Conversation 359-018

TapeTape 359StartSaturday, September 16, 1972 at 1:15 PMEndSaturday, September 16, 1972 at 1:32 PMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Colson, Charles W.;  Eisenhower, Julie NixonRecording deviceOld Executive Office Building

On September 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:15 pm and 1:32 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 359-018 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 359-18

Date: September 16, 1972
Time: Unknown between 1:15 pm and 1:32 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Charles W. Colson.

             Watergate break-in
                -Cubans
                     -Press story
                         -George S. McGovern

Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked with the President between 1:23 pm and 1:24 pm.

[Conversation No. 359-18A]

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 3m 54s     ]

[End of telephone conversation]

                                    (rev. Oct-06)

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

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          US foreign policies
              -The President's conversation with Henry A. Kissinger
                  -Relations with the Soviet Union
                      -Trade
                      -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] II
                      -European Security Conference
                      -Timing of announcements

          US economy
              -Herbert Stein
                  -Wage and Price Commission
                       -McGovern
                       -Guidelines

          Washington Post headline
             -John F. Kennedy
                  -Pardon of Matthew J. Connelly
             -Kenneth W. Clawson's recent conversation with Howard Simons
                  -Stephen Rosenfeld
             -Connelly
                  -Background
                      -Massachusetts
                      -[Appointments] Secretary to Harry S. Truman
                      -Fund raising
             -Photograph
                  -Allen J. Ellender[?]
             -McGovern
                  -Lyndon B. Johnson's programs
             -Donald H. Rumsfeld
                  -Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]
             -Stein
                  -Johnson
             -High food prices
             -George P. Shultz

                                    (rev. Oct-06)

          McGovern's programs
             -Increases
                  -Taxes
                  -Prices
                  -Welfare
             -Telephone call to Colson from Albert E. Sindlinger
                  -George H. Gallup poll on wage and price controls
                       -Voluntary controls
             -Pierre Rinfret
             -Arthur F. Burns
             -John B. Connally

          Issues
              -Knowledge of grain deal actions impact
                 -Export subsidy

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 6m 26s     ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

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          CBS
             -Colson's meeting
             -Coverage
                 -Colson’s view
             -Colson
                 -Train travel between New York and Washington
                      -Metroliner
                      -Comparison with air travel
                           -Fiorello H. LaGuardia airport
             -Frank Stanton's comments
                 -CBS rating
             -William S. Paley

                                         (rev. Oct-06)

                  -News coverage
                      -Press conference by the President
                          -Vietnam, national security
                  -Telephone call to Colson
                  -Paley
                  -CBS coverage
                      -Effect of Colson's conversations with CBS officials

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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 3m 51s     ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4

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Colson and the President left at 1:32 pm.

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.

