Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 77 › Conversation 077-003

Shultz & Friedman on Economic Policy and Foreign Trade

Friday, September 24, 1971 · 9:53 AM–11:03 AM ET · Cabinet Room · 7 min

ParticipantsShultz, George P.; Friedman, Milton; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation077-003 on Tape 77StartFriday, September 24, 1971 at 9:53 AMEndFriday, September 24, 1971 at 11:03 AMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 077-003 ↗

AI Summary

George P. Shultz and Milton Friedman met to deliberate on economic policy, foreign trade strategies, and the potential legal implications of forthcoming administration actions. The discussion centered on specific trade matters, including wheat deals and unilateral actions coordinated with Peter G. Peterson, alongside preparations for a significant economic policy announcement scheduled for October 15, 1971. The participants examined legal alternatives to current regulatory constraints while also briefly addressing scheduling matters for the President.

Audio

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part A, 1:25:45

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NARA Description

On September 24, 1971, George P. Shultz, Milton Friedman, and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:53 am and 11:03 am. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 077-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 77-3

Date: September 24, 1971
Time: Unknown after 9:53 am until 11:03 am
Location: Cabinet Room

George P. Shultz and Milton Friedman [?] met

     [General conversation/Unintelligible]

     Work

     Legal action

     Foreign trade
          -Wheat deal [?]
                -Terms
                -Post-1969 action
          -Meeting with Peter G. Peterson
                -Unilateral action

     The economy
          -Proposed October 15, 1971 action

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 10:29 am

     The President’s schedule

Shultz, et al. left at 11:03 am

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Well, I'll talk to you guys.
I've got to go.
Uh, first, if we could, there's some other way to do it other than bending the anti-axe, but a lot of lawyers are looking at every area, and there are only two or three, one of them.
Okay.
You said it right.
It will be made here in a year and we don't know how long it's going to be.
Our own people .
.
.
. .

— 1 min 27 s with no transcribed speech —

I want to say that it's a beautiful day for some of the nice things.
But there's a lot of work to be done.
And we've got to tell you to be in time.
We've got to tell you.
We've got to tell you.
We've got to tell you.
We've got to tell you.
We've got to tell you.
in special relations with .
This is America, where we .
We've been talking about .
So I should do that .
And they built their base .
And so I said, I should build .
So you protect your base .
But I just wanted to have this back-up, because the key to that is that, for sure, you know, uh, it's an honor to have the, uh, this is the first time this has happened.
I'll be talking about it in a few hours.
I'm actually going to have to do that in a few weeks.
I'm going to have to do that in a few weeks.
I'll be talking about it in a few weeks.
Yeah, later that, it's spooky.
Then it's, yeah, and it's a big, big, big, big, big, big, big,
A very plain story.
It was an unsolved problem that had to be straightened out.
His answer was, politically, the government could not do anything.
And I said to him, Mr. Minister, you are saying to us that the only course the United States can take is the unilateral one.
And he began to crawl back on that, and he said he thought it was a horrible thing for us to do.
That's where the conversation went.
And it was a questioner.
And it was a questioner.
And it was a questioner.
Well, no, I live with this too long, Dave, to get soft on it at this point.
I know you, I want to be sure you have, as I asked the direct speech you sent me, to give a little number on the points that you've given over to you before the meeting, so you just have it back.
Oh, good.
Now, on the, on the October 15th action, I hope the President does it on October 15th, and I hope he doesn't give me the time to do it.
I'd like to see him do it as part of his own authorship.
Well, if he doesn't, then it is.
I mentioned Bill, I mentioned the L.A. community group, and he didn't take the bill, he didn't take the list there.
But the thing of it is, we have the President's direction.
This is it now.
I think we're done.
I will have you in the service.

Also recorded on September 24, 1971

  • 077-002 8:13 AM · 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, and Cabinet officers and staffers, including William P. Rogers met with John B. Connally, David Packard, John N. Mitchell, Rogers C. B. Morton, Clifford M. Hardin, Maurice H. Stans, Laurence H. Silberman, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, James M. Beggs, David M. Kennedy, George P. Shultz, Robert H. Finch, George H. W. Bush, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Peter M. Flanigan, Peter G. Peterson, Herbert G. Klein, Arnold R. Weber, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Gerald L. Warren, Alexander P. Butterfield, Colonel Richard T. Kennedy, John N. Irwin, II, U. Alexis Johnson, Nathanial Samuels, Paul A. Volcker, Arthur F. Burns, Paul W. McCracken, Ezra Solomon, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, and unknown person(s), met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:13 am and 11:03 am.
  • 578-001 8:13 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:13 am and 9:05 am.
  • 578-003 9:05 AM · 47 sec — Manolo Sanchez and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:05 am and 9:52 am.
  • 578-012 9:05 AM · 9 sec — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:05 am and 9:52 am.
  • 578-004 9:52 AM · 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John B. Connally, and Arthur F. Burns met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:52 am to 10:29 am.
  • 077-006 9:53 AM · 43 sec — Manolo Sanchez [?] and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:53 am and 3:15 pm.
  • 578-005 10:33 AM · 1 hr 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Milton Friedman, George P. Shultz, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:33 am to 11:44 am.
  • 077-005 11:03 AM · 6 min — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 9:29 pm.

All 27 conversations from September 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 077-003, September 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/077-003 (accessed November 2, 2026).