Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 277 › Conversation 277-023

Nixon & Shultz on Phase II and Wage-price controls

Wednesday, September 15, 1971 · 4:44 PM–4:48 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Shultz, George P.Conversation277-023 on Tape 277 (tape position 02:03:23–02:07:48)StartWednesday, September 15, 1971 at 4:44 PMEndWednesday, September 15, 1971 at 4:48 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 277-023 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and George Shultz discuss the implementation of Phase II economic controls following the initial wage-price freeze. Nixon emphasizes the necessity of giving economic policies enforcement mechanisms, famously noting that one cannot have "jawbone without teeth." The two coordinate their messaging strategy to ensure the public perceives the forthcoming economic program as effective and decisive.

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.1 MB

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

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 02:03:23 – 02:07:48

277a.mp3

277b.mp3

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 17% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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).

Hello.

George, you know, when you were talking about the, uh, the, uh, the, uh,

We have the, we were talking about the second quarter, which is, I remember, this is the third quarter of this year, and this year is the third one.

So, it looks like the third quarter of next year is the first time, which is the beginning, that we want to back down to.

Let me ask you.

Good, good, good.

Let me ask another thing.

It seems to me that, in terms of what I...

It's very important to set the stage to uncover perspective.

I think the perspective that is needed now is mainly to indicate that it's going to be effective.

What I've had is, you and I know that we have the slightest idea how it's going to be negative, but we have some ideas about it.

But on the other hand, I think we've got the indication that it will be a follow-up program, and it will be effective to deal with the problems the American people want to deal with.

That you would agree with me.

That has to be strongly stated, or otherwise I think we're going to have a real problem.

But I did deal with it.

And I think we've got to indicate that there will be something other than a request for voluntary cooperation.

I have a program of...

I'll stop there.

Oh, yeah.

Are we going to move back?

What are we going to move back to?

Oh, don't worry.

I'm miles away from all that.

There will be a...

Okay.

Alright, very fine.

Thank you.

NARA Description

On September 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:44 pm to 4:48 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 277-023 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 277-23

Date: September 15, 1971
Time: 4:44 pm - 4:48 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with George P. Shultz.

[See Conversation No. 9-29]

Also recorded on September 15, 1971

009-027 4:15 PM · 23 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 4:15 pm to 4:38 pm.
277-020 4:15 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:15 pm to 4:38 pm.
009-028 4:38 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:38 pm and 4:44 pm.
277-021 4:38 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 4:38 pm and 4:44 pm.
277-022 4:38 PM · 23 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 4:38 pm and 4:44 pm.
009-029 4:44 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz talked on the telephone from 4:44 pm to 4:48 pm.
277-024 4:48 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Toni Sidley met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:48 pm and 5:15 pm.
009-030 5:15 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 5:15 pm to 5:22 pm.

All 57 conversations from September 15, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 277-023, September 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/277-023 (accessed October 9, 2026).