Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 295 › Conversation 295-012

Nixon & Colson on Labor Relations and George Meany

Tuesday, November 16, 1971 · 3:16 PM–3:27 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation295-012 on Tape 295 (tape position 00:14:21–00:18:53)StartTuesday, November 16, 1971 at 3:16 PMEndTuesday, November 16, 1971 at 3:27 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 295-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss the political advisability of the President attending an upcoming labor event, with Nixon expressing skepticism about appearing alongside labor leaders like George Meany given the current contentious political climate. The conversation also shifts to economic performance, specifically analyzing third-quarter GNP growth figures as reported by Paul McCracken. Nixon concludes that the administration must focus its efforts on securing the passage of their desired tax bill.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 39% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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So, Chuck, I've been doing a lot of thinking about this labor thing, and I have a feeling that I should not go.
I know that there are arguments for going, but I'll tell you what, we have a situation now.
There's all things that are rather general in terms of, you know, where the Senate and the House are pretty political and they stick us around.
Now, Meany does it, and I understand all that, but, and I don't mean to kick him at the point, but I just think that, I think the country might not understand my distance.
I'm going down there, you know, I'm trying to get through that tough labor thing to do all that.
He's been awfully rough, and
and i don't think you think it's going to demean all that much
You see what I mean?
I can't quite say that you support the foreign deal or not.
Rather, you can go back in the past history, that's true.
Labor leaders are the lowest end of the totem pole at the moment.
And everybody's really, you know, if I have to do that often, that's going to be a hell of a thing to do for them.
And at times you might not.
And you might go down there and they later on throw something else at you.
All right.
There we go.
And then that may go.
Even McCracken came in today and showed me the figures from the GNP, which showed basically 4% growth in the third quarter.
And I said, Wilbur, and I said, how can these people in Congress be 30% off, 33% off?
They said their preliminary figures showed a 3% growth in the third quarter.
This shows a 4% growth in the third quarter.
God damn it, it really is something that...
And so it shows this dandy company, and incidentally, this now makes $120,000.
What is it?
These bargain hunters, is that what they call them?
Sure, that's what they're called.
What's the value?
Well, it's better than nothing.
I can send a move if you want.
If you want.
Over a period of time, it's just on the move because it's a good year coming up.
There's some retention.
He really is bullish, isn't he?
Yeah.
They got to get that tax bill through in the way we want it to.
OK.

NARA Description

On November 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:16 pm to 3:27 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 295-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 295-012

Date: November 16, 1971
Time: 3:16 pm - 3:27 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 14-140]

Also recorded on November 16, 1971

  • 014-139 3:09 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 295-008 3:09 PM · 1 min — 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 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 295-009 3:09 PM · 36 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 295-010 3:09 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 295-011 3:09 PM · 10 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 3:09 pm and 3:16 pm.
  • 014-140 3:16 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 3:16 pm to 3:27 pm.
  • 295-013 3:27 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:27 pm and 3:31 pm.
  • 295-014 3:31 PM · 1 hr 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Peter G. Peterson, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:31 pm to 5:04 pm.

All 90 conversations from November 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 295-012, November 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/295-012 (accessed October 1, 2026).