Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 307 › Conversation 307-025

Nixon & Colson on Office of Economic Opportunity and Child care legislation

Wednesday, December 8, 1971 · 3:46 PM–3:55 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation307-025 on Tape 307 (tape position 00:45:42–00:50:18)StartWednesday, December 8, 1971 at 3:46 PMEndWednesday, December 8, 1971 at 3:55 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 307-025 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discuss the administration's political strategy regarding the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) child care legislation. They emphasize the need to align with conservative constituents to maintain ideological support, weighing potential risks against political gains. Additionally, the pair briefly touches upon recent UN voting patterns, expressing satisfaction that the administration’s position remained consistent with international allies despite opposition from India and Russia.

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 51% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah.

One thing that I'm sure you're uncomfortable with is the fact that, uh, I will, uh, we're preparing our legal message on that O.E.O.

child care thing.

Now, uh, obviously, our, uh, this is something about the folks in Nashville, how they jump up and down.

And, uh, before, because, uh, you know, we're gonna take the left, so we might as well take the right.

Yeah.

I know.

There's the philosopher.

Sure.

We can't just give up on all the time.

We can't.

I know, I know.

It just makes absolute sense.

We've been working on it.

He got out.

It's mostly conservatives who favor our position on the institute.

They don't care for the institute.

I was glad that U.N. vote was sort of starting to come into motion then.

You know, if you know that, the battalion got 12 against us in the whole thing, and that's just with India and Russia, and so that showed we were on the right side of that.

I mean, it's familiar enough, but, you know, it's not his fault.

He did a good job of that, and now Skelly can take that front.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

I don't see Calvin.

Very, very close to you.

Take one of the rest of the time.

Just one of the first.

So you can take the rest of the time.

Okay.

Close to the mouth.

Good.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, sir.

NARA Description

On December 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:46 pm to 3:55 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 307-025 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 307-025

Date: December 8, 1971
Time: 3:46 pm - 3:55 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

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

**********************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 06/11/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[307-025-w001]
[Duration: 2m 2s]

[See Conversation No. 016-058]

[End of telephone conversation]

**********************************************************************

Also recorded on December 8, 1971

016-055 3:40 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Arthur S. Flemming talked on the telephone from 3:40 pm to 3:42 pm.
016-056 3:43 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 3:43 pm to 3:44 pm.
307-021 3:43 PM · 38 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:43 pm to 3:44 pm.
016-057 3:44 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:44 pm and 3:46 pm.
307-022 3:44 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:44 pm and 3:46 pm.
307-023 3:44 PM · 6 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 3:44 pm and 3:46 pm.
307-024 3:44 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:44 pm to 3:46 pm.
016-058 3:46 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 3:46 pm to 3:55 pm.

All 76 conversations from December 8, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 307-025, December 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/307-025 (accessed October 12, 2026).