Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 86 › Conversation 086-003

Nixon, Mansfield & Scott on International Monetary Policy

Wednesday, December 15, 1971 · 12:08 PM–1:22 PM ET · Cabinet Room

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Mansfield, Michael J. ("Mike");  Scott, Hugh;  Tower, John G.;  Albert, Carl B.;  Boggs, [Thomas] Hale;  Byrnes, John W.;  Ford, Gerald R.;  Patman, Wright;  Widnall, William B.;  Mills, Wilbur D.;  Connally, John B.;  McCracken, Paul W.;  Stein, Herbert;  Peterson, Peter G.;  Shultz, George P.;  Volcker, Paul A.;  Kissinger, Henry A.;  Scali, John A.;  MacGregor, Clark;  Timmons, William E.;  Safire, William L.;  Samuels, Nathanial;  Solomon, Ezra;  White House photographerConversation086-003 onTape 86StartWednesday, December 15, 1971 at 12:08 PMEndWednesday, December 15, 1971 at 1:22 PMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 086-003 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders to brief them on his recent diplomatic discussions with French President Georges Pompidou and the status of U.S. international economic policy. The conversation focused on efforts to address the global monetary crisis, the necessity of realigning exchange rates to restore the competitive position of American goods, and the importance of burden-sharing among trade partners. Nixon highlighted the recent breakthrough in negotiations with France as a critical step toward stabilizing the international monetary system and advancing domestic economic goals like job creation and inflation control.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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35:42John Burns.
35:44So we'll wait.
35:48We'll wait until a couple of others get here before we have a question.
35:57All right, well, I'll take a little bit of Robert.
36:01After the speaker, and then me, after, is that all I see?
36:06What I think so is that probably
37:00over half the time was spent on matters other than the ones we're going to discuss today.
37:05This is a very far-reaching talk.
37:08Pompidou, you know, has been to Russia and has been to Congress in Paris, and it would be a very valuable insight into his evaluation of Soviet-era views on our policy in general.
37:26I in turn, of course, talk in a considerable length about European problems, bilateral problems, and with regard to the issue of peace in Moscow.
37:38So in that respect, I would say it's the best meeting that has probably occurred in America, Mr. President, for a long time.
37:46Our relationship is great.
37:48You don't like it.
37:50It's not good.
37:51It's the best part of it, mostly.
37:54Perhaps because of what they've done, but we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually, we've gradually,
38:20No, I have to say, it's fair to understand that the French-speaking community is extremely valuable.
38:27I thought so.
38:27I thought so for both of us.
38:28It was the most broad-based conversation.
38:32And I congratulate the French-speaking community for improving this time.
38:38A fundamental to our relationship to the French is the matter of the international monetary situation on which we did reach agreement with the French.
38:50John will explain the technical factors for that and what the agreement does mean and what it does not mean.
38:57I would like to put the decision in order.
39:01If you recall, on August 15th, we discussed the idea there, that I refer to the fact that this policy was not simply, and the new policy has been tried, was not simply a policy to stop the rise of the president.
39:19That's the last step to make the play.
39:22but that actually it was a three-layered school.
39:24You had first, we had to move on the inflation front.
39:29Second, we had to move on the job front, that's where the tax came in.
39:37And third, we had to move in here to the monetary fund, to get fair treatment for the dollar and the little money.
39:43And the latter, of course, would also bear very heavily on the job fund, and the long run, not the short run.
39:50Now, I think we can say that our goal on the price line, in phase one and now phase two, it is to see.
39:58I think we can say, as a result of the action of Congress, passing the tax bill,
40:27I think it is probably fair to say
40:57at this time, and that is on the international monetary front.
41:03Because in terms of jobs, for instance,
41:10And that will be a major impact in this intercept.
41:14We had to restore the competitive position of American goods in rural markets.
41:18That meant we had to get a fairer realignment of exchange rates.
41:22In terms of the short run, because first it's hard to understand the rest of this, and of course it's difficult.
41:29With regard to that, I will not get into too much of the Mexican factors.
41:34Let me say that we have three goals.
41:38As we look at the situation in regard to the past, Paul is informing me that we have had seven major monetary crises in the last ten years.
41:50Seven major.
41:51I know that we have had three during the past three years, but before that we had four.
41:58Err...
42:00It became indispensable that we got a new monetary system.
42:03We had a new approach.
42:04We had a mic that pulled.
42:06We had a situation where, no matter how strong the dollar went, that it would relieve us from other currencies around, that it caused fluctuation in monetary markets.
42:17And also, we were getting into positions where other currencies were being revalued at the expense of the dollar, whereas we were standing where we were, and they didn't let me.
42:28That's why we moved on the 15th.
42:29We moved from very, very tough medicine.
42:33We moved from drinking, therefore, to, as you know, less dollar flow.
42:37We moved also, saying that we had to get a better understanding with regard to burden sharing, and that we had to get some understanding with regard to trade, with particularly Europeans and the Japanese.
42:53Now, that's what has happened on those fronts.
42:54But Berger said he had to make sure that the last meeting, the European agreed for the billion dollar report, and our boss had agreed with the German, which was the best we could have, and that we had it correctly expected.
43:09The second, with regard to trade, and one of the essential parts of the agreement with Pompidou, is that now the Franks are going to support our position as to be the common market for Boris Johnson.
43:27The third, with regard to re-evaluation, in other words, the...
43:31With the monetary system, we have reached an understanding of the franc system as to what the relationship should be between the dollar and the franc.
43:43There is still, I should say, a lot of hard bargaining to be done, just as there was a lot of hard bargaining to be done with the franc.
43:53John Connolly will have a meeting with a group of ten this weekend.
43:56And then, of course, we have, to the extent that there are things to be bottomed up with the British, and the Germans, for me, and the Chinese, and the other things that are scheduled.
44:10But all in all, I would say that at this point, the French motorism was, in this past World War II, it was a breakthrough, after we feel very, very good about it.

