Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 273 › Conversation 273-024

Nixon & Connally on Economic policy and Import tax

Thursday, August 12, 1971 · 7:22 PM–7:26 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.Conversation273-024 on Tape 273 (tape position 03:41:47–03:45:26)StartThursday, August 12, 1971 at 7:22 PMEndThursday, August 12, 1971 at 7:26 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 273-024 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard M. Nixon and Treasury Secretary John B. Connally met to finalize preparations for the administration's forthcoming economic program. They discussed the implementation of an import tax and the political implications regarding textile negotiations with Japan. The pair also coordinated a strategy for consulting key congressional leaders, including Wilbur D. Mills, John W. Byrnes, and Russell B. Long, prior to the public announcement.

Economic policy
Import tax
John B. Connally
Textiles
Congressional consultation

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.5 MB

This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 03:41:47 – 03:45:26

part B, 1:39:23

273a.mp3

273b.mp3

273c.mp3

NARA Description

On August 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:22 pm to 7:26 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 273-024 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 273-24

Date: August 12, 1971
Time: 7:22 pm - 7:26 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with John B. Connally.

     President's forthcoming economic program
          -President's previous meeting with Connally and George P. Shultz
                 -Import tax
          -Import tax
                 -Politics
          -Textiles
                 -Connally's possible conversation with John N. Mitchell
                       -National security
                             -Japan
                       -Us trade as percentage of Gross National Product [GNP]
          -Effect of announcement
                 -People's Republic of China [PRC]
          -Congress
                 -Consultation
                       -Connally's possible calls

                            -Wilbur D. Mills
                            -John W. Byrnes
                            -Russell B. Long
                -Schedule

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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

So, all of us in college, all of us, you know, all of us, you know, I'm there.

I'm here.

The same thing I think .

So I just don't want to, you know, take that.

I'll hold it up.

Hello.

Hello, John.

Where did I find you?

Oh, yeah.

I wanted to tell you that you called from the desk.

I was trying something to bring George around on the border tax thing.

I don't know if he feels very honestly against that sort of thing.

And frankly, I do, too, as a matter of long-range principles.

But in terms of the politics job, that's about the best thing in the whole thing.

And it also gets us a leverage on all these other things.

So I just wanted you to know that I was deliberately invited there.

And when we get to the general meeting, I want you to take a hard-edged tell on the lawyer cap.

No?

Well, I didn't know whether you got my signal or not, but that's what I was trying to do, was to bring it around.

So I made up my mind on that.

That has to be in the package.

And yeah, well, right.

Well, we know.

Now, on that, I just do quote, too, if we can get to the section one.

Also recorded on August 12, 1971

273-015 5:07 PM · 1 min — 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 5:07 pm and 5:16 pm.
273-017 5:16 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:16 pm to 5:20 pm.
273-018 5:20 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:20 pm and 5:27 pm.
273-019 5:27 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Peter M. Flanigan met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:27 pm to 5:30 pm.
273-020 5:30 PM · 1 hr 35 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, John B. Connally, George P. Shultz, Manolo Sanchez, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
273-021 7:00 PM · 44 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 7:00 pm and 7:11 pm.
273-022 7:00 PM · 53 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:00 pm and 7:11 pm.
273-023 7:11 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 7:11 pm to 7:19 pm.

All 33 conversations from August 12, 1971 →

Nixon, Shultz & Kissinger on Economic Policy and Wage-Price Freeze August 11, 1971 · 1 hr 42 min
Nixon phone call with Dent on Textiles and Japan October 6, 1971 · 12 min
Nixon & Peterson on CIEP and International Trade April 8, 1971 · 13 min
Nixon, Connally & Shultz on GNP and Economic growth May 11, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Connally on Economic policy May 13, 1971 · 1 min
Haldeman, Connally & Woods on Cabinet meeting and Economic policy June 28, 1971 · 3 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 273-024, August 12, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/273-024 (accessed November 2, 2026).