Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 284 › Conversation 284-017

Nixon & Haldeman on Wholesale prices and Economic policy

Wednesday, October 6, 1971 · 5:30 PM–5:45 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob")Conversation284-017 onTape 284 (tape position 01:46:27–02:01:34)StartWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 5:30 PMEndWednesday, October 6, 1971 at 5:45 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 284-017 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to coordinate strategy for an upcoming speech and to review economic indicators, particularly wholesale price trends. They discussed the necessity of blocking Senate legislative maneuvers through a filibuster and evaluated the status of various public opinion polls regarding the President's reelection prospects. Additionally, they touched upon internal personnel concerns and media management strategies, including plans to address negative coverage and book reviews.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 112.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 37.6 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 01:46:27 into the tape and ends around 02:01:34.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) ·JSON data · Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.

1:46:49You know, the thing on wholesale prices was better than you reported.
1:46:55Now, you see, you were talking to me, and I think you had the same view.
1:46:59You were giving it as if the rate of increase was 3%, and 4% adjusting.
1:47:06Now, it's down.
1:47:09No, I said down.
1:47:11I didn't get that.
1:47:13I said, well, down, but it made it significant.
1:47:14Hell, the rate of increase has been around at a rate of 4% up, and I said, what the hell, this is much better.
1:47:21Oh, no.
1:47:21No, I said, it's reality.
1:47:23It's the first time in four or five years.
1:47:25Five years.
1:47:26The largest drought in five years.
1:47:28Yeah.
1:47:28This shows the goddamn thing works for a while.
1:47:33You know, it's good to have that kind of gravity.
1:47:36That was funny.
1:47:37We may be doing the overkill now.
1:47:41It's food to a lot of them.
1:47:42Well, that's good.
1:47:45And that's a hell of a good balance.
1:47:47That will be coming tomorrow, just before the speech, and I'm referring to it in the speech.
1:47:52The House past the bench over there, and I'm referring to it on the speech.
1:47:57The Senate is playing games, as some of you may have noticed, I was with them.
1:48:06They have some class, I understand.
1:48:07I'm not sure what they're going to do now.
1:48:11Can't they talk it to them?
1:48:18They may try to stay in session after your speech and try to move on it afterwards.
1:48:26So they've got until midnight tomorrow night.
1:48:30We have to still talk it to death.
1:48:31Let's be ruthless with the bastards again.
1:48:33I really think we ought to get a team in there and talk it to death now.
1:48:37They don't hesitate to talk our things to death.
1:48:40Let's talk one of their things to death.
1:48:42It's a pure political thing.
1:48:45Let's stick by the president.
1:48:46Yeah, not when they can't get cloture to turn it off.
1:48:49Oh, we should have no chance for cloture.
1:48:51I think the order's got to go out to talk it to death now.
1:48:53I really think so.
1:48:56Gregory's just got to stop.
1:49:03As I said, totally able-minded.
1:49:07You know what I mean?
1:49:15He just doesn't get so involved.
1:49:34You've got to watch it.
1:49:36Yeah.
1:49:37I'm having common areas of speech.
1:49:39Schultz, Stein, and three of them.
1:49:43You say, well, how about this?
1:49:45Zickel, Flanagan, or I didn't know.
1:49:50You see, you go to staff people, you can't have 18 hundred on the speech.
1:49:55They overdo that sometimes.
1:49:56Because everybody's going to ask, well, I need this word out, or I will say that.
1:49:59And that's not going to happen.
1:50:01We've got there such a mix.
1:50:02I said, you've got a mix here.
1:50:03That's not burnt, of course.
1:50:04Your reed is parted out.
1:50:06Between Connelly, Schultz, Stein, and myself, we've got the works.
1:50:12I think that's very good.
1:50:14I'll never get it done otherwise, too.
1:50:16That'll cover it.
1:50:17I'm so glad about the whole silk art.
1:50:24That is beautiful.
1:50:25Yeah?
1:50:26That's bound to be reflected in seven.
1:50:28It'll be reflected in three months.
1:50:32I think that's due to, according to , which I would think they would have discounted it, but it was down.
1:50:40And second, the announcement of phase two.
1:50:44Now, the problem we've got here, I've got it as profit, and that's the only thing that's going to chill us out.
1:50:57When it falls off.
1:50:58Yeah.
1:51:00That may not bother you much.
1:51:01I think they must be expecting that you've got to do something about it.
1:51:05Do you think so?
1:51:07I don't know.
1:51:08I don't know.
1:51:11But in a ringing defense of profits, and they create jobs for us, but with false profits, which are the result of holding wages down excessively, a sharp rise in productivity, we'd rather them taxing them than they should pass that on in price reductions.
1:51:25The key there is to avoid getting some seller into it.
1:51:30So let's get excited about that.
1:51:32Let's track you up.
1:51:38Let's put the market just over 900.
1:51:40It's 900.58 or something.
1:51:42It's good to have that.
1:51:43Well, what else is new in the show?
1:51:48We've got the captain's ship, whatever.
1:51:52It's a long, big breakfast.
1:51:55I'm not sure.
1:51:56I don't know.
1:51:58It's nice to offer what we don't have.
1:52:04That is nice.
1:52:04And that may be a lot better than eating that Friday.
1:52:06It's not everybody.
1:52:07I'd like to do that.
1:52:08I'd like to do that.
1:52:10Adding it for breakfast.
1:52:12The problem thing, the way you say it, is big mess.
1:52:18It's just one of those bad things.
1:52:21It's one of those bad things.
1:52:31That's a long talk for a second.
