Conversation 450-014

TapeTape 450StartTuesday, February 16, 1971 at 11:24 AMEndTuesday, February 16, 1971 at 12:12 PMTape start time01:48:57Tape end time02:04:57ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Ehrlichman, John D.;  Shultz, George P.Recording deviceOval Office

On February 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:24 am and 12:12 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 450-014 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 450-14

Date: February 16, 1971
Time: Unknown after 11:24 am until 12:12 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman and George P. Shultz
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress]

     Monetary policy
         -Balance of payments problems
               -American Enterprise Institute statement
         -Past crises
               -News summaries
               -Henry A. Kissinger role
               -Foreign policy
               -International monetary system
                     -President’s view
                     -Price of gold
         -Need for competent handling
               -Peter G. Peterson
                     -Role
                           -International monetary policy
                           -White House position

                           -Quotas
          -Peterson
                -Committees
          -William P. Rogers
          -Shultz
          -Peter M. Flanigan’s role
          -Lockheed
          -John B. Connally
                -Role
          -David Packard
                -Laotian Special Action group
                      -Kissinger
     -Council of Economic Advisors
          -Peterson’s role
                -Connally
                -Shultz
                      -Troika
                -Access to the President
     -Quadriad
          -[Forename unknown] Parker
                -Peterson
          -Paul A. Volcker

Budget preparations
    -1972 State of the Union message
          -Preparation
                -Departments and agencies
                -Ehrlichman
    -Timing
    -Tax reform
          -Connally
    -Shultz’s efforts
    -Defense budget
          -Possible problem
                -Additional funding
          -United States-Soviet Union relations
          -Timing
                -Effect on Vietnam withdrawal

Public Works projects
     -Public relations

               -Administration efforts
                    -Editorials
                    -Letters
          -Budgetary problems
               -Funding
               -John C. Whitaker study
                    -Allocation of resources
     [General conversation]

Ehrlichman and Shultz left at 12:12 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.

Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That, uh, sort of said the balance of payments must be in a secondary position.
Very good argument, Jonathan.
Mr. President, of course.
Sorry, that's my mission now.
So you're, uh, so those, uh, uh, articulated arcs are, uh, go, we go round and round and round.
Well, the other thing, I have a note from the news center in Georgia that you haven't gotten yet.
I just wrote it on the lab board from last night.
You know, you remember we had a crisis a month at first.
You were working on a different issue, but then later we started to get a crisis a month on Mike, on Ben Kennedy, on John Kennedy.
My God, Dave Kennedy and our departments always coming in.
And we were rightfully so involved about this and that.
And the other thing, what are we going to do?
Because you're going to do the military thing about it.
And so I bring the German government down one time and the British government down the other.
And all of a sudden, of course, it's foreign policy.
And I haven't thought that maybe we needed a new international, a real look, a hard look at a new international monetary scheme of some sort, you know.
Harder, you know, is for raising price of gold at one point.
But let's get out of here, guys.
I don't know.
Getting back to the people there, there is also some advantage.
but we want to do a lot of great economic action to get out of Australia.
Uh, if, if, if, for example, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if,
and put a ride over there on trade and the rest.
You hear Steve, the fellow who's getting in, who understands it, and can get Steve to play ball, and I always see, put up all this,
and listed in words, papers, and so forth that knock down anything that we call them.
And, well, that's a problem, a standing committee problem that she's going to have.
But I have to agree that she, uh, has just told the leaders already that, uh, he expects all the standing committees to remain in place, all the inter-departmental committees, all the chief chairmen and so on.
And he doesn't, uh, he doesn't want this to address any way to interfere with their projects.
I don't know, he's got to get somebody in there to break that ice jam and then get things moving.
But Roger's crazy with me.
Well, should we take her this way?
I want to maybe charge you and handle it right.
She's got a question.
I just want you to start thinking about it.
I think that basically you'd like it both ways.
I'd like to hear where you'd be extremely valuable, but you'd be far more valuable there.
He first wants to be a captain.
I think that is a more likely place to be.
That's another thing that has occurred to me.
I know he's all started up.
I know he's actually a tracer.
He was in that at one point.
And this, this may be just the drill.
But with Dean Peterson saying, I think it's Dean's plan.
He worked with us.
He worked with us.
That's the important thing.
That's what it's all about.
He financed it as a person during his life.
Oh yeah, Rolls-Royce thing.
Well, I think, uh, I think basically that he's the, I think he's the best man in the room at this time.
Uh, because he's got scroll-through now, and then press TV, and arresting racists at the highest level.
And rather than having it done at the White House level, at the highest level, um, he's the Secretary of Treasury, and he also will draw a great furnace.
I think hackers can get out of there for the reason that it goes far beyond the fence and I think the reason is quite clear, you just put it basically on the fact that he is a key member of this lobby of the Special Action Group and I just want him to, we talked, I talked to Henry so that Henry can act enough that Henry feels strongly that we just don't want him, I want him to concentrate on that
I think I've already given to one man.
I don't like it easy.
and I know he's going to take a few years from now.
He's going to take a few years.
He's going to take a month.
He's going to jump into this.
Because also, this might be his first day here.
Let's not have that.
I guess I had prepared to play a pretty strong role.
And we'll do it if we want.
That's my feeling.
Also, I'd like to see what he does with the kids.
We're going to keep that in front of the bridge, I think.
It seems to me, with this new Senate, that there are arguments for expanding the so-called Trident to include Peterson.
Since he represents the international economic business, we, your Treasury Council economic advisors, and I, meet periodically, Peterson meeting with us.
But we meet with you occasionally, Peter.
That's fine.
I'm trying to think of ways to include Peterson in.
We have things that are, that's what I heard, regular, so he gets a chance to be exposed to you and other people in our regular working position.
So that.
I'm trying to script this.
There's a lot of things in there.
Pull it back to what he's doing.
And finally, uh, Parker is very, uh, can't act just enough to have that fight exactly the way it is.
And he objects to Peter even sitting in on all of these.
Are you supposed to be confident?
Well, let's leave it that way.
I mean, basically, you're better.
And you and me basically are better.
You know what I mean?
I think the relationship of our industry is very special.
And I used to have feet knocked in by that kind of shaggy.
Or do you think we don't know?
No, I think that, you know, I think that the young ladies in the country have the way they have to be in the country.
Oh.
And also, when you get into things like this, you know, this is not great for us.
I mean, the less people know, the better.
Yep.
They don't get that.
I just try to handle it.
The four of us, you know, the four of you know.
If we have a letter out to the departments now
and put a May 15 deadline on it.
We will have better proposed changes back, giving them 90 days to get their feet in the room.
And I would like to have a session somewhat like we had at Central many of the time we came reviewing the various changes in the context of the budget.
before we get too far into the strength of the video.
And so I'd like to move it up into late night or early evening here, so I can hear, of course, and get cranking on it now.
You never have enough time, which is why I asked you not to make any noise.
It'll, it'll get some simulations attached before I'm saying, by then we can say it's done.
We're going to go in and you guys have to deliver it here.
Yeah, yeah, quick.
I've got to get a comment.
I'm on my way to my whistle, but I think they're going to let her cross.
Saying, I'm going to have to get this back to us by the middle of May.
That'll wake the people up to me.
We're going to start, we're starting our spring preview issue of business now and we're hoping to be able to have a more of a long range outlook with the fans.
I know you've worked with them on that and I think they're ready to talk in those terms with us.
We'll try to get that going probably in the next two or three weeks along those lines.
