Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 278 › Conversation 278-022
Nixon & Colson on Busing and Public Opinion
Sunday, September 12, 1971 · 3:51 PM–4:28 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 8 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Charles Colson met to discuss political strategy and public opinion regarding school busing, foreign policy, and domestic malaise. They evaluated the political impact of busing mandates in cities like Boston, specifically noting the potential for mobilizing Polish-Catholic voters against such policies. Additionally, the conversation touched on the administration's public approval ratings, the perceived moral crisis in America, and the effectiveness of Nixon's recent economic and foreign policy messaging.
- Busing
- Public Opinion
- Electoral Strategy
- Polish-American Voters
- Foreign Policy
- Moral Crisis
Audio
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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Hello.
Yeah.
Hope I didn't get you out of anything.
I was just sitting here in the office, and I saw it was raining.
Oh, I see.
Oh, it was not important, not important.
I was in Camp David, and I'm just going over some things.
How are the temperatures in Boston?
Kevin Lager now says, do you think we're doing better in Massachusetts than we think?
Of course, he's self-serving.
He wants me to come here to speak at the Auspice, didn't he?
Who the hell are they busting Boston?
In my understanding, there's not enough Negroes in Boston to put them in the temple.
There's enough, huh?
That has nothing to do with us, you know.
Because we haven't, the de facto buses have not been rolled onto the courts and there's no HEW plans.
I hope everybody understands that.
I personally think the court has burglared, of course, I'm trying to put it in some other perspective, we're going to rule the day and run that bar.
We may have to rule the Constitutional Constitution.
The blacks that are affected by it are blacks.
The only blacks that want it are the professional blacks.
it's a it's a radical it's basically a radical black and a radical white and radical black issue and and frankly editors in boston for that matter it's over
But it really ought to go, I'd say, in an area like San Francisco, up in Michigan, it ought to hit the hell out of us.
I'll tell you what, obviously, the place to really get it there is among its Polish, which, you know, that's the only Catholic where he's got a leg up.
I think the Polish Catholics are the ones that would just be firing at us.
It may come naturally.
Basically, yes, they've stuck with River College.
I haven't had a chance, I'm not going to be able to do something like this.
Chuck, of course, will, any staff has to shake down a bit, but he's been on the big time long enough, and I've been around him so often, Christ, I travel every place in the country that anybody can understand what I'm talking about.
I think he knows damn well, and I would be fair about it, but I wouldn't make it to January, and I think he's one of the best leaders in the world.
would never make such a mistake.
What are we doing on the other side?
There was a good follow-up on the speech.
I don't know if any of the people saw it.
They have pretty good mail-in now.
in that situation where you take, for example, and they were ready to count something.
So that promise thing came off well, too.
We tried it to him, and he was the one that he carried on the networks.
I thought he would be washing papers in the Congress.
That, it seems to me, lays the rest of the idea that we don't have a program coming down.
But there are lots of reports that seem to be tripling in.
I just don't know what the numbers are going to show, but I have a feeling that people cannot be feeling better without doing something more about it pretty soon.
He was at lunch with Greg the day before his speech.
That's what got to them.
I think that they just don't want any of these good things.
I want to hear, not just the times, but they don't like to hear, well, this is a good country.
This is the kind of talk that we've got our members and senators.
Well, apparently so.
Let's suppose that we can hold them where they are.
We may not.
We may not move up.
I mean, I'm not sure if we will move up.
That's a very progressive and effective investment banker, I know him well.
In the foreign policy area, China has that feel, reminding them that people can forget quickly, and they don't stick.
The November 3rd thing did that, didn't last, didn't last.
In a sense, they're bigger than Peter.
That's good.
The first time down.
Approval and disapproval.
And balancing the budget for kids on dope and their own.
You know, this and that.
There's a very, you know, interesting thing.
Now, early in our people, it's about best of men.
Who do they consider playing in Congress?
They see only 28% playing in Congress.
25% playing in the court.
15% playing in Congress.
You know, you just wonder.
I don't think we're that weak, but the last thing it has to do is be a great company.
If there's somebody you're calling for, for that matter, and there's somebody who's strongly felt
the idea that we're here, that we would go like that.
Suppose we were a candidate, and we followed the idea that we must keep it.
It's the moral crisis I'm concerned about.
It's the crisis among the liberal proxies.
And the real problem is whether we inquire the same.
We say to our experiment quite as much.
We can't do so much good either.
We can't do too much good.
There are more friendly people in the space.
Right.
NARA Description
On September 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:51 pm to 4:28 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 278-022 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 278-22 Date: September 12, 1971 Time: 3:51 pm - 4:28 pm Location: Executive Office Building The President talked with Charles W. Colson. [See Conversation No. 8-87] ********************************************************************** [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 04/01/2019. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [278-022-w004] [Duration: 7s] [See Conversation No. 008-087-w004] ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 04/01/2019. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [278-022-w001] [Duration: 1m 28s] [See Conversation No. 008-087-w001] ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 04/01/2019. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [278-022-w002] [Duration: 2m 33s] [See Conversation No. 008-087-w002] ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** [Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 04/01/2019. Segment cleared for release.] [Personal Returnable] [278-022-w003] [Duration: 6s] [See Conversation No. 008-087-w003] **********************************************************************
Also recorded on September 12, 1971
- 008-086 3:44 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:44 pm and 3:51 pm.
- 278-021 3:44 PM · 6 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 3:44 pm and 3:51 pm.
- 008-087 3:51 PM · 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 3:51 pm to 4:28 pm.
- 008-088 4:31 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:31 pm.
- 008-089 4:31 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:31 pm.
- 278-023 4:31 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 4:31 pm.
- 278-024 4:31 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 4:31 pm.
- 278-025 4:31 PM · 5 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 4:31 pm and 4:37 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 278-022, September 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/278-022 (accessed October 9, 2026).