds in order to show the union people that we are policing this properly we uh
would want to agree to a procedure whereby an employer who wishes to hire one of these young people, youth at the lower rate, simply fills out a form and sends it in to the wage and hour office.
The key alternative was to have the secretary make an approval.
We think if the secretary has to make an approval,
Of course, some bureaucracy has to know that nobody will ever get hired.
That's right.
But if we just have a notification process, then that can be policed, and the wage and hour at least becomes aware of the fact that... Well, all right, let's try that and see what they do with it.
Good.
Then I think that the third issue of some importance, but which we think we can give ground on, all right, has to do with coverage of state and local employees.
I know that Ken Cole has had extreme reservations about this.
I've talked with him about it.
It is not a matter.
It doesn't affect very many people.
It doesn't bother me.
Most of them are above the minimum wage.
It doesn't really bother me.
Okay.
So I think it's mainly the local people and so forth.
So George, your judgment is good on a thing like this.
We'll go ahead.
Well, suppose I tell Pete to go ahead and try to work this out.
And he'd love to tell Pete that he gets the chance to make the deal.
Right.
The other thing I know he wants, his site is picketing, but you still don't want to give on that yet, do you?
I believe that is a loser of an issue.
That is, it not only divides employers from the construction unions, but it divides the industrial unions from the construction unions.
He doesn't see it that way, does he?
Well, he sees it from the standpoint of the construction union.
Right, right, right.
And I went into that in great detail when I was Secretary of Labor, and I talked about it since with John Dunlop.
It's a hornet's nest, and our best, I believe, our best bet, it's not a live hornet's nest at this point.
It's just a leave-it-alone.
Well, at least don't let Pete know he's getting his one-a-couple here.
Yeah, right.
We're being very careful to have him manage this whole thing.
Yeah, and let's say that directly.
Let him make his one-a-couple, and then you and I can talk about the other things tomorrow.
Okay, sir.
Three o'clock tomorrow?
That's fine.
Fine.
Fine.
Okay.

NARA Description

On May 15, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz talked on the telephone from 3:38 pm to 3:42 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 046-061 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 46-61

Date: May 15, 1973
Time: 3:38 pm - 3:42 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with George P. Shultz.
                                            -35-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

[See also Conversation No. 435-29]

     Minimum wage
          -Peter J. Brennan
          -Albert H. Quie
          -Youth differential
                -18-year-olds and 19-year-olds
                       -Republican response
                       -Veteran voters
                -16-year-olds and 17-year-olds
                       -Labor unions
                       -New hires
                             -Notification
                                   -Wage and hour office
                             -Approval
                                   -Quie plan
                             -Notification process
                                   -Wage and hour office
          -State and local employees
                -Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
          -Brennan

     Common-situs picketing
         -Brennan
         -Divisions
               -Employers
               -Unions
                     -Industry
                     -Construction
         -John T. Dunlop

     President’s schedule
           -Meeting with Shultz

Also recorded on May 15, 1973

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  • 046-060 3:37 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:37 pm and 3:38 pm.
  • 046-062 3:42 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:42 pm and 3:44 pm.
  • 046-063 3:44 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 3:44 pm to 3:51 pm.
  • 046-064 3:51 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:51 pm and 4:19 pm.
  • 046-065 4:19 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 4:19 pm to 4:20 pm.
  • 046-066 5:01 PM · 8 min — Ronald L. Ziegler and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 5:01 pm to 5:08 pm.

All 67 conversations from May 15, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 046-061, May 15, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/046-061 (accessed October 1, 2026).