On October 6, 1971, 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. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 284-014 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
Ray Price didn't get a month for this example, Sheriff.
No, you mentioned like 10,000.
I'm not sure they're as good as we say they are, everybody.
You're taking the raw figure rather than the adjusted one.
Well, anyway, be sure you check that with Stein.
But you know what?
We've had two good breaks.
That counts.
And, of course, the House has to be tax-filled today.
That comes tomorrow.
And the other one is going to be bad, it's going to be down at 10.
It's better than the other one.
Or staying where it is.
They've got to stay down, with the DH down.
Right.
It's not a headland.
Not a headland.
It's not a headland, is it?
No, no.
Well, starting again on it,
I'm glad to report progress.
Basically, I don't think that actually sums it up enough in usability and new fairness to world trade.
While an international monetary stand, I mean, it's world trade.
Maybe we should say a new monetary stability should put that in.
A new monetary stability.
To bring about a new monetary stability and a new fairness to the world.
No.
No, it isn't the dollar.
It's all fairness to speak.
A new monetary stability.
A new fairness to the world.
When you go down to the last paragraph, just strike the burger.
On the next page, I see you're trying to do the burger.
On the next sentence, number two, to get on with the job of getting people to work, I think leads to the implication that everybody's got to work more than it needs to be.
I think what we want there is something a little different.
So that, so that, so that, so that.
Oh, awesome.
So that we can move forward toward our goal of full employment without war.
Full employment.
Full employment.
Our goal of full employment without war.
I always say a full appointment number.
We've had a full appointment with the board.
We're meeting, huh?
A full appointment with the staff.
A full appointment with the staff.
I already have a full appointment with the staff.
There was really a vulnerable, a gigantic number of summaries.
And Muskie had made the same statement recently.
They talked about the new prosperity, which was wrong with the old prosperity.
And I said, war.
Get it?
Oh, it's a powerful thing to say, war.
It's a goddamn truth.
Yeah.
They just asked that one sentence, what was wrong with the old prosperity?
War.
Next question.
I mean, it's obvious.
The way I've asked Ray to do it, I've asked him to do it in terms of not a letter, but a different thing.
From all over America, thousands of letters forwarded to the minors.
Here's a sample.
And it's a housewife from so-and-so rights.
H.D.
over there from so-and-so rights.
I'm 40 all the way.
A school teacher from so-and-so.
I have to give them my pay, but I want to do it for you.
A retired person says, thank God you're doing this.
In other words, about four...
I think in the lab, the 100 words would be very, very, you know, feeling, momentum, and so forth and so forth.
Rather than saying 70% of the people are for it and putting it in personal terms, that's what I've asked for it to prepare so that you get it.
Try to fold it in where you can.
I have a question about that.
Fold credit for it.
Yeah.
Just listen to some of the people in America.
Listen to some of the excerpts from some of the thousands of letters that have poured into the vinyls since I made my own...
The next third paragraph, planning had I consulted over the past seven weeks, let's put it that way, but we have some concern, and I think we're still saving that.
The next paragraph, I would begin, consequently, I am announcing tonight that, when the 90-day period is over, we shall continue our program of wage and crisis management.
I think it's true that we're overstating the receipt of all of the money that we want.
I don't know.
I don't know.
That's all right.
I kind of feel that way.
It doesn't bother me.
I think it sort of feels that, well, we've consulted with everybody, and everybody's going to go on.
I don't mind that a bit.
The point is, though, it gives them a feeling that they know people like me, and you just didn't consult them after the fact.
Well, we're announcing this.
Well, you say we're announcing continuation.
Continuous, excellent, all the way through.
We will continue our program.
I'm not a stakeholder that any special interest group is really interested in, but if you like that, you can do more.
Next, where rather than this and do it the other way, put a deep price for it, as always, not this price, but the price for it.
Because in the past six years, they haven't eaten up our rise in cost of it.
Absolutely.
Snaps would be relatively small, just frankly relatively small.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.
I would start the next paragraph.
Our experience over the past seven weeks proves conclusively that the vast majority of Americans will cooperate wholeheartedly with the decisions of all the parties in this country.
Period.
If there are anyone, any, who try to take advantage of that agreement, this government must be, will be, prepared to act.
When we say this government, we mean this government, not this government.
This government is a very, very, very strong government.
For that reason, I will ask the Congress is that a non-sequence to an extent.
Well, if you leave that, this government must be getting back.
So that means, you know, I don't know if it's going to happen.
I don't know if it's going to happen.
For that reason, I have asked for confidence.
I have asked for confidence.
I have asked for confidence.
I have asked for confidence.
I have asked for confidence.
I am asking the defense.
I am asking the Congress.
Do you think it doesn't yardstick?
I don't like the other word.
I agree.
Is there any other reply on yardstick?
Maybe we'll put standard in there.
Standard?
No.
We'll put yardstick in there.
Do you like it?
I don't like it.
That's how bad it is.
It's an old word.
I wonder if we want to take something out that the whole building might not just come out.
And to sustain the record.
And to thereby sustain, for example, if it's a little weak, and thereby to sustain the record.
housing book, which is providing needed shelter, needed jobs.
