Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 387 › Conversation 387-007
Nixon, Shultz & Ehrlichman on Economic policy and Wage and price controls
Tuesday, December 5, 1972 · 10:15 AM–11:38 AM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 1 hr 21 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with George Shultz and John Ehrlichman to discuss the administration's economic strategy and preparations for the second-term transition. The conversation focused heavily on the management of wage and price controls, inflation mitigation, and labor relations, including potential appointments to the Productivity Commission and the Commission on Industrial Peace. Additionally, the group addressed the reorganization of the Treasury Department, international trade policy, and the potential role of Peter G. Peterson as a special representative for economic affairs.
- Economic policy
- Wage and price controls
- Labor relations
- Administration reorganization
- International trade
- Inflation
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 55.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 56.9 MB
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 58 minutes of this recording (about 71% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
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NARA Description
On December 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 10:15 am to 11:38 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 387-007 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 387-7
Date: December 5, 1972
Time: 10:15 am - 11:38 am
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman. The White House
photographer was present at the beginning of the meeting.
Greetings
Economy
-Cost of living
-Wage and price controls
-Shultz’s message from the President
-Arthur F. Burns
-Shultz’s conversations with John B. Connally, Burns, and Pierre Rinfret
-Public relations [PR]
-30-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Food prices
-Burns
-Congressional relations
-Meat import quotas suspension
-Increase of oil import quotas
-Rice
-Guidelines
-Construction industry
-Medical care
-Food prices
-Government action
-Food prices
-The President’s conversation with Gerald R. Ford
-Meat import quotas suspension
-Earl L. Butz
-Cattlemen
-Structure of controls
-Inflation
-Big companies and unions
-Food prices
-Medical care
-Food prices
-Rinfret
-Construction industry
-Shultz’s memorandum
-Donald F. Rumsfeld
-Burns
-Conversation with Shultz
-Food prices
-Quotas
-Price Commission
-Term-limit price controls
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
-Enforcement
-PR
-Decontrol
-Inflation fight continuation
-Controls change
-Phase III
-Inflation fight “continues”
-31-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Substance
-Decontrol
-Cost of Living Council [COLC]
-John T. Dunlop
-Conversation with Shultz
-Rumsfeld
-Labor unions
-Food prices
-Rinfret
-Rinfret’s support
-1972 campaign
-Labor relations
-George Meany, Frank E. Fitzsimmons, Leonard Woodcock
-Disputes
-Settlement
-Strikes
-Peter J. Brennan
-Milton Friedman’s view
-Tightened controls
-April 1973
-End of controls
-Psychological effect
-Labor relations
-Avoiding conflict
-Business council
-Frederick B. Dent
-Confirmation
-Profit system
-Consultations
-Meany
-Brennan
-Fitzsimmons
-Productivity Commission
-Meany
-John H. (“Jack”) Lyons
-Phase II
-Dunlop
-Peter G. Peterson
-Meany’s view
-Industry labor-management groups
-32-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Steel
-I[lorwith] W[ilbur] Abel
-Shultz’s role
-Brennan
-Confirmation
-Dent, Brennan
-Timing
-State of the Union address
-1973 Inauguration
-Pre-January 1, 1973
-Christmas
-Congressional reconvention
-Christmas
-Productivity Commission meeting
Commission on Industrial Peace
-Dent, Brennan
-Timing
-Membership
-Names
-Size
-Experience
-George S. McGovern supporters
-Labor relations
-Woodcock
-Productivity Commission
-Netrual intellects
-Business
-Professors
-1972 election
-McGovern supporters
-Economists
-Newspaper advertisement
-Rinfret
-PR
-Conversation with Shultz
-Interest in administration position
