On February 7, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 7:15 pm and 9:05 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 320-001 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
The story is told of three men on a desert island who spotted a tidal wave headed their way.
The first man decided to use the time remaining on wine, women, and song.
The second man chose to get down on his knees and pray.
And the third man, I'm sure he was an American businessman, got busy trying to figure out how to breathe underwater.
As we look ahead to the industrial world of the field, as we look ahead to the industrial world of the future of this lighthouse company,
It is well to remember that there is something to be said for enjoying life, that the power of prayer is important, but that as we face the future, we must also get ready to live it.
In the course of this conference, you will be exploring the exciting prospects that lie ahead for the working man and the businessman of America.
You will be examining the new social responsibilities of business, the challenges of the new technologies so vital to the betterment of the lives of our people and to the future of our economy.
There has never been a time when a hard, searching look ahead has been more essential.
We cannot really plan for the industrial world ahead without considering the total picture of the world of the future.
We have to ask ourselves which way the world is heading, what we as a nation must do to influence the course of history toward more freedom and toward a generation of peace, and what kind of people we will have to be.
to make a difference in our children's lives and in the world tomorrow?
These are profound questions and the kind that all too many people consider themselves too busy to deal with.
The American dream is too important to be left to the dreamers.
Practical men have to examine their ideals and shape the future with the image of their hopes.
The people of the United States of America make up 6% of the population of the world.
What does that figure mean?
First, it means that we have a great deal to be proud of.
When six percent of the people of the world produce one-fifth of the world's steel, one-third of all its electric power, one-third of all automobiles, then even our most severe critics will have to admit that the American economic system must be doing something right.
The fact that we number only six out of every hundred people of the world means something else that must do us part.
It means that we,
who believe in majority rule are a minority group in the world.
If we are to lead, we cannot lead by force of arms or by way of our numbers.
We can lead only by the force of our example and the quality of our vision.
What is it that has brought this 6%, this minority of the world that calls itself now, to the highest standard of living and the highest expression of human freedom?
What is it that will propel this nation forward in the coming generation, to lead mankind in its search for a better life and a world of peace?
I am convinced that the answer lies in a real but intangible quality called the American spirit.
In today's world, that spirit is being tested.
America is being tested.
We've got to learn once again to compete in the world, and the only way we can compete is on the basis of our own productivity.
In the past, America has been able to pay the highest wages in the world, enjoy the highest standard of living in the world, and still compete in the world's markets because we have the best technology and the highest productivity.
But while other nations have been modernized, while others have been spurring ahead in productivity, in America, our productivity has lagged.
We have neglected capital investment.
We have fallen behind other nations in the attention and support we give to applied science and to advances in technology.
We can be proud of our record of generosity and far-sightedness.
In the years
We can be proud of our record of generosity in the years since World War II.
As well as old friends have gotten back on their feet, and new nations have been started from the long road to prosperity.
This hope has been good for other nations, good for the world, and in the long run, good for us.
Decades of the 60s, exports of American manufactured goods increased 10%.
During the same period, exports of German manufactured goods rose by 200%.
Cannabis increased by 285%.
Japan, now the second greatest producer in the non-communist world, increased their exports of manufactured goods by 400%.
This is one major of the competition we face.
And one reason why last year America suffered its first trade test since 1888.
Nations never stand still.
They go forward or they fall back.
Other nations in the world today are going forward, rapidly going.
And America has to exert itself.
We have to be at our best.
And so it is, if we are to remain competitive in this world.
Business and in life, there is a time when tough decisions have to be made.
This administration, we've made some tough decisions in order to help get the economy back in its feet and transition from war to peace on a stable basis for four months and moving forward in a sustainable way.
I believe in economic freedom.
I believe the best economy for America is a free market economy.
Faced with the choice of wage and price controls or continued inflation, I chose temporary controls to curb inflation.
I believe in balanced budgets.
Faced with the choice between budget deficits and unemployment, I chose deficits to create more jobs.
In the long run, our goal is to remove the controls and get rid of the deficits once we have brought about price stability and full employment.
In the short run, there's going to be a lot of complaining
I'm prepared to take the heat because I believe that I have put first then.
I'm full of trust, without inflation, in a period of peace on this first for America.
Now you, the leaders of American industry, are going to have to make some hard decisions.
Are you going to crawl into a shell of demand production, protection of world competition?
Or are you going to roll up your sleeves and increase productivity?
Are you going to expend your energies
planning of our controls, or are you going to adopt wage and price policies that will remove the pressure, remove the pressure of inflation, and then leave with the troubles?
I'm convinced that I made the right decision, and I'm convinced you will make the right decisions as well, right for yourself, right for our country.
There's still some people around who are uncertain about whether we can really cut the rate of inflation.
There are two answers to those doubts.
First, there is a record of what has been done so far.
consumer prices rose three and four-tenths percent in 71 compared with five and five-tenths the year before.
This is the right direction for inflation down.
That shows that it can be done.
And second, this administration is determined to keep pushing down the rate of inflation.
We have made a commitment.
We have proved the lengths we are prepared to go to keep our commitments.
And we shall see this fight against rising prices through this development.
Justice controls
When we work to stop inflation, our policy is to create more jobs.
You all know that in the past six months, civilian employment has increased by over a million jobs.
Yet that surge has not made nearly enough to end the unemployment rate.
Real output grows at a rate double that of the preceding two points.
That's a basis for real confidence, a confidence that should generate further expansion and more jobs.
Nobody says the road to full employment is quick and easy, but we are on that road.
When we ask what it is that enables each worker to get more out of his work, it's technological counterculture.
It promised increasing abundance every year without any extra effort on our part, and this made us complacent.
We tended to imagine that more was our duty, whether we did anything for it or not.
Now the new situation in the world has changed all of us.
Even if we were to attempt just to fight with one another for a bigger slice of the same old pie instead of making the pie bigger, this would no longer be... nothing.
Our markets would disappear.
And not only would we no longer sell bread, we would no longer be able to buy it from America instead.
We are not wasted.
We still have the American spirit.
But having spirits out of that, we have to use it.
If we are to maintain our leadership in the world of the future, it will not be by force of law.
It will be by the strength of our spirit, back to the vigor of our economy.
If we slip as an economic power, then we will slip also as a moral force in the world.
For it will end because we cease to try, because we cease to compete, because we gave up on ourselves.
It will not be by force of arms.
It will be by the strength of our spirit, backed by the vigor of our economy.
If we slip as an economic power, we will slip also as a moral force
or it will have been because we ceased to try, because we ceased to compete, because we gave up on ourselves and the world.
I do not believe that America will divide, nor do I believe that we will try to build a wall around it.
If we were ever to permit this nation to turn isolationist and foreign policy, we wouldn't be inviting another war.
And if we were to let this nation turn protectionist and its economic policy, we would be inviting a trade war.
And like the other types of war, every nation on this planet will lose.
We're not going to let either of these things happen.
We're not about to forget the secret of the world's highest-ranking religion, a competitive spirit that results in rising productivity.
After years of lagging productivity, we made a comeback last year, back to a 3.6% rise.
Now we have the momentum.
We must never again forget the secret of American success.
Too long?
Too many businessmen working here.
Thought of the American economy as a kind of a giant turtle, fat and lazy with a protective shell that seemed impregnable.
Let me point out to you that nature played a trick on the turtle.
The only way he can move forward is to stick out his neck.
Time has come for that turtle