Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 204 › Conversation 204-002

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on 1972 Republican National…

Thursday, August 17, 1972 · 8:30 PM–10:32 PM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 21 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation204-002 on Tape 204StartThursday, August 17, 1972 at 8:30 PMEndThursday, August 17, 1972 at 10:32 PMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 204-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon utilized this session at Camp David to rehearse and refine his address for the 1972 Republican National Convention. He practiced key sections of the speech, focusing on defending his administration's economic record, criticizing the opposition's proposed tax and welfare policies, and outlining his vision for American prosperity. The recording documents his editorial process as he adjusted the language to emphasize themes of individual initiative, judicial philosophy, and the preservation of the American economic system.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 23.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 5.6 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 6% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I shall not dwell on the record of our administration, which has been praised perhaps too generously by other speakers at this convention.
I am proud of our record, but I am not satisfied that a record is not something to stand on, but is something to build on.
I do not ask you to join the new majority.
I ask your support of those principles, as I believe in, which will determine our future.
Paragraph.
I begin with an article of faith.
Paragraph.
It has become fashionable in recent years to fight up what is wrong.
I totally disagree.
I believe in the American system.
I'm content it is perfect.
It's a perfect world.
It's an economic system.
The world is there now.
I have traveled to 80 countries in the past 29 years.
I have seen communism.
have more jobs and higher wages than any country in the world.
The inflation is the lowest of any industrial nation.
People on welfare in the United States will be rich in most of the nations of the world today.
Our system has its problems.
We have given the biggest tax cut
1969 we this tax cut 1969 we are proud to have given the biggest tax cut in America to the American people in history but taxes are still too high very good yes
So it's our goal, that's one of the goals of our next administration, to lift the burden of the property tax on the shoulders of the poor, the underprivileged, those with extra modest incomes.
We have cut inflation one half.
The employment today is less than the average for the peacetime years of the 1960s by the American wage earners.
Hey, America.
We've got to have a job.
Prosperity.
We've got to have a job.
Our goal is a new prosperity.
Any American who wants to work can have a job without war and without inflation.
The way to achieve this goal is to stay on the high road.
The sharp detour to the left, which would lead to a dead end.
We believe in a different philosophy.
The new politics and practice the old politics.
The oldest politics of all.
That every voter has his price.
That it's $1,000 a person.
That in making this proposal they have underestimated the importance of the voter.
You know that every politician
Promise has a price.
Taxpayer pays the bill.
The American people are not going to be taken in by the old shell game.
The old shell game.
It gives with one hand and takes away with another.
It gives money with one hand and takes it away with another.
It's everything to everybody, but an increase of $140 billion in our budget, which would mean a 50% tax increase for 80 million American workers, not workers, but the wage earners.
I say the taxes are too high.
I oppose any new spending programs to the tax burden of the American people, of the American workers.
I disagree with their proposals which would add 80 million to the welfare laws.
They have also proposed
Three years ago, I proposed welfare reform based on these principles.
It is wrong for a man who works to receive less than an animal.
It is wrong for a man who works to support his children.
what we need is a new program, a new welfare program, a new program which will provide incentives for people to get off of welfare rather than their program.
Finally, there's a fundamental
It's a philosophy which has made America the economic wonder of the world.
Americans pay 40% of their taxes.
Taxes are increased so that Americans pay over 50% of their income in taxes.
Cross the line.
where the American workers, where American waiters will be working more for the government than they will for themselves.
It has been tried.
It has been tried before.
In countries abroad.
Right.
To regret.
Once this happens,
cannot turn back.
This is then to destroy the initiative.
All right, economic.
That's going to work.
I'll do this to America.
came not for a handout.
They knew.
A man gets what he works for and works for what he gets.
by disillustration, period.
Economic policies, we have built a great building in the world.
We've built an economic
The windows are broken.
They say, tear it down and start again.
We say, replace the windows.
Second.
There we go.
There it is.
They're totally broken.
Man on welfare.
It is totally wrong for a man on welfare to receive more than someone who works.
Now going on with the case.
Thank you.
All right.
All right.
another insert after you have that 1, 2, 3, 4 about the law firm they insert this as one of the lines they're talking about law firm let us quit treating this country the older retired
are taught all their lives to build.
What they ask.
There you go.
I continue to appoint judges who share my thoughts.
These horses are against the criminal forces.
I realize that's imperative that they would act.
Good night.

NARA Description

On August 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:30 pm and 10:32 pm. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 204-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 204-2

Date: August 17, 1972
Time: Unknown between 8:30 pm and 10:32 pm
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President rehearsed his "Remarks on Accepting the Presidential Nomination of the
Republican National Convention".

[A transcript of the speech appears in Public Papers of the Presidents, 1972, pp. 787-795.]

      [Pause]

The President replayed portions of his speech at an unknown time between 8:30 pm and 10:30
pm.

Also recorded on August 18, 1972

  • 140-028 8:30 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:30 pm and 10:32 pm.
  • 204-003 8:30 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 8:30 pm and 10:32 pm.
  • 140-029 10:32 PM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 10:32 pm to 10:51 pm.
  • 204-004 10:32 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 10:32 pm to 10:51 pm.
  • 140-030 10:51 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:51 pm and 11:02 pm.
  • 204-005 10:51 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:51 pm and 11:02 pm.
  • 140-031 11:02 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at Camp David from 11:02 pm to 11:04 pm.
  • 204-006 11:02 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 11:02 pm to 11:04 pm.

All 22 conversations from August 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 204-002, August 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/204-002 (accessed October 12, 2026).