-Visibility, status, perquisites, access to the President
-Importance
-The President’s view
-33-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Meany’s view
-Labor-management relations
-Membership
-Charles W. Colson’s lists
-Business, labor
-Donald McI Kendall
-Frederic V. Malek
-Roy L. Ash
-Labor, management
-Congressional relations
-Philip M. Landrum – Robert P. Griffin Act
-Farm labor bill
Economy
-Wage and price controls
-Timing
-Christmas
-Sales
-PR
-Inflation
-Budget
-Inflation
-Phases
-Phase III
-Continuation of law
-Method
-Speculation
-Phase III
-Budget
-Spending ceiling
-Phase III
-Christmas
-Continuation of law
-Inflation fight continuation
-Congressional relations
-Comprehensiveness
-Voluntarism
-Labor relations
-Meany, Fitzsimmons, Brennan, Dent
-Shultz’s role
-34-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-John B. Connally’s view
-Politics, psychology
-Labor relations
-Business
-Conflict
-Pay Board, Price Commission
-Meany
-Colson’s role
-Politics
-Conflict
-Announcement
-Timing
Revenue sharing
-Issuance of first check
-Timing
-Congressional relations
-Treasury Department briefing
-Announcement
-Information update
-Customer and tax packets
-Congressional relations
-Democrats
-House of Representatives
-Senate
-Republicans
-Southern Democrats
-James E. Smith
-Charles H. Percy
-Amounts
-Change
-Data
-New York City
-Suburban areas
-Chicago
-Indianapolis
-Richard G. Lugar
-Los Angeles County
-Samuel W. Yorty
-Congressional relations
-35-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
Second term reorganization
-Treasury Department
-Charls E. Walker and Eugene T. Rossides
-Announcement
-Timing
-Ronald L. Ziegler
-Department of Housing and Urban Development
[HUD]
-Walker
-Congressional relations
-Lobbying activities
-Relations with administration
-Possible meeting with the President
-Handshake
-Expression of gratitude
-Photograph session
-Treasury Department
-William E. Simon
-Announcement
-Solomon Brothers
-Resignation
-Conflict of interest
-Fraud
-Edward L. Morgan
-Rossides
-Edwin S. Cohen
Congressional relations
-Shultz’s possible trip to Arkansas
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Russell B. Long
-Shultz’s conversation with Mills
-House Ways and Means Committee agenda
-Trade
-Taxes
-Health
-Pension portability
-Unemployment insurance
-Tax credits for private schools
-36-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Property taxes, tax reform
-Health
-Trade
-Most Favored Nation [MFN] status
-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATT]
-Restrictions
-MFN
-Soviet Union
-Compared to liberalization
-GATT
-Europe
-Oil prices
-Liberalization
-International monetary relations
-Tariff reduction
-Presidential discretion
-General resolution
-Treasury Department
-Deals
-Ratification
-Effect on negotiations
-Concessions
International economic relations
-Trade
-Countervailing duty legislation
-Michelin
-Canada
-Announcement
-State Department
-Japanese
-Electronics
-South Koreans
-Sneakers [tennis shoes]
-Surplus
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Politics
-William J. Casey
-Japan
-Economic, political, military considerations
-37-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Kissinger
-“QT”
-Canada
-Jobs
-Auto pact
-Negotiations
-Agreement
-Cancellation
-Duration
-Michelin
-Latin America
-Expropriations
-Peru
-Company worries
-David Packard
-New government
-January 1973
-Settlement
-Loans
-National Security Council [NSC]
-Chile
-Hardline
-Multilateral organizations
-Latin America
-World Bank
-Robert S. McNamara
-Replacement
-Inter-American Development Bank [IADB]
-Pledge
-Emilio Garrastazu Medici of Brazil
-Increments
-Congressional relations
-Appropriations
-Continuing resolution
-Review
-Compared to bilateral agreements
-US relations
-Control
-Latin America
-IADB
-38-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Asian Development Bank
-IADB
-United Nations [UN]
-Budget cuts
-Effect
-UN Development Program
-Rudolph A. Peterson
-US foreign policy
-World Bank
-McNamara
-Latin America
-IADB
Second term reorganization
-Peter G. Peterson