1:52:33I was curious that he doesn't have the opportunity to talk about the conference, but he does the career orientation as well.
1:52:41I don't know.
1:52:42I actually stepped in and saw this other increase.
1:52:45We're out in this different area now.
1:52:48He stepped in.
1:52:49One coming Monday and one coming Thursday.
1:52:52Something like that.
1:52:53I got to try.
1:52:54Showing that...
1:52:59It's going to get better.
1:53:00It's going to get bigger.
1:53:05He has a question that he asks.
1:53:07Would you, if you elected Merrill today, would you vote for Nixon?
1:53:15Which, of course, if you got a very little thing, he said 23% in July.
1:53:2130 after China, 33%.
1:53:23And you're at 48% now.
1:53:26Good.
1:53:26Would you vote for him?
1:53:28the election were over there.
1:53:30Now of course that doesn't indicate approval or disapproval.
1:53:32It doesn't indicate that you vote for somebody else.
1:53:35Then he has others that, it's just very, would you vote for Nixon, not would you vote for Nixon against somebody else.
1:53:41That's right.
1:53:42It's not a trial either.
1:53:45It's always the way he tests.
1:53:49It's great.
1:53:49Well, the interesting thing is the upward trend, which is because of that, over a great work on the vote, he says ours is against approval.
1:53:55There's no chance.
1:54:02I don't think that's a good question.
1:54:06It is a good question.
1:54:08But the shift in it might be interesting.
1:54:15See, there's always a huge undecided on what you vote for.
1:54:26Sure.
1:54:26But it's the least reliable.
1:54:27It doesn't all make sense.
1:54:29Yeah, and I don't think he does any accurate samples, but he just... What about, what is Gallo's name?
1:54:38I don't know.
1:54:43He won't be...
1:54:44He is a queer damn thing, you know.
1:54:46Yeah.
1:54:46He last bowled on the 1st of February.
1:54:48I mean, the 1st of September was his last bowled.
1:54:53So he's got to have one now.
1:54:55He isn't going to go again until it's either this weekend or tomorrow.
1:54:59So he had nothing coming up now for a while.
1:55:06It wasn't the last one.
1:55:07It wasn't the first one.
1:55:10The first one was the other six or something like that.
1:55:13Why do you think he does this?
1:55:15They said the reason they didn't do it was because they had done three together there, so they were skipping a longer than normal period.
1:55:21Perfectly all right.
1:55:23Because we may be moving up somewhere.
1:55:27Harris says so.
1:55:27I think we are.
1:55:29I don't think Harris is lying on that.
1:55:31He would lie.
1:55:32And his China announcement will give a little kicker kind of thing.
1:55:37It sort of burns the Russian people.
1:55:40Yeah, I hope the office poll this weekend, I hope it's the bottom of the weekend, because I think after Russia phase two, China and all that,
1:55:48It's a curious thing that sort of you must always get...
1:56:12That impression is pretty.
1:56:14Almost everybody, all the hands are sort of, they kick them around.
1:56:18On the other hand, it's goddamn hard to beat somebody with nobody.
1:56:23That's their problem.
1:56:24And we do have some basic support developing in some areas.
1:56:28You just got to see what erodes us from things like busing and all that sort of crap.
1:56:41Plus, you shouldn't make that much different stuff.
1:56:45If the old stuff is right, then they don't blame the president all day.
1:56:50Of course, they blame the president for anything that's wrong.
1:56:52Even though they don't consciously blame the president.
1:56:55For us, they wouldn't say.
1:56:57I'm sure, you know, if the recycling came along, they'd blame you for it.
1:57:01The weather's bad.
1:57:02The drought can go down.
1:57:04The price of corn can go down.
1:57:06Things are bad, so the president's good.
1:57:11I have a feeling those office things are better than the country.
1:57:15Aren't you, aren't you, aren't you quoting?
1:57:17Oh, quoting doesn't say that.
1:57:18No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
1:57:39It takes a long time for it to sink in.
1:57:41You look at that housing thing, it turns the economy around.
1:57:52The effects that that has to have.
1:57:54I think it takes a long time for public approval.
1:57:57It takes a battery over a period of time to come out.
1:58:02There is erosion.
1:58:10And it's always not built thinking about problems.
1:58:19But you look at the various things, the ward, the back pages.
1:58:28I was excited about that invention.
1:58:30I thought they had something going on in the water and that crumbled.
1:58:35Yeah.
1:58:35You mean the one down in Cambodia?
1:58:38Well, on the border, yeah, on the border.
1:58:41And he held on.
1:58:44Yeah.
1:58:48What did he say afterwards?
1:58:51He didn't say that they are on the border.
1:58:54All I've seen is, you know, there's a dream world.
1:58:58Always the bad news, never the good news.
1:59:09I don't think there's been any...
1:59:13I don't think it's on the...
1:59:18They don't publish the regular reviews to the publication date or whatever it is.
1:59:25I think that's the 11th or something.
1:59:28Maybe this weekend they'll have the reviews and we'll review something.
1:59:41And Jerry said that, you know, once there's any guns or a lot, and he said what he might do is just
2:00:04You can do a call and just actually talk to Wallace for a minute on the phone.
2:00:10Sure.
2:00:10And we'll wrap it up.
2:00:13I will.
2:00:13Yeah.
2:00:18I told him.
2:00:19We've got a NATO man.
2:00:20We don't have a...
2:00:29Still can't find out how that got off the...
2:00:32I've never heard of Cecil.
2:00:34It got shifted over to Cecil somewhere without him.
2:00:37When I jumped out, he said, well, he was told that we weren't going to go for somebody outside.
2:00:44We can't try and get him to worry about that.
2:00:47Anyway, before we've got it under control.
2:00:51Yep.
2:00:52Put it through the, there's, and it will not be any career time.
2:00:58I'll tell you that you're right.
2:01:00Sure.
2:01:01I saw a beautiful one.
2:01:03That's the one where I got you.
2:01:06Yeah.

