Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 264 › Conversation 264-012

Nixon & Romnes on Labor Relations and Telecommunications

Wednesday, July 21, 1971 · 2:43 PM–2:47 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Romnes, Haakon I.Conversation264-012 on Tape 264 (tape position 03:20:45–03:26:07)StartWednesday, July 21, 1971 at 2:43 PMEndWednesday, July 21, 1971 at 2:47 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 264-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with AT&T Chairman Haakon I. Romnes to express personal gratitude for the company's efforts in maintaining critical communication services during recent labor disputes. Nixon highlighted the essential role of telephone infrastructure during the recent high-stakes announcement regarding China. The conversation transitioned into an economic discussion, with Nixon voicing concerns regarding productivity and international competitiveness within the American steel industry as he sought a reasonable labor settlement.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 38% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.
Yeah.
Hello.
Well, I knew that you would call me when I was in California, and this is good news, but I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated the fact that the company found a way to keep that service going.
I used a lot of telephones during that period.
You probably guessed by now.
And also, I think it's really fine the way you worked the settlement out.
Well, no, they're, yeah, right.
Well, everything is important.
But I thought one graphic way you got it across, and I liked it, was they had a fine picture of these men.
They had a picture of, you know, supervisors and others working, you know, doing the phone thing.
And it shows you can do it, you know.
And that's one thing.
We think of things that are indispensable these days, and I suppose that before the days of telephone, people, of course, they got along without it.
But now, like when we had to inform in space 15 minutes before this China announcement almost two days ago, we had to inform 24 government ambassadors and about 50 people
We couldn't give them more than 15 minutes in advance notice because of the possibility of leaking.
But we could only do it with telephone.
We couldn't use color records.
So we just bagged those phones and ran up quite a bill.
But I think we can pay the bill.
Right.
Well.
I wish you would do, I wish you would convey, if you would, I know there must be somebody in your organization, the people that you kept going and not only, I know some of them were wondering, that was a high management decision, but there must have been an awful lot of very loyal people that really broke through, you know, went around the clock and made that time and just say that there's one guy that appreciated it.
That kind of loyal people in an organization are really hard to come by.
And you appreciate them, right?
Well, good.
Yeah.
We just hope now we can get steel settled in a reasonable way.
That's our next big one.
We've had fairly constructive reports, at least on the local issues.
Of course, the money thing has come.
It's just because the steel people have had it in New York, the labor union hasn't had it.
He's right for a long time.
But when I had the men, I told them, I can't believe it.
Here they are.
In the last 10 years, they have less people working in the field than they had 10 years ago.
Over the last 20 years, we've gone from 50% of the world's production to 23% of the world's production.
And if these folks don't buckle down and find some way to increase productivity, they may have very high wages and then new jobs.
That's what American businesses have got to understand.
I mean the ones where they have this competitive problem.
Oh, well, you know exactly what it is then.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, the thing that I, that we're trying to emphasize to the, on the labor side, of course, the industry side of the world, as you know, in the 70s,
The public eye, and of course everybody's eye, is on the amount, how much.
But the important thing is to get some progress on work groups.
And their unions are just talking as they can be.
And if they just have a big settlement here without announcing that there's going to be some kind of new attitude on the part of unions working with management,
to make steel more competitive, that's going to be very bad for the law.
So if even that can come out, it will be helpful.
But anyway, we'll hope for the best.
And I do appreciate what you've done.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On July 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Haakon I. Romnes met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:43 pm to 2:47 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 264-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 264-012
Date: July 21, 1971
Time: 2:43 pm - 2:47 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building
The President talked with Haakon I. Romnes.
[See Conversation No. 6-173]

Also recorded on July 21, 1971

  • 006-172 2:39 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 2:39 pm to 2:42 pm.
  • 264-011 2:39 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:39 pm to 2:42 pm.
  • 006-173 2:43 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Haakon I. Romnes talked on the telephone from 2:43 pm to 2:47 pm.
  • 006-174 2:47 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 2:53 pm.
  • 264-013 2:47 PM · 10 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 2:47 pm and 2:51 pm.
  • 264-014 2:47 PM · 4 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 2:47 pm and 2:51 pm.
  • 541-002 2:52 PM · 2 hr 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Willie J. Usery, Jr., Stephen B. Bull, Stephen B. Bull, John B. Connally, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, Charles W. Colson, George H. Mahon, White House operator, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:52 pm and 5:04 pm.
  • 541-001 2:53 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Miss Lund (secretary to J. Curtis Counts) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:53 pm to 2:54 pm.

All 37 conversations from July 21, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 264-012, July 21, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/264-012 (accessed October 13, 2026).