Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 11 › Conversation 011-036

Nixon phone call with Haldeman on George Meany and George P. Shultz

Monday, October 11, 1971 · 2:25 PM–2:27 PM ET · White House Telephone ·1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation011-036 onTape 11 (tape position 00:56:45–00:58:02)StartMonday, October 11, 1971 at 2:25 PMEndMonday, October 11, 1971 at 2:27 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 011-036 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman discussed scheduling for a meeting with George Shultz to address pressing labor issues and potential strategy regarding AFL-CIO leader George Meany. The President concurred with advisors that he should avoid a direct meeting with Meany to prevent political complications. Furthermore, Nixon decided to maintain a neutral, non-committal stance toward the press regarding Meany's anticipated public statements.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Mr. Haldeman, sir.
President, Mr. Haldeman.
Sir?
Hi, Bob.
George says that 5 o'clock is fine.
He does want to get into the labor question.
Right.
And one point he raises is, because he's trying to work out these questions for Pat, you know, the answers, is that the question of whether you want to be in the position of meeting, of having a press conference or answering questions with the press when Meany is going to be about to come out with a statement.
Oh, sure.
Because they, which we don't know what it'll be.
The other point is that Meany apparently is angling to set up a meeting with you.
All of our people think that you should not meet with him.
no that's right and uh whatever george says i won't unless you wanted to get into anything any either of those points earlier five o'clock no no no no i should not meet with meanie right and uh that's for others to do right and as far as the uh as far as the press thing is concerned uh george of course doesn't know why we're having it right that's right and the and but but the main thing is i will i'll just just stone fish stone wallet yeah i mean i'll be in there and i'll see uh
I have no comment on that.
I'll have to wait to see.
Right.
Let it speak for itself.
Sure.
Bye.
Okay.

NARA Description

On October 11, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 2:25 pm to 2:27 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 011-036 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 011-036

 Date: October 11, 1971
 Time: 2:25 pm - 2:27 pm
 Location: White House Telephone

 The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

 [See Conversation No. 287-10]

        The President's schedule
             -George P. Shultz
                  -Labor
                         -Patrick J. Buchanan
                         -George Meany
                               -Possible meeting with the President

Also recorded on October 11, 1971

  • 588-003 2:13 PM · 53 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:13 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 287-009 2:14 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:14 pm and 2:25 pm.
  • 287-010 2:25 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:25 pm to 2:27 pm.
  • 011-037 2:27 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:27 pm and 2:36 pm.
  • 287-011 2:27 PM · 42 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 2:27 pm and 2:36 pm.
  • 287-012 2:27 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:27 pm and 2:36 pm.
  • 287-013 2:36 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:36 pm to 2:39 pm.
  • 011-038 2:39 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at 2:39 pm.

All 53 conversations from October 11, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 011-036, October 11, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/011-036 (accessed September 18, 2026).