NARA Description

On October 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:30 pm to 5:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 284-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 284-17

Date: October 6, 1971
Time: 5:30 pm - 5:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.

     Wholesale prices
         -Rate of increase
     House
         -Tax bill

     Senate
          -The President's speech
          -Filibuster possibility
                -Clark MacGregor
                -Hugh Scott

     Draft of speech for October 7, 1971
           -William L. Safire
           -George P. Shultz
           -Herbert Stein
           -Ronald L. Ziegler, Peter M. Flanigan, John D. Ehrlichman
           -Staff people
                 -Editors
           -Arthur F. Burns
           -John B. Connally, Shultz, Stein, and the President
           -Wholesale prices
           -Stock market
           -Albert H. Gordon
           -Shultz
           -Windfall profits
                 -Possible effect
                 -Price reductions
           -Stock market

     The President's schedule
          -Cabinet
          -Russell B. Long

Polls
        -Unnamed pollster
             -Issues
             -US election
                   -Nixon support
                         -People's Republic of China [PRC]
             -Methodology
                   -Problems
        -George H. Gallup
             -Undecided
             -Schedule
             -Approval ratings
        -Louis P. Harris
             -Approval ratings
             -Henry A. Kissinger
                   -PRC announcement
             -Burns
        -Gallup poll
             -Union of Socialist Soviet Republics [USSR]
             -Phase II
             -Developments of the President's administration

Popular opinion
     -Busing
     -Issues
           -Effect on President
     -Housing
     -War
           -Cambodia
                -William Proxmire

Reviews of book
     -[Forename unknown] Wallace
     -George [Shultz ?]
     -Wallace

Personnel
     -North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
          -Walter J. Stoessel, Jr.

The President and Haldeman left at 5:45 pm.

Also recorded on October 6, 1971

  • 284-013 4:39 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 4:39 pm.
  • 284-014 4:40 PM · 35 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William L. Safire, White House operator, John B. Connally, and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:40 pm to 5:25 pm.
  • 010-096 5:16 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:16 pm.
  • 010-097 5:16 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 5:16 pm to 5:18 pm.
  • 010-098 5:18 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 5:18 pm to 5:19 pm.
  • 010-099 5:19 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 5:19 pm to 5:22 pm.
  • 284-015 5:25 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:30 pm.
  • 284-016 5:25 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:30 pm.

All 110 conversations from October 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 284-017, 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/284-017 (accessed September 18, 2026).