Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 282 › Conversation 282-012

Nixon & Rumsfeld on Price Board and Economic policy

Wednesday, October 20, 1971 · 3:06 PM–3:10 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rumsfeld, Donald H.Conversation282-012 on Tape 282 (tape position 00:34:28–00:39:33)StartWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 3:06 PMEndWednesday, October 20, 1971 at 3:10 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 282-012 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417184849 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Donald Rumsfeld discuss potential appointments for the administration, specifically focusing on candidates for the chairmanship of the Price Board. Nixon emphasizes the need for a strong, vigorous leader who can effectively manage business community concerns regarding economic policy. The two also coordinate the scheduling of a media announcement to ensure maximum impact in upcoming Sunday papers and news cycles.

Audio

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NARA Description

On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 282-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 282-12

Date: October 20, 1971
Time: 3:06 pm - 3:10 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Donald H. Rumsfeld.

[See Conversation No. 12-3]

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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, hi, Don.
Oh, I wonder what your final figure came from, your friend.
Oh, I see, yeah.
Oh, no, no, no, I thought you said that he was gonna have it.
That's all right, it's not important.
No, yeah.
Yeah.
We don't want him to dance with me unless he wants to give it to us.
Fine.
Fine.
Yeah.
If he has, I just choose.
But if he's going to come out Sunday, he's going to come out Sunday, he probably just wants to have it with me.
Since they're going to have it with us, he knows that while you're in Hong Kong.
Right.
Right.
Right.
How are you getting on your names?
I mean, everything is on the police still.
They're coming for you, aren't they?
I'm a public member, or a private member.
One name that occurred to me that was a very good man in the social movement, I mean, public-minded, is Pauly Avedon.
Is that name ever come across your desk?
He's the president of New York Trust.
He's a great friend of Collins.
He was on his board.
And he's about 60 years of age and, you know, very public-spirited, grateful, and he's sort of one of the big men
in the financial communities.
Hoyt, Hoyt Amidon.
Peter knows him well, they're all, they're social buddies.
And I don't know why I hadn't thought of his name for a year, because he was so good that he was merrily offering a fashion repair or something, so.
But he's the name of the person.
I should have a visit.
Now the other.
Fine, fine, the other thing is that
Yeah, anytime you say, because I'll be here all day Friday.
I'm not going away this weekend.
So we can do it.
That'd be good, get the Friday afternoon, so it hits next week.
Next few weeks, magazines and the Sunday papers.
Friday afternoon.
I mean, there's something.
Oh yeah, the Republican women, Friday morning.
But I do not want that to be the big news anyway.
So I would much prefer to have this like that.
We can do it at 11 o'clock, 11.30.
Uh-huh.
Uh, the, uh, who'd you make chairman of the price board?
Fine.
I need you to decide your... Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Sort of like, yeah, yeah, well, I, I, we always come up with that same fellow harder on this one.
Hmm.
This, this, this is the most important assignment of all.
Not Scranton, huh?
He's on the price list.
Let me think a bit on this.
Let's think a bit.
You really need a strong man here, a strong, strong, vigorous man, okay?
Well, that's the kind of, well, you ought to be able to run about that time.
Maybe, maybe, I don't know.
Okay, well, George's judgment would be very good on this, I think, because really, when you come down to it,
The ideal man to have this is George.
He's the kind of man that we're looking for, so just tell George to get somebody like himself.
But don't you agree, George is strong and he's light on both sides and respected.
Names are sure to come.
Oh, yeah, because you see, the pig one is the one that scares all the businessmen.
And of course, the businessmen are wrong.
They're spineless, but you've got to have somebody that can not let George and Amy, these fellows, bucking down every night.
Well, good luck.
If you need any help, let me know.
I'm just working over at the O.B.
and that's about it.
Bye.
Bye.

Also recorded on October 20, 1971

  • 282-009 2:47 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:47 pm to 2:51 pm.
  • 012-001 2:51 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 2:51 pm to 3:00 pm.
  • 282-010 2:51 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:51 pm to 3:00 pm.
  • 012-002 3:00 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:06 pm.
  • 282-011 3:00 PM · 7 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 3:00 pm and 3:06 pm.
  • 012-003 3:06 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld talked on the telephone from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm.
  • 282-013 3:10 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:10 pm and 3:15 pm.
  • 282-014 3:15 PM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:15 pm to 3:42 pm.

All 81 conversations from October 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 282-012, October 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417184849). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/282-012 (accessed November 12, 2026).