Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 291 › Conversation 291-019

Nixon, Colson & Ziegler on John B. Connally and Wage and Price Board

Monday, October 18, 1971 · 5:32 PM–5:40 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 10 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.; Ziegler, Ronald L.Conversation291-019 on Tape 291 (tape position 01:48:20–01:58:17)StartMonday, October 18, 1971 at 5:32 PMEndMonday, October 18, 1971 at 5:40 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 291-019 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Ronald L. Ziegler met to coordinate upcoming administrative communications and scheduling priorities. The discussion centered on managing the press rollout for John B. Connally’s diplomatic travel to Asia, handling public relations for First Lady Pat Nixon’s reception at the Kennedy Center, and finalizing preparations for upcoming legislative announcements regarding the Wage and Price Board. The group also reviewed the status of potential Supreme Court nominations while emphasizing a need for discretion regarding controversial public commentary.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 6 minutes of this recording (about 56% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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?
Well, how was your day today?
How was I?
I saw it, yeah.
Of course, I didn't regret that.
The council said it wasn't very good.
They always say that, so that's all right.
I'll get in there and pull a crack at that one of these.
He always, of course, cautioned.
Well, it's out the window.
That's right.
Right.
Yeah.
But although that is one who's not as much in touch with the economy as most people, but everyone who's come up with it.
Yeah.
And always...
say what these figures are going to do to this or that or the other thing, but goddamn, that's something.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
The disapproval or is this, again, cryo-wings?
You know what I mean?
Particularly with Harris following.
Is Harris out today?
Yeah.
Well, I don't know.
You guys pull your head up just a bit.
I'll get a place
Yeah, I see.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's right, come in.
Come in.
Are those his?
Are you sure?
I'm not sure.
I don't think they used various ones.
Unless they set it where it is.
I don't think they did.
I don't think they appeared to have done it.
I don't think that is because he was just given to them.
Yeah, that is here.
That's right.
We've got to run, right?
When they go to the trail, you do it again.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Well, you know, it's the same thing.
That's right.
That's right.
You have time to do it.
You can do it on the trip.
You can have them.
Oh, yeah, that's probably .
Yeah, I spoke to him, and he can't .
All right, all right.
OK, well, we'll see you later.
Sorry, sorry, .
The Japanese, the fact that he was going to and Japan.
So what we did this afternoon is we didn't announce it.
We simply confirmed the fact before the announcement.
So that's a little loose, but apparently the fact that there would be an announcement tomorrow.
Right.
So it is moving that Conley will go to but it's still
We didn't totally announce it, but if you hear that sound... We haven't, I don't mind.
The Indonesian Times hasn't... Indonesia has not announced it.
The only thing is what the Japanese announced.
Well, they just announced two or three countries, and we'll wrap it up on the news.
We'll talk to them, and we'll say what's going on.
We have not formally announced it, this time.
Then...
He's at home sick, and I didn't know if I should call him.
Perhaps I should.
He left.
He's on his illness, actually.
Perhaps I should call him to talk about it.
I will.
Yeah, I would just call on him.
I would just call on him.
If he's the deputy, I would call on him.
I know it isn't something serious, but I think he just won't.
I think the secretary said this afternoon.
Then I talked to Secretary Broderick, and we worked out a way that he would have done them all.
I let him collaborate.
I want to be sure now on that rhetoric.
It's very low key.
I talked to Al and the secretary, both had full support, so that he just got something to do with that.
We actually did that when the congressman was around.
We'll do it again.
I thought that did it when he was around.
We'll do it again.
We're trying not to say too much, but I don't understand that anyway.
Then the third thing, Mrs. Nixon apparently
There's only 40, so if it's all right with you, I will just judge that in terms of the circumstances.
Preferably not half the pool coverage.
But if it looks like I should have the wire, I will watch it very carefully.
In other words, I'd like to leave that loose just to see how it goes.
Well, she wants to get some publicity out of the practice.
There's an Eisenhower theater there.
If you don't mind, we'll do it in just a small room.
I don't care.
I don't care about this reception.
It's for Mrs. Mary.
It's looking a hell of a lot for her.
And a lot of times, it's worth it.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I want to talk to you before we go.
I don't care.
I don't really care about you.
Okay.
Okay.
That's all.
The boys are looking forward to the announcements.
We're going to build the legislation tomorrow on the wage price.
That's what we're going to do tomorrow.
We're going to put the names together.
That's what we're going to do.
Well, that'll be later.
I'll just .
Actually, I think .
But we may have .
Just don't comment about it.
There are lots of people .
You know, you don't get up in the army.
You don't get up in the army and debate about are they qualified or... No, no, no.
We've stated all that.
We've stated what we're doing.
We're all very certain we get what we want to know.
It's not a major issue.
I've never...
It's not exactly what I said.
I think it comes up sometimes.
Well, I'm not...
I'm not... Let's stay out of it now.
I have not touched anything in that sort of...
i think
And it may get on the network.
I don't think it came off as a stomach surgery.
I don't think it came off.
Well, it doesn't seem to me as to what we're doing.
Well, one of the very important things that we take off, take a half hour to fly out there, and a half hour to come back and move around.
I don't know if anybody here has seen this and all that.
But I don't think .
I don't think .

NARA Description

On October 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:32 pm to 5:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 291-019 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 291-19

Date: October 18, 1971
Time: 5:32 pm - 5:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[Conversation No. 291-19A]

[See Conversation No. 11-119]

Ronald L. Ziegler entered at an unknown time after 5:32 pm.

[End of telephone conversation]

     Ziegler's schedule
          -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                 -John B. Connally
                       -Forthcoming trip
                       -United Nations [UN]
                             -Nguyen Van Thieu
                             -Japan
                             -White House press statement
                             -Indonesia
                             -Japan
                             -Vietnam
                       -Health
                       -Forthcoming announcement
          -William P. Rogers
          -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
                 -Press coverage
                       -John F. Kennedy Center reception
                             -Dwigh D. Eisenhower Theatre
                             -Publicity
                             -Mrs. J. Willard Marriott
          -Forthcoming public announcements
                 -Legislation
                       -Wage and Price Board
                 -Supreme Court nominations
                       -American Bar Association [ABA]
                       -Possible nominees
                            -Ziegler's conversation with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

     Press coverage of event
           -The President’s view
           -Ziegler’s view

Ziegler left at 5:45 pm.

Also recorded on October 18, 1971

  • 011-116 5:21 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:21 pm and 5:24 pm.
  • 011-117 5:24 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon talked on the telephone from 5:24 pm to 5:25 pm.
  • 291-017 5:24 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:24 pm to 5:25 pm.
  • 011-118 5:25 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:25 pm and 5:32 pm.
  • 291-018 5:25 PM · 4 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 5:25 pm and 5:32 pm.
  • 011-119 5:32 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone from 5:32 pm to 5:40 pm.
  • 011-120 5:40 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:54 pm.
  • 011-121 5:40 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:40 pm and 5:54 pm.

All 46 conversations from October 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 291-019, October 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/291-019 (accessed September 28, 2026).