NARA Description

On December 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and bipartisan Congressional leaders, including Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield, Hugh Scott, John G. Tower, Carl B. Albert, [Thomas] Hale Boggs, John W. Byrnes, Gerald R. Ford, Wright Patman, William B. Widnall, Wilbur D. Mills, John B. Connally, Paul W. McCracken, Herbert Stein, Peter G. Peterson, George P. Shultz, Paul A. Volcker, Henry A. Kissinger, John A. Scali, Clark MacGregor, William E. Timmons, William L. Safire, Nathanial Samuels, Ezra Solomon, White House photographer, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:08 pm and 1:22 pm. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 086-003 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 86-3

Date: December 15, 1971
Time: Unknown before 12:08 pm until 1:22 pm
Location: Cabinet Room

The President met with Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield, Hugh Scott, John G. Tower, Carl B.
Albert, [Thomas] Hale Boggs, John W. Byrnes, Gerald R. Ford, Wright Patman, William B.
Widnall, Wilbur D. Mills, John B. Connally, Paul W. McCracken, Herbert Stein, Peter G.
Peterson, George P. Shultz, Paul A. Volcker, Henry A. Kissinger, John A. Scali, Clark
MacGregor, William E. Timmons, William L. Safire, Nathanial Samuels, and Ezra Solomon; the
White House photographer and members of the press were present at the beginning of the

meeting
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

     [General conversation/Unintelligible]

The President entered at 12:08 pm

     Greetings

******************************************************************************

     President’s meeting with Georges J. R. Pompidou

[To listen to the segment (2m9s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-569.]

******************************************************************************

     United States’ monetary policy
          -Inflation
          -Jobs
          -International Monetary Fund [IMF]
          -Passage of tax bill, August 15
                -Connally
                -Competitive position for United States’ goods
          -Volcker
                -Monetary crisis
          -Need for new monetary system
          -Burden-sharing, trade

******************************************************************************

     International trade and economics

[To listen to the segment (1h16s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-569, E-
570.]

******************************************************************************

     [General conversation/Unintelligible/Camera noise]

     Congressional schedule
         -House of Representatives
         -Senate
               -Defense Appropriation Bill
               -DC bill
               -Continuing Resolution

     State of the Union Address

     Presidential gifts
          -Money clips

     IMF negotiations sensitivity

     [General conversation/Unintelligible]

The President, et al. left at 1:22 pm

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  • 638-009 12:02 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm.
  • 638-010 12:02 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm.
  • 638-011 12:02 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm.
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All 19 conversations from December 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 086-003, December 15, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/086-003 (accessed September 18, 2026).