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Ambassadorship to North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-David M. Kennedy
-Need for full-time person
-Cabinet rank
-“Super ambassador”
-Rumsfeld
-UN ambassadorship
-Job performance
-Soviet Union
-Departure
-Leaks
-Washington Post
-Dent
-James T. Lynn
-Ehrlichman
-Departure
-Means
-Kissinger’s view
-Living abroad
-Personal reasons
-Possible trip
-East-West negotiations
-Soviet Union, Poland
-39-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Report
-European Economic Community [EEC], Soviet Union, Poland
-Role as President’s special representative
-Poland
-EEC
-Japan
-East-West trade
-Moscow
-US-Soviet Union gas deal
-Kissinger
-Soviet Union
-US-Soviet Union summit
-Europe, Japan
-East-West trade
-US-Soviet Union gas deal
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Connally
-Commerce Department
-Shultz
-Kissinger
-White House
-Connally
-Kissinger
-Armand Hammer
-Economics
-Companies’ interests
-Government guarantees
-Export-Import [Ex-Im] Bank
-Connally
-Commerce Department
-Soviet Union
-Connally
-Europe, Japan
-East-West trade
-Role as President’s special representative
-EEC, Japan
-Recommendations
-Speeches, press conferences
-Contacts
-Shultz, Flanigan, Kissinger
-40-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Rumsfeld
-Ambassadorship to NATO
-Peterson’s possible trip
-EEC-NATO ambassadorship
-[Joseph A. Greenwald]
-State Department
-Feasibility
-Rumsfeld
-Departure
-US economic representation in industrial countries
-William J. Casey
-Rogers
-Soviet Union
-Maurice H. Stans
-Europe
-Japan
-Asian countries
-Latin America
-Brazil
-Mexico
-Japan
-Philippines
-Indonesia
-Casey
-State Department
-East-West trade
-US-Soviet Union summit
-US economic representation
-Public statements
-Purpose
-Recommendations on broad policy
-EEC, Asia
-European community
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 10:15 am.
The President’s schedule
Bull left at an unknown time before 11:38 am.
-41-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
Second term reorganization
-Peterson’s possible trip
-Recommendations
-EEC-NATO ambassadorship
-James D. Hodgson
-US economic representation
-US policy
-Cartels, anti-trust
-Report
-Duration
-Timing
-Confirmation of Secretary of Commerce
-Spring 1973
-Announcement
-Speculation
-Sally (Hornbogen) Peterson
-Travel
-Presidential plane
-Kennedy
-Commercial
-Special plane
-Europe
-Paris
-Attache planes
-Japan, Indonesia
-NATO
-US economic representation
-Consultations
-Rogers
-[David] Kenneth Rush
-Casey
-State Department
-Shultz
-Kissinger
-Flanigan
-Role as President’s special representative
-Ambassadorship
-Ehrlichman’s schedule
-Meeting with Warren E. Burger
-Robert H. Bork
-42-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Conversation No. 387-7 (cont’d)
-Experience
-Erwin N. Griswold
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Charles S. Rhyne
-Supreme Court
-Age
-Paul Klein [?] [sp?]
-McGovern
-John B. Davis, Jr. [?]
-L[ouis] Patrick Gray, III
-Clifford P. Case
Shultz and Ehrlichman left at 11:38 am.Also recorded on December 5, 1972
- 034-018 8:26 AM · 42 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 8:26 am to 8:27 am.
- 034-019 8:56 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Col. Richard T. Kennedy talked on the telephone from 8:56 am to 8:59 am.
- 034-020 9:44 AM · 56 sec — Tricia Nixon Cox and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 9:44 am to 9:45 am.
- 034-021 10:13 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 10:13 am.
- 387-005 10:13 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 10:13 am.
- 387-006 10:13 AM · 2 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 10:13 am and 10:15 am.
- 818-001 11:42 AM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:42 am and 11:43 am.
- 818-002 11:43 AM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Lucy A. Winchester, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:43 am to 12:05 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 387-007, December 5, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/387-007 (accessed September 28, 2026).