Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 284 › Conversation 284-009

Nixon, Colson & Sanchez on Congressional races and Candidate recruitment

Wednesday, October 6, 1971 · 3:41 PM–4:00 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 10 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; Sanchez, ManoloConversation284-009 on Tape 284 (tape position 00:32:20–00:42:31)StartWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 3:41 PMEndWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 4:00 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 284-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon discussed the recruitment of candidates for upcoming Congressional races with Charles Colson and Manolo Sanchez. They reviewed the progress of identifying candidates in marginal districts, the challenges posed by incumbent laziness, and the need for effective campaign organization and funding. A key development was the success of the Congressional Committee's direct mail fundraising and the significant contributions received from the dairy industry, though the National Committee and Bob Dole's Senate campaign are facing financial and staffing difficulties.

  • Congressional races
  • Candidate recruitment
  • Campaign funding
  • Fundraising
  • Direct mail
  • Dairy industry contributions
  • Republican Party organization
  • Marginal districts

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:32:20 – 00:42:31

part A, 32:18

284a.mp3
284b.mp3

NARA Description

On October 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:41 pm to 4:00 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 284-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 284-9

Date: October 6, 1971
Time: 3:41 pm - 4:00 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 10-94; one item has been withdrawn from the conversation]

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 3:41 pm.

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 4:00 pm.

[End of telephone conversation]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.