There was a state-directed housing book that is providing needed shelter and needed jobs for, uh, uh, uh, not needed jobs, but, well, needed jobs.
The profit thing is a little awkward there.
It's a little hard, but it's well done.
I don't like to say, I don't like to go in with it.
I know I use law, but I don't quite want to...
I'd rather declare that I... Just say, let me talk about profit or something like that, or...
My wages and other costs are held down.
even though prices are also held down.
But sometimes an increase in volume or exceptional rise in productivity can generate excessive problems.
There.
We checked that one.
but it's like that's not fair not only the lady that's right but it's not the tax all conference perfect all conference perfect and certainly
I want to make certain that business passes along a large cost sequence.
I want to really take the worker to hell off.
The worker as well.
Do you want to pray for me?
All the same, the best thing that we can do is to make sure that we can make it to the end.
You see,
If we are homing here, you're talking about windfall problems, we're talking about a very small segment.
I wonder if you therefore call on all businesses to pass along their savings.
I think what you've got to do is to check this very carefully from the start.
Have you checked this part?
What is it?
In the price reduction form, it doesn't bring as much as you might worry about if you don't have questions about that.
No, no, no, they didn't put that on the law.
Is there anything else?
No, no, no.
Oh, I have to rate it.
I think it's pretty small.
Three times four percent.
Rather than four percent.
I think so.
I looked at it four times.
That's what the stock was doing.
Minus four times.
And once before, it got down to minus one times.
How do you read that?
It's just an action report.
I'm sure you're hearing that now.
I'm not sure that it will or will not do a thing.
I know it's a nice grudging style.
I'm not sure that it will.
Where it says we will keep the lid on, I would prefer not to use vernacular there.
What did you say in English?
We will keep restraints.
We will keep price and wage restraints on.
What does that mean?
We will keep price and wage restraints on for the federal government, but we will not have control over the federal government.
In this case, we have Democrats and Republicans.
Yes.
That's the role.
That's the role.
That's the role.
That's the role.
That's the role.
Just saying, what do we see?
I would look into the future, what do we see?
I would say...
I'd rather be stupid.
I mean, whatever, stop.
I'd just say, uh...
I don't know what to say, man.
Let us look to the future.
Let us look to the laws, prosperity, and peace.
Let us open the markets broad for our good and careers.
Let us read the markets every place that they say the markets are.
Let us open the markets every place that they say the markets are.
I know you have to find a different word for the system, but arrangement is not crisis-prone.
There's another way of arranging it.
Or if you say system, you can have the other system, which is built on it.
And break up one page in the top.
And that is a sentence that's relevant.
And I'm just demanding that it loses force.
That way it's nice to be written.
Or something like that.
I'm just saying that it's a strong sentence.
It's a strong, functional sentence.
I'll make it written.
You see what I mean?
It does sort of dribble a little, say, a bunch of things.
It's sort of an afterthought.
And we know we're going to transition to the next part of it.
Maybe Knight Detective 2 would be a great movie.
Much to that.
Let's see.
We'll have this, and I have a little bit of this.
They'll say, what do you mean, the whole year is going to be a year of peace?
I can't say that, yeah.
It's not that terrible.
It's not quite up here where it says it's going to be a year.
Oh, what?
Hey, what?
Hey, so, it can't be a year of war.
It's going to be a year of war.
It's going to be a year of love.
It's going to be a year of prosperity.
It's going to be a year of peace.
I think it's hard to know.
We can achieve our goal.
We can't be here.
I think what we can have is we can achieve our goal of having prosperity.
I think that will have to make it a little bit more of a step.
Give us a bargaining position to see, though, that we've got to have within ourselves.
We've got to achieve it, but we've got to look at it.
I may strike the word to hand, just at the end, obviously.
Much to your interest.
Now, what your problems, your problem really has a great deal to do with the determination.
The determination.
the dedication, the determination, the cooperation of the American people will be the key factor, or indispensable factor, will be the indispensable factor to determine that it shall be a great deal.
Something like that.
Now, coming to the next paragraph, I'm a little, I'm a little, I'm a little bit of an over-goer, a bit of a commentator of the American spirit of the state, trying to win.
I think it's a little, we can't spell it out enough.
I can cut that down.
I'm not sure, in other words, the end of the beginning thing quite comes off.
It's a nice thought, it's nice, you know, for children and all that stuff, but the whole paragraph itself, I think maybe it could, particularly when we get these examples, let's take that for now.
Yeah, we, I had the feeling, as I read it, it was awfully good, but maybe, you know, it was just rhetoric and a little too much.
Now, you like trouble times?
We often hear people say, you know, these are exciting.
We just move the question back.
But I prefer these.
No, I don't see these.
But I prefer, well, let's just say, let's say, no, these are exciting.
And I always believe this position is wrong.
And say, I think, I believe, it is my opinion that, my opinion, I am certain these are exciting.
Or let us.
But let us.
Oh, we're back where we came from.
Let us return to the past.
Let us never forget the times we've shared it all the time.
It was not bad.
