Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 299 › Conversation 299-009

Nixon & Colson on Business community relations and Economic policy

Wednesday, November 10, 1971 · 2:34 PM–2:45 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation299-009 on Tape 299 (tape position 00:13:59–00:18:30)StartWednesday, November 10, 1971 at 2:34 PMEndWednesday, November 10, 1971 at 2:45 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 299-009 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss strategies for managing frustration with the business community, particularly academic elites and corporate leaders who remain dissatisfied with the administration despite efforts to engage them. Nixon expresses exasperation regarding these groups and emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a non-partisan approach to political maneuvering. The conversation briefly touches upon economic indicators, such as retail sales, and the prospects for pending tax legislation.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:13:59 – 00:18:30

299a.mp3

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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You were talking about Cylinders, uh, Cull and so on.
Barrett is people's mentor.
I'm not saying those are there.
What the hell do they want?
They're panicking.
Phase two.
What?
The retail sales seem to be bouncing pretty good, would you say?
I don't know what the hell we can do to end this, fellas.
My God, Chuck, we've held their hand.
We've go to their meetings.
We've had them in the White House.
We've had them in the Blair House.
What in the name of God are we supposed to do?
Now, the Chamber of Commerce isn't so bad.
It's the big business guys.
It's frankly, let's face it, the Harvard School of Business, the Wharton School, the Stanford School of Business, right?
Computer types basically are just gone.
I don't think there is.
It doesn't change.
Well, certainly, I don't know, but maybe the tax bill would get passed one day, I suppose.
It's Christmas soon, despite what somebody said we weren't going to do.
It's definitely going to be.
Two and a half to three or something like that.
I didn't make one part of the comment.
I had to.
But the whole point is, you know, all these goddamn people said I was going to go out and start a campaign to build how many hustlers they didn't think I am.
But, uh,
We weren't much of a do-it-it, but I was the most important thing is to keep it non-partisan.
And we'd just drive our enemies up the wall.
The bigger we'd just circle, so we were all digging.
They wanted me to get in there and sit down with the others, you know, thinking about partnership and other stuff.
We'll be right back.

NARA Description

On November 10, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:34 pm to 2:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 299-009 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 299-9

Date: November 10, 1971
Time: 2:34 pm - 2:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See Conversation No. 14-14; three items have been withdrawn from the conversation]

Also recorded on November 10, 1971

  • 014-012 2:27 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 2:27 pm to 2:28 pm.
  • 299-006 2:27 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:27 pm to 2:28 pm.
  • 014-013 2:28 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:28 pm and 2:34 pm.
  • 299-007 2:28 PM · 1 min — 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 2:28 pm and 2:34 pm.
  • 299-008 2:28 PM · 19 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 2:28 pm and 2:34 pm.
  • 014-014 2:34 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 2:34 pm to 2:45 pm.
  • 014-015 2:45 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:45 pm and 2:50 pm.
  • 299-010 2:45 PM · 35 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 2:45 pm and 2:50 pm.

All 47 conversations from November 10, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 299-009, November 10, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/299-009 (accessed September 30, 2026).