Well, they believe it.
It's good to have a little out on the left of Montgomery.
You know, they said you were crazy.
I mean, isn't that right?
I don't know.
You know, I was talking to Henry here about, he had a fantastic and successful trip to Vietnam.
I didn't say much about the Russians.
They aren't going to be sensational enough to announce what they've created.
They're going to have an assault.
They're not going to be here at the security conference one week after that.
One on the 10th, one on the 5th, one on the 10th, one on the 10th, one on the 10th, one on the 10th.
This is going to be one.
But the point is, this guy here is just to give you an idea of what's going on.
I hope that the sky and the rest of the sea at that weight price is good.
in Washington and that post didn't work.
We were upset over the little trade in the post about the recent point of sale.
It wasn't Connolly, it wasn't, he got convicted, pardon me, by Kennedy in 62, are they going to correct it now?
It went across the boot, the Corll sign on the post, and he said, what time is it?
And he said, suddenly he was expecting this Corll, and he said, he should have done it in Rosenthal, the national area.
We're putting it in there, and he said, he still went through, and he said,
Wilson said to Simon, why don't we, I'll start my research, and you start yours, and I'll call you in four o'clock, and we'll decide how extensive the refraction is going to be on page one.
Simon said, okay, I think we're done with refraction.
Is it wrong?
Well, I'm an expert.
I've heard other problems, but when they say S-1-L-C, my God, oh, people have left here and gone out.
Oh, right.
That's it.
That's it.
But anyway, McConaughey, George McConaughey, he was from Massachusetts.
I think he was a secretary or something.
I don't know what he was like.
That's right, secretary.
He was a coroner.
Oh, yeah.
And he was pardoned by Kennedy in 62 in one of the big countries.
And there was a big tribute to him.
I don't know.
I hope that's not easy.
Yeah, we'll correct that.
But compare that, Mr. President, against that headline in the Post Department today.
You know, that hangs in with LBJ.
When we heard about it yesterday morning, I got a little grossed over it.
You know, I know you did.
We put it in the CBS, and we did that tomorrow.
We split it through CBS News last night.
Great.
We put it on all three networks and only CBS News.
We got it over the third side, and it was the one that said, this is just a Johnson program.
And that's just what Amazon did.
And now I would attack it another way.
I would attack it that this program would lead to higher food prices.
So we see the amendment, and the rest is going to be acknowledged.
And Schultz has done that for money.
There are no reasons to do that now, or to use the amendment.
Higher tax, high tax, high price, high welfare, George.
There's the thing that I can't think of.
I'm not too sure.
Suddenly it rolled this morning, and he was the introvert.
He said, I just can't stand it.
He said,
on Sunday, the day after.
Everybody in the country knows that if you want voluntary, you want us to build it.
And he said, this guy has involuntary control.
And we've tried it before.
A job on it.
And guidelines.
Guidelines are filled.
Renfro is out building a one-man surrounding trip around it.
And we really never heard something like this.
Why doesn't Roger Burns say something like this?
You know?
You just want to give our group home.
They are here to watch the end of politics.
If you're the man, the president feels that you're the man, really.
That you're the guy in spirit who's got the control program.
And it's coming to you to be a real adult man.
You know what I mean?
You have to burn to the high level.
There's confidence in you.
You should have confidence in you, though.
Right.
Getting back to your conversation about CBS, I think it was very salutary in my opinion.
I could watch it my way a week.
I wouldn't take them on day one, would I?
And I'm clobbering it, and I'm going to need it.
This week, they did a total of 180 degrees.
They were the best effort, of course.
They gave us the most coverage, the most time, the most passage.
It was fairly good.
I called them on the exact time, you know, and just turned them on.
I thought about that last night.
We read all the notes that day.
I was praying for them that day.
I mean,
I used to love to ride a tractor.
I don't know why it changed, but it sort of spanned everyone.
The road is great now.
I can ride a tractor now.
It's clean, though.
It's clean.
I'm afraid you guys get to avoid it.
Of course I know how to ride a tractor, which is why the tractor line is three hours.
If you're an hour in the air, you're an hour getting to avoid it.
throughout the way, at the end of the runway, a half hour.
So I flew up during the year.
But as a reviewer, they are very, very expensive, if we keep the pressure on them.
If we don't, for good business reasons, they all must be in a good business.
They eat.
They're scared.
He turned his head and he said, Frank, if that's true, he said, well, yeah, well,
And he said, that's wrong.
And then I just gave him one answer, and I gave him another answer.
Particularly on the day I had a press conference.
It made the hell a lot more solid.
I went over to the press conference, Mr. President, and I said, which is more important, a speech to a bunch of security analysts or bringing another 12,000 men over to meet him now?
And he said, that's right.
So I went through the whole shirts and houses and they didn't even thank me for having them.
I said, well, a good people is a good condition.
I wanted to give it to them.
I wanted them to have it.
Sure, but I made them feel like they were crying out.
If they ever, what would they have come up with?
That's my whole paper.
It's such an indictment of CBS.
They won't see it.
I decided to wait them out.
So about four, it was, you know, they didn't cooperate.
And eventually, I did.
I waited for them.
They said, well, what would you like us to do?
And I said, just one word, one more.
And he said, well, what would be specific?
He said, I understand that.
He said, specific.
I said, I don't know.
I know you're not trying to mislead us but he said