Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 249 › Conversation 249-018

Nixon & Buchanan on Economic policy and GNP

Thursday, April 15, 1971 · 4:31 PM–4:34 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Buchanan, Patrick J.Conversation249-018 on Tape 249 (tape position 02:28:00–02:31:04)StartThursday, April 15, 1971 at 4:31 PMEndThursday, April 15, 1971 at 4:34 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 249-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Patrick Buchanan to strategize on how to frame recent economic indicators to emphasize a positive turnaround in the economy during the month of March. Nixon specifically directed Buchanan to isolate March data to demonstrate growth in retail sales and demand, countering negative media narratives focused on sluggish industrial production. Additionally, the two briefly touched upon a recent positive column by James J. Kilpatrick that had been recommended to the President by his daughter, Julie.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I suppose those figures are not in because they are all in yesterday.
I guess the GNP figure, the GNP, 28 and a half.
How about the retail sales?
Right.
And, yeah, tell me about Steele, another thing.
I've got a second before I talk about Steele.
They do check the competitive situation.
What I'd like to be able to do is to sort out, I told Bertie a moment ago, to sort March out of the first quarter.
For example, be able to say that you might do a little check on this where you're going to
that retail sales and marketing is the biggest increase and blah, blah, blah, blah.
That, for example, let me put it in another context.
Looking at the first quarter, the first quarter was the biggest
stock market sale in that history, of course, quite long.
But looking at March, March was the turnaround, you see, the first two months were sluggish.
But March retail sales, automobiles, house and starts, whatever the hell you want, I think it's that that I did, if we could get anything there that sorts March out and makes it look like a very strong month.
You see, because the quarter will look modern, but the month of March, if you look particularly at that, you see, the other thing is that the story this morning in the papers related to an index that is not really a true prediction of the future, industrial production.
Industrial production moves very slowly, but it only moves
Once the retail sales and everything else, you know, creates the demand, you see.
And then if your demand goes up, then they build more plants.
Like plant equipment predictions this year are very heavy.
That's because of what they expect in the future.
And industrial production is relatively low because it isn't needed.
But inventories are down.
Now, this is all complicated stuff, but I don't want to go into too much detail.
That's kind of what...
One other thing, Julie was telling me on the phone last night that, uh, and I, that, uh, Kale Patrick had a very good column, and she thought I should read something on the paper last, yesterday, at the department or something.
Did you tell her anything?
I don't know.
I, she, she said something about the speech or Vietnam or something.
I, but she wanted me to read it so very early.
Yeah, you come on time, and you'll be, yeah, fine, I'll do the calling.

NARA Description

On April 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:31 pm to 4:34 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 249-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 249-18

Date: April 15, 1971
Time: 4:31 pm - 4:34 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Patrick J. Buchanan

[See Conversation No. 42-48]

Also recorded on April 15, 1971

  • 249-016 4:05 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:05 pm to 4:32 pm.
  • 249-017 4:05 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 4:05 pm and 4:31 pm.
  • 042-048 4:31 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan talked on the telephone from 4:31 pm to 4:34 pm.
  • 042-049 4:34 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 249-019 4:34 PM · 9 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 4:34 pm and 4:35 pm.
  • 042-050 4:35 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 4:35 pm to 4:36 pm.
  • 249-020 4:35 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:35 pm to 4:36 pm.
  • 249-021 4:42 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Patrick J. Buchanan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:42 pm to 4:52 pm.

All 71 conversations from April 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 249-018, April 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/249-018 (accessed October 3, 2026).