Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 274 › Conversation 274-046

Nixon, Price & Yates on Economic policy and Phase II controls

Wednesday, September 8, 1971 · 5:35 PM–6:05 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Price, Raymond K., Jr.; Butterfield, Alexander P.; Yates, Nellie L.; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation274-046 on Tape 274 (tape position 04:51:16–05:08:16)StartWednesday, September 8, 1971 at 5:35 PMEndWednesday, September 8, 1971 at 6:05 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 274-046 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with speechwriter Raymond K. Price, Jr. to finalize the draft of his upcoming September 9 address to Congress regarding economic stabilization. The participants, assisted briefly by Alexander P. Butterfield and Nellie L. Yates, focused on structural edits to the speech, specifically refining sections on Phase II price controls, revenue sharing, welfare reform, and inflation rhetoric. The conversation also touched upon administrative logistics for a forthcoming Kennedy Center event.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 112.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 67.0 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 04:51:16 into the tape and ends around 05:08:16.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
4:55:49I can't ask Mr. Price to promote me.
4:56:30I don't think I worry about that.
4:56:35When you talk about the Congress,
4:56:52The house has to be in the exact same way it comes back in another time.
4:56:56And I just, you know, I think it's self-serving to act and act in the same way.
4:56:59And then I make the correction, you know, and then I make the correction.
4:57:03And then I do a little work about that arm later.
4:57:06And then I make the correction.
4:57:07And then I make the correction.
4:57:50page, you will be able to take out the first, second, third, and last page on the state of the model.
4:57:55I believe we've got it down here.
4:57:56I think we've taken out the paragraph.
4:57:58The first part of that page, again, this time, you're going to have to see the first, second, and last page.
4:58:03You're going to have to see the first, second, and last page.
4:58:21where we announced the end of the freeze and then put in the price and the stabilization and I think what we've reached too much now is that the way I think we've got around it is we take out, you see that sense that we've got, we take that out
4:58:43I agree with all of this.
4:58:45I am also today free to talk about the effect of the R-98, but I assure the Congress and the American people that when this first, temporary, necessary drug protection is over, we should take all the steps needed to see that America does not benefit from the virus and runaway inflation.
4:58:57I put runaway in there because we can't be honest.
4:59:03And because of the involvement of this man, Devin, in that, and we can tell you about all three of those paramilitaries, about their job, their life, their life, their life.
4:59:13I should welcome a lot of these guys.
4:59:18Thank you.
4:59:19Thank you.
4:59:28We need new programs.
4:59:34Sure.
4:59:37Sure.
4:59:39Sure.
4:59:42Sure.
4:59:43Sure.
4:59:48Sure.
4:59:49Sure.
4:59:56So, it's a good beach.
4:59:58It's a good beach.
5:00:04And God knows...
5:00:22That's not who I said it was.
5:00:39In fact, are committed to a free economy, and we are not going to go wrong with the current controls.
5:00:55The rapid share is no problem.
5:00:56The wealth that we want is to be expected.
5:01:09I think if it starts off better, right, it's like, gee, when it comes straight on, straight on, it's going to change that a lot.
5:01:35I believe, and there's always been an issue with that, I believe in America.
5:01:40I believe in America.
5:01:41I believe in America.
5:01:43I believe in America.
5:01:43I believe in America.
5:02:03Well, I had a paper that I wanted to read.
5:02:08I said that it was a sales tax paper, so you actually say that in the previous time.
5:02:31The company tells me that this is one of the things that some of the unit types say is that it's a good software.
5:02:44I'll just take that for a minute.
5:02:47It's true.
5:02:50We'll get it on the side now for a minute.
5:02:56We may be in no need for it.
5:04:01Yeah.
5:04:25Page six.
5:04:33I'll get my copy ready.
5:04:43Well, if I enter a copy,
5:04:58Thank you.
5:05:18I think we've got two.
5:05:19See if we can take it.
5:05:46So we've moved this paragraph out.
5:05:47Now we've got prosperity, with every good job, with everyone fighting inflation, with everyone in fitness.
5:05:52I shall love the walkers, and I shall honor their lives.
5:05:56I mean, that's what we really speak to, because I took another thing out.
5:06:00It was right this way, and I took the other thing.
5:06:03But I don't know.
5:06:03I don't know.
5:06:04I don't know.
5:06:10I don't know.
5:06:21You see, that's where you could put it in if you wanted.
5:06:53It will not be more profitable than going to work.
5:07:00We're creating what this is about and what we're working towards.
5:07:07Going on well.
5:07:07It will not be more profitable than going to work.
5:07:13It will not be more profitable than going to work.
5:07:20Why not?
5:07:22Going on well.
5:07:23So it's going on well.
5:07:27So it's going on well.
5:07:30So it's going on well.
5:07:37So it's going on well.
5:07:40So it's going on well.
5:07:49We have an opportunity to bring out a control in addition to the control systems that we see.
5:07:58And the same thing, this comes up, when we raise it, we just dictate it.
5:08:00I'm going to present that.
5:08:01And if you use a DAG, you're not going to use a DAG.
5:08:03You're going to use a DAG to bring out a control.
5:08:07People are going to afford that DAG, but you're going to have to afford it.

