{"conversationCode":"278-006","tapeNumber":278,"conversationNumber":6,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-278-006","startDateTime":"1971-09-09T17:33:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-09-09T17:39:00.000Z","startDate":"9-Sep-1971","startTime":"1:33 PM","endDate":"9-Sep-1971","endTime":"1:39 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.;","description":"On September 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:33 pm to 1:39 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 278-006 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 278-6\n\nDate: September 9, 1971\nTime: 1:33 pm - 1:39 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Charles W. Colson.\n\n[See Conversation No. 8-67]","filename":["278-006.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:06:26","tapeEnd":"00:09:02","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Colson, Charles W."],"prevCode":"278-005","nextCode":"278-007","transcript":[{"start":6.4,"end":8.38,"text":"My daughter, Krisha, has made an interesting point."},{"start":8.4,"end":11.6,"text":"She said, well, you know, Danny, economics is a territory."},{"start":11.68,"end":15.51,"text":"And all of a sudden, I was about as interested as you were."},{"start":15.53,"end":20.43,"text":"Maybe it worked awfully hard to get those people to put it off their hands."},{"start":20.79,"end":21.45,"text":"Yeah, that's it."},{"start":26.87,"end":30.23,"text":"They checked in with a hell of a good speech."},{"start":30.71,"end":34.53,"text":"That had more interest in mind, you know, like the last night I was in Hawaii."},{"start":34.55,"end":43.33,"text":"Let us get rid of the system that makes it more profitable for a man to go on welfare than to go to work."},{"start":43.35,"end":45.17,"text":"That would be part of the scenario."},{"start":45.2,"end":50.76,"text":"And any work is preferable to welfare."},{"start":50.78,"end":51.4,"text":"They have poker chips."},{"start":51.78,"end":52.52,"text":"They've got all of this."},{"start":54.41,"end":57.75,"text":"We generously passed out the chips, and now it's time to play again."},{"start":61.63,"end":64.42,"text":"The team was a response junk, which is not too healthy."},{"start":65.3,"end":66.7,"text":"It basically was terribly isolationist."},{"start":66.72,"end":70.56,"text":"That's why the latter part of the speech was important."},{"start":70.58,"end":75.27,"text":"It was important, but where I said, look, we've got to compete."},{"start":75.31,"end":76.17,"text":"But they thought of that."},{"start":86.77,"end":90.48,"text":"Yeah, they came over well."},{"start":90.6,"end":91.92,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":96.92,"end":97.12,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":99.82,"end":102.58,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":102.67,"end":102.92,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":105.97,"end":106.57,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":106.61,"end":106.79,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":112.75,"end":121.07,"text":"I hate to litter as well."},{"start":121.11,"end":125.62,"text":"I can't put it out there very hard."},{"start":125.68,"end":132.7,"text":"And in fact, keeping it at 30 minutes is what I do."},{"start":132.72,"end":135,"text":"I always do that."},{"start":135.02,"end":137.32,"text":"But I don't believe in letting a farm implode and dribble out."},{"start":137.36,"end":142.08,"text":"I'd rather cut it up and step on it."},{"start":144.56,"end":145.52,"text":"give me a call back"}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies for shaping public perception regarding welfare reform and national economic competitiveness. Nixon emphasizes the necessity of restructuring the welfare system to prioritize labor over government assistance to avoid societal stagnation. The dialogue reflects a broader political messaging effort to frame the administration's economic policies as proactive and competitive rather than isolationist.","topics":["Welfare Reform","Economic Policy","Public Messaging","Labor Policy","Political Strategy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T12:55:28.359Z"},"topicSlugs":["welfare-reform","economic-policy","public-messaging","labor-policy","political-strategy"],"audioDurationSec":155,"audioFiles":[{"file":"278-006.mp3","bytes":6225293,"durationSec":155.49,"bitrate":320294,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.329Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/278-006.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/278-006","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/278/conversation-278-006","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}