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NixonChuck? Well, I know you've got lots of things on your mind, but I just want to be sure that
ColsonYes, sir.
Nixonthey're doing all the routine things they can in that, in those other Congressional races. How about, is that young fellow there any good? I never, of course I never see him. Who? What is his name?
ColsonGarry Brown? No, not Garry Brown. Bob Odell.
NixonOdell. Who the hell's he? What's his background?
ColsonHe was, he's, he was with Morton.
NixonOh, Morton's boy.
ColsonMorton's guy, and worked in the '68 campaign. Bob is, Bob is very steady. He's not dynamic, but he is terribly methodical, and, well, wait. And they have made phone calls into, well, they've been into 50 congressional districts now, and I've met with about 30 congressmen. And every, almost without
NixonHow are they feeling?
Colsonexception, well, their spirit's up. Almost without exception, they're not ready. We want to do an in-depth survey of 100 congressional districts by, between now and January 1, taking the marginal Republican and the marginal Democrat districts.
NixonRight.
ColsonAnd we've got to find candidates in those marginal Democrat districts, and we don't have them in many of them. The other problem we run into is that the incumbent Congressmen, they're just lazy. They feel they're going to win, and in many cases they're going to face redistricting, so they don't know who their opponent is, and they're waiting.
NixonYeah.
ColsonAnd we can't get them moving. I talked to Bill Cramer the other day. I said, "Bill, you've got to have an executive director in each of these states." If not for the party, then for our campaign, or we'll work out a split arrangement. And Cramer is now, I think, for the first time really moving. I'm going to Florida tonight, to spend the night, see, to meet with their state committee tomorrow.
NixonCramer, oh, Cramer?
ColsonYeah, and Bill's down there.
NixonIs Bill going to run again, do you think?
ColsonI don't think for anything statewide, Mr. President.
NixonWell, he might run for Congress.
ColsonHe might run for Congress. They've carved out a district for him that nobody knows who's going to run in. He might run for Congress.
NixonGood. Be a good man to have back.
ColsonHe'd be a great man to have back. And, but he's having a terrible, they've got this guy, Tommy Thomas, who's the State Chairman, and he's not very, he's not very dynamic, and he's sitting on a bank account with 70,000 dollars in it, and he won't hire an executive director. So Bill and I are going down to work on him tonight and tomorrow.
NixonYeah. What about Texas? Are they doing anything on Texas?
ColsonTexas, we, I met with the Congressional people from Texas last week, and again, John Tower is, John is on top of that situation. We have got an executive director down there. We are well ahead of schedule in Texas in terms of candidate recruitment, candidate schools, and
NixonGood.
Colsonfundraising. We're raising a great deal of money down there. What I'm, the point that I have been making to Bob Dole and to our people is that by the 1st of January, we should have an executive director in all the critical states, and at least six months ahead of what they normally do, and candidate schools going in November.
NixonColson, in the final analysis, it's money.
ColsonYes, sir.
NixonWe've got to find candidates, and we can find candidates, they will run if they think they're going to get money. The National Committee has never given the candidate in these tough districts the kind of money they need. They don't need all the money, but
ColsonThat's right.
Nixonthey've got to know they're going to get some. Can, does the National Committee or does the Congressional Committee, are they raising enough so they can begin to commit money, or have we got to help them?
ColsonThe Congressional Committee is having their biggest year in history.
NixonOh, they are?
ColsonThey are. Their direct mail has gone very well.
NixonWho's doing it?
ColsonWell, they hired, well, Wilson's doing it. Bob Wilson is running it, but he brought in some young guy from California who's really changed the whole direct mail shop, and they've made more money this year in direct mail than they've ever made. The other thing that, which wasn't widely publicized, but which helped, is that they got an awful lot of that dairy money.
NixonDid they?
ColsonThe, between the Senate and House Committees, the dairy men gave a half a million dollars.
NixonYeah. What did we get?
ColsonNothing yet.
NixonWell, will they give us some?
ColsonOh, they, they'll be in for the campaign. Yeah, sure. Sure. But they gave the Committees, and that went, see, that had to go to the Hill, because there's so many guys in the House and Senate who are on the Agriculture Committee. They wanted to make sure they got well-massaged. But they did, so both the Senate and House Committees are in, are in fat shape.
NixonGood.
ColsonThe, Dole is the one that's hurting. And they're not, Bob Dole is hurting. The National Committee's not doing very well.
NixonWell, they've never been able to raise it. You know, you can't raise money, unless it's a presidential campaign, through the National Committee.
ColsonNo. That's right.
NixonIsn't that right?
ColsonThat's right. And they have other, Dole's having staff troubles, and that sort of thing. I've been trying to stay close to that, so
NixonStaff troubles? Dole's hard to work for, you mean, or?
ColsonWell, he, he's got this guy, Tommy Milligan, who's not very good.
NixonYeah.
ColsonAnd he's firing the research director.
NixonWho is the research director?
ColsonA guy by the name of [unintelligible] that I got him, who was doing the dirty tricks stuff, who's, who's very good, and they got mad because I was having him do stuff that was more presidential oriented than Dole oriented.
NixonThe public might just assume that we didn't endorse her. Why shouldn't they assume that?
ColsonThey might, although what is happening now is that it's getting back around through labor people.
NixonMm-hmm.
ColsonWho think it's a hell of an idea, and I don't know who's floated it with them, but a couple of labor leaders called
NixonMm-hmm.
ColsonHodgson to say that they thought that was a great nomination.
NixonRight, yeah. Well, let's keep quiet.
ColsonYes, sir.
NixonDon't say anything to anybody, Chuck. I mean, after all, if nobody has the courage to stand up, let her fight out for a while. Don't worry. Okay?
ColsonRight, sir.
NixonFine.
ColsonRight. Thank you.

Also recorded on October 6, 1971

  • 284-004 3:15 PM · 7 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 3:15 pm and 3:41 pm.
  • 284-005 3:15 PM · 13 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 3:15 pm and 3:41 pm.
  • 010-093 3:41 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 3:41 pm.
  • 010-094 3:41 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 3:41 pm to 4:00 pm.
  • 010-095 4:00 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:00 pm.
  • 284-010 4:00 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 4:00 pm.
  • 284-011 4:00 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:00 pm to 4:05 pm.
  • 284-012 4:06 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:06 pm to 4:30 pm.

All 122 conversations from October 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 284-009, October 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/284-009 (accessed November 2, 2026).