Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 293 › Conversation 293-006

Nixon, Ehrlichman & Bull on HR1 and Tax policy

Wednesday, November 17, 1971 · 1:27 PM–2:48 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Ehrlichman, John D.Conversation293-006 on Tape 293 (tape position 00:09:13–00:16:14)StartWednesday, November 17, 1971 at 1:27 PMEndWednesday, November 17, 1971 at 2:48 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 293-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman met to discuss the administration's legislative strategy regarding HR1 and a problematic amendment threatening the broader tax bill. The discussion focused on the political necessity of avoiding a presidential veto of the tax package while managing potentially unfavorable legislative amendments. They ultimately decided to pursue negotiations with Senator Charles Percy to mitigate the amendment's impact and effectively handle the political leverage involving state governors and Governor Ronald Reagan.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:09:13 – 00:16:14

part A, 9:11

293a.mp3
293b.mp3

NARA Description

On November 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:27 pm and 2:48 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 293-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 293-6

Date: November 17, 1971
Time: Unknown between 1:27 pm and 2:48 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

     The President's schedule
          -John D. Ehrlichman
               -Possible meeting with the President
                      -Richard B. Ogilvie
               -Telephone conversation with the President
          -Speech

The President talked with Ehrlichman at an unknown time between 1:27 pm and 2:48 pm.

[Conversation No. 293-6A]

[See Conversation No. 14-154]

[End of telephone conversation]

Bull left at an unknown time before 2:48 pm.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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General, I have a question for you.
Could you discuss a matter with the... the elected governor over in the front of the university?
Yeah, sir, over here on this side of the street.
Could you go to the phone, please?
Yeah, I believe you could, sir.
Yeah.
I'm working on the speech, and I've got some... May I get on the telephone with you?
Yeah.
Go ahead.
You're not going to be able to find it?
You're going to give it that much?
Is that the one that provides for takeover bearing above 125%?
Yeah.
That's super .
This is the house .
I don't know about males in history.
... ... ...
Why don't we play that game?
I mean, I think looking at it very realistically, I don't think you're going to be able to...
If this amendment passes, I mean, I cannot be in a position, John, of vetoing the tax bill because of everything else that's in it.
Is that what the recommendation would be, to veto the amendment?
Yes, I understand.
In fact, you and I know that...
It may be one of those things where we have to grin and bear it, you know?
Where the idea is that maybe it's, once faced it, it may be the way we get rid of the stimulus that we're going to get through reverent sharing, right?
So you come down to this, but what does it gain as we commit this person?
Is he, he'll give up on his amendment?
Then what happens?
Who gives up on the amendment?
All that we do by getting up, by going to Percy, is to move up to the effective day-to-day travel.
We don't change any principles.
I do it.
Okay, that's fine.
Don't you think so?
See, I think that's where we are.
Let's be quite realistic.
We cannot be COVID taxpayers.
I mean, I just can't do that because of other things, but the auto excise system,
I think we ought to get out of a terrible situation.
I mean, this has been terrible.
One, everybody's afraid of the pressure, you know.
So, all right.
I don't understand why you're doing this to me.
Maybe Percy means what he says.
What's going on there?
And how?
Yeah, it doesn't help Rockefeller.
Is that it?
I see.
But he's not for Percy, is he?
Rockefeller admitted, well, of course not.
So why this doesn't happen is a long way to do it.
On the other hand, so therefore we ought to try to meet the amendment and pay what price we have to pay, don't you think?
The evil in Percy changed.
I mean, in Percy.
That's what I mean by meeting and pay what price we need to do not to have an amendment.
Because the alternative is to have the amendment.
And then, uh, there's a little question there.
And then, it's rising, and let's see what happens to HR1.
Something may happen to it.
Or do we feel something may happen?
I don't know.
I don't know if this is going to make something that's already bad a little worse.
I bet you, but isn't it worse, guys, in front of this thing?
of having what you call this one-time registration business, which is bad business, it isn't helpful, but they didn't build it.
It's intolerable in terms of a revolutionary thing, and it just won't fail, and so forth.
Don't you think so?
That's my opinion.
All right.
Reagan's against it, too.
Yeah, he said he was against it.
Mainly because it's open-ended, as he puts it.
That's his argument.
He's against it on principle.
Okay.

Also recorded on November 17, 1971

  • 014-153 1:26 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 1:26 pm to 1:27 pm.
  • 293-004 1:26 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:26 pm to 1:27 pm.
  • 014-154 1:27 PM · 9 min — Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, John D. Ehrlichman, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:27 pm and 2:48 pm.
  • 293-005 1:27 PM · 3 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 1:27 pm and 2:48 pm.
  • 293-024 1:30 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Clark MacGregor met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:30 pm to 1:32 pm.
  • 293-025 1:32 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:32 pm and 1:42 pm.
  • 293-026 1:32 PM · 2 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 1:32 pm and 1:42 pm.
  • 293-027 1:32 PM · 14 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 1:32 pm and 1:42 pm.

All 74 conversations from November 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 293-006, November 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/293-006 (accessed November 2, 2026).