And oh, maybe we can do it in that world also.
We did it in society.
That's right.
We all can do this.
I say these are exciting.
I say these are exciting.
Thank you.
I say, I say, I say, I say, I say,
I'd like to know if there's any characters.
Yeah, what you've done.
Right.
I may say, incidentally, about here, on the last paragraph, I like it.
Are we creating a little too much?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I've got to say, I say that you're exciting.
The special has been great for you.
Thank you for letting me do this.
Let's do it.
Let's try and take the threshold off here.
You can see what he's done.
I'm sure he's got something.
And I think now, let's try to go over and we only have to check the one sentence with Henry.
No, we didn't.
No, we didn't.
I don't believe that all 50 years is what we're going to have prosperity.
We're going to achieve our goals in prosperity.
If you've got to save, just save it.
Like, put the word can in the right word in.
Okay.
We cut out the one about ending the war.
Yeah, that's good.
Now, the other thing is that, uh, checking with Tom and the others.
I think I'm going to go to the roof, you know, check for them.
Oh, I want to check, but I was going to say when.
I don't want him to fuck it around with that poker and all the rest.
Yep.
Yep.
So, right away, if you make the, after you make the change, if you make the change, you say, uh,
Well, no, the only ones that matter are Connelly, Schultz, Stein,
Yeah, I just say that I've got this in here and I just want to put it in.
So far, I think you can check the show.
Don't check anything at all.
Not planning it early on, just the, I'll get it, but I mean, just to go beyond that.
You'll have everybody having an idea, well, I don't like that, or I don't like that.
If you get that many, you'll get enough views, you know.
You've got Connelly, you've got pretty good mix there.
That's enough.
And Burns, on his part, Connelly, Stein, you're already checking.
Kissed her for at least one month.
That's all.
It's like a comic, but it's...
And it's that way.
Don't wait for the gray stuff for this.
You don't show that to them.
They don't, I don't, none of them need to see that.
Don't bother them.
Don't show them any more stackers.
They don't need to get into this.
You don't even show them the singularity.
You get too many of them.
Yeah.
Hi, John.
When I have, uh,
We're just finishing up what is basically a sort of a complete draft here.
And I'd like a bill of your convenience to bring it by so we do have a chance to read it and make a suggestion to the city if you want.
Well, where would you be safer?
Yeah.
How that's silly.
Well, he'll come to you first, and then I, the only ones I've got to check with John are with you and with Schultz.
Burns, for just his part, on the interest in this design, he may agree to do that now.
Is that correct?
Well, that's what we understand Stein is doing.
But anyway, we've got it in, and if he's done it, we're going to check that paragraph with him and the letter part.
And Stein...
and of course we've been working on them for years and so that's it.
I think that's enough.
Steve Stein represents the county of Schultz and yourself.
There's not enough to check the track.
We've really checked all the, we've checked the big four.
But he'll come by you and we can rate it for anything you want.
Thanks John.
He's a good man.
He'll be there at 630 so maybe you can rip off, you don't even have to have it.
Yeah, okay.
Now, how do we leave the draft next?
Well, I'll get in touch now.
You can't get through it done tonight, can you?
Yeah.
Fine.
I'll reach back to my phone and find out.
Yeah.
I can have it wrapped for you at 3 or 9 o'clock.
9.
9 o'clock.
It's wrapped at 9, and I finish it off, and I find out...
Uh, let me check that.
I don't think we went there.
Call some police.
It went up by 50.
I don't pretend to be an expert, but I got it from Kurt when I said he actually did that.
The rate of the fire.
The rate of the fire.
He showed me everything.
Mike.
He said the reason it did go up.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, it did go up, yeah.
What do you think?
Do you have a reason for it?
The tax bill, of course.
Of course, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We are going to have to control it.
Right.
Right.
Good.
Good.
What is the situation on the wholesale prices that are coming up tomorrow?
Now, we've got something in here that's really down.
The wholesale prices actually declined.
Sapphire's standing here, all of them have told me they've let up, he said, three-tenths of one percent actual and four-tenths adjusted.
But we had it wrong, because I said, well, that didn't very much of an element for it last time.
It went down, actually.
Is that right?
Is that right?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Right.
Right.
Okay.
Fine.
Great.
Fine.
Well, I'm glad to hear about the market.
And, uh, we'll, uh, we'll run a bit.
Sorry about that.
We're fine.
Question on the orders.
Uh, uh, well.
Oh, well, I tell you.
I, uh,
Yeah, yeah, because I... Let me think if they do it in the morning.
You see, reading it, it's a very different situation than reading it.
There's a lot of ways to do it.
I just have to go over it a few times to get it hit.
Although I would like to get it fairly well hit.
Let me say, you come back.
Why don't you get a hold of the White House operator and just find out where I am.
And I'll either be here in the Lincoln room, or if I'm there, you can bring it there.
You just bring it by, and I'll sit there and go over the thing with you.
Or I'll be here.
Well, why don't we wait on hers until I've looked again.
No reason for her to copy.
She isn't doing well.
Let me just let her off.
I am appealing that I think it's on the right track.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.