NARA Description

On September 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Alexander P. Butterfield, Nellie L. Yates, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:35 pm to 6:05 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 274-046 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 274-46

Date: September 8, 1971
Time: 5:35 pm - 6:05 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Raymond K. Price, Jr.

     President’s address to Congress on economic stabilization, September 9, 1971
          -Editing draft
                -Revenue sharing
                      -Congress
                      -Page 14
                -Taxes

                       -Page 2
                             -Paragraph removal
                 -Page 7
                 -Phase II
                       -End of freeze
                       -Price stabilization
                       -Text
                       -Congress
                 -Page 9
                 -State Department
                 -Revenue sharing
                 -Welfare reform
                 -Sales tax
                 -Page 6
                 -Typing
                 -Page 4
                 -Page 6
                 -Page 7
                       -Congress
                       -Inflation

Alexander P. Butterfield and Nellie L. Yates entered at 5:55 pm.

                 -Corrections
                      -Typing
                 -Welfare
                 -Typing
                 -Deadline

Butterfield and Yates left at 6:01 pm.

     Kennedy Center show
         -Time
         - Mass
              -Script
         -Leonard Bernstein
         -Haldeman
         -Catholics
         -Hebrew
              -Protestant ministers
              -Catholic priests

                       -Latin
                 -Protestants
                       -Greek

     Economic speech

     Kennedy Center

     Country Club

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 6:01 pm.

     An unknown man's location

The unknown man left at an unknown time before 6:05 pm.

     Special session

     Economic speech
         -Court
               -Political
         -Congress

Price left at 6:05 pm.

Also recorded on September 8, 1971

  • 008-054 3:08 PM · 41 sec — Raymond K. Price, Jr. and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:08 pm and 7:40 pm.
  • 008-055 3:08 PM · 2 min — Raymond K. Price, Jr., White House operator, and Alexander P. Butterfield talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:08 pm and 7:40 pm.
  • 008-056 3:08 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:08 pm and 7:40 pm.
  • 274-041 3:08 PM · 1 min — 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 3:08 pm and 3:26 pm.
  • 274-044 3:26 PM · 1 hr 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:26 pm to 5:10 pm.
  • 274-045 5:10 PM · 37 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 5:10 pm and 5:35 pm.
  • 274-047 6:05 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:05 pm to 6:06 pm.
  • 008-057 7:40 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Nellie L. Yates talked on the telephone from 7:40 pm to 7:41 pm.

All 34 conversations from September 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 274-046, September 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/274-046 (accessed October 23, 2026).