Conversation 424-019

TapeTape 424StartThursday, March 29, 1973 at 9:20 AMEndThursday, March 29, 1973 at 9:33 AMParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Shultz, George P.Recording deviceOld Executive Office Building

On March 29, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:20 am to 9:33 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 424-019 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 424-19
Date: March 29, 1973
Time: 9:20 am -9:33 am
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with George P. Shultz.

       Price controls
             -Freeze
                   -Implementation
                   -Base date
                        -Statement
             -Prices
                                    -18-

           NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                             Tape Subject Log
                              (rev. Aug.-2010)
                                                   Conversation No. 424-19 (cont’d)


           -Rollback
                 -Phase I
                 -1972 attempts
                 -Demands by George Meany

President's address
      -Tariffs
             -Trade
      -John D. Ehrlichman, H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, Roy L. Ash
      -President's vetoes
             -Counterattack
      -Price freeze
      -Tariffs
      -Price ceiling
             -Operation
      -Tone
             -Drafting
                   -Ehrlichman
      -Effects of freeze
      -Budget
             -Domestic spending
                   -Increases
                         -Congress
                         -Taxes
                   -Restraint
      -Price ceiling
             -Compared with price freeze
      -Wording
             -Appeal to public
             -Budget
                   -Future conflicts
                   -Effects of Vietnam War
                         -Cost of living
                                -Four years of progress
                   -President's actions
                         -Inflation
                                -Cuts in rates
                         -Imports, domestic production
                         -Imposition of price ceiling
                   -President's recommendation to Congress
                                             -19-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                      Tape Subject Log
                                       (rev. Aug.-2010)
                                                            Conversation No. 424-19 (cont’d)


                                 -Removal of tariffs
                                       -Press conference
                                       -Food crisis
                                       -Energy crisis
                                             -Imports
              -Comments on President's economic program
                    -Edward Calvin [?]
                           -Republican
                    -Meat prices [?]
                    -Budget
              -Price freeze on food
                    -Credit to President
                           -Housewives’ role
                    -Removal
                    -Cattlemen
                           -Reactions
                                 -Duration of freeze
                    -Shultz's statement
                           -Impact of President's address
              -Shultz's briefing
                    -Advice of Ronald L. Ziegler
                           -Abe Bartlett [?]
              -Public response
              -Meat prices
                    -Pork
                    -Chickens, turkeys
                    -Eggs
                    -Soybean prices
                    -Chicken prices
                           -Production levels
              -Freeze
                    -Call to John B. Connally
              -President's address
                    -Contents
                           -Use of term “ceiling”

Shultz left at 9:33 am.
                                          -20-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                    Tape Subject Log
                                     (rev. Aug.-2010)

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.

Oh, is he outside?
Oh, he didn't come in.
I thought you said he was over there.
Oh, Jordan, I just got your second thing there.
I just wanted to know if you're sure about the date.
You say, I have the date.
What's the operating time?
This was to affect immediately.
I would let, I'd try if you could, of course, if you could tell me if I'm successful.
What I was just saying, I noticed you called the rollback.
I just wanted to make sure that you could see that.
So I'd like to ask you about that.
Bravo, great, of course.
I think they say that, look, George, this is all we can get now, but we're going to fight it back.
I don't want that.
Do you want me to cover the suspension of tariffs?
Do you think that's a reasonable reason?
We have three things up there.
Yeah, I saw it.
I saw it.
I saw it.
I saw it.
I saw it.
I saw it.
Oh yeah, right, right.
I'm going to hit the METOs in another way, so I'm just going to, I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to back that up.
That's why people prefer this kind of drill.
But I agree, that's a good thing.
On the Paris, I think the breeze is what came from the metal.
That thing is, we've already talked about it.
I'll get it in a box.
I'll get it in a box.
Don't worry about it.
What we can do is just take the first paragraph and drop out the thing.
And then when we explain how this is going to work, we will say that one of the ways it's going to make it work is the president is sending right now this thing up.
I can't believe it.
Oh, no, no, no, listen.
When I called John, when I called John, I just called him.
I just looked him in the face.
My only point was that I know how important it is to do this damn thing right.
But I'll probably...
Right, I'm going to get into it.
I said, this is free school health.
It's not a private solution.
We've got to act on all fronts.
I'm here for the federal budget.
I said, I think the federal budget is carried a different way.
I said, I just know that Congress is the largest budget in the country.
What do you guys think of the message of the 12,000,000,000,000,000,000,000?
It's twice as big as the amount I've heard from the Board of Directors.
And the members of Congress believe that the budget is seriously high.
It requires approval of the amount that they approve.
It is a project that will require division of management.
It's a tax evasion project.
That is why I saw the approval of Mr. Clayton, and I thought, you know, he's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
now here's the point of the idea is this is the top uh
That's great.
That'd be weird.
We'll get into this as someone who's a very simplistic, out-of-body lawyer.
Now it's designed for all Americans to turn from the problem to the problem, by just doing the opposite.
And I ask for support.
I mean, we've been through this.
This is not a battle.
It's not a war.
It's a war.
What I refer to as a battle of the budget.
This is not just a battle of the budget, it is a battle of Europe, a battle of the budget in every part of the country.
It's a terrible cost of war and selection.
The cost of the budget is skyrocketing during and after every war.
We recognize and support each other.
We've taken strong action, even as a result of our policies, we have cut the rate of the budget.
And we have the generations at this age of making decisions.
But we need action now.
That is why I am today part of the Inclusion Procedure.
But it's not a conversation.
But I would again love it for the brief.
You know, the brief will not be in any person's hands.
I'll just read it to you.
And now, since you're going to set up this meeting, I'm going to do it in the last minute.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
You said that's part of the meeting.
I'm going to announce that brief.
Sure, that's part of the meeting.
I'll actually be part of the whole thing.
I have taken action to increase the force of control.
And I won't mention this in, but I already mentioned it before in my conference that I will recommend to the Congress to remove the repairs of our CIA.
But I never went to this conference on March 2nd.
So this is something I'm going to do on that.
It's actually close today.
But it's definitely going to help.
First of all, the problem with this problem is one of the good things about this dam, the whole pressure we're having on the crisis, and also the energy crisis, is that it allows the energy field to move away, and some of the jackassery that we've had there, in terms of messing with the water, so what is the direction to let it flow out of the water?
It's very, very stupid.
What's the point of all this?
And that will be one of the best things that's going to go with it.
Because they've all been wrong.
They don't do it all the time.
They're all .
But anyway, these are all .
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The President said the strongest weapon against food crisis is the American household.
That's the strongest.
Now we're acting to help, not working together.
We'll continue to keep it down.
We don't know what's going to happen.
We'll talk to them, they'll take it over.
If we have a bigger hit, that's what I heard.
It was short.
It will work out.
Now isn't that what we're hearing?
We're hearing it on the toll.
This time, say, it doesn't matter.
We'll take it off, though.
We'll hear it.
Say, if the death doesn't carry us, and then if the rest of us, that's what I want to say.
and suddenly I'm on the road and certainly I'm going to leave my mother at 6 o'clock or something like that.
The cattle would get the idea that this thing is very short and they'll sit you out and they'll have to tow their cattle.
Aren't you going to say it's going to stay on long enough to do the job?
We're not going to say it's going to stay long enough to do the job.
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I'll be sure to respond.
I'll be sure to respond.
I'll be sure to respond.
Do your best.
You're working on the wrong character.
And I agree with you.
I mean, all the breaks are breaks.
I know that people will want to listen to hear what I'm saying.
Well, I don't want to have it.
I'm going to go around and visit them.
It's a lot of swell.
That's the way it started to be.
I don't hear one paragraph of the speech today that's not what it is.
I would like to do that.
You're revising the sub-responsible?
I figured I would like to pass it to you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, you know, our kids .
We're not surprised when people will say, we only put it on the .
That means work.
That means .
That means check .
And I'm talking about .
And the reason for that is that you think we really are, but we're not.
Soybean prices have gone down.
Soybean stocks.
Soybean's bad, apparently.
I don't think so.
I think it's going to work.
I think we do some kind of work with it.
And some of those prices are cheaper.
The chicken cycle is about 13 or 14 weeks.
So that can go up.
That goes up and down.
The prices are high, so the production company is strong.
That's why we're looking at that.
And we're looking forward to having a good buy-in from you over there.
It might be a nice start.
I give John a comment on the book.
He was having a big part in the whole thing.
He was on the channel, but now he is on the channel.
He won't do it again.
Great, it's fine.
I've changed the words a little bit, but the content is clear.
I'll get the, but it's got just what I need.
That's a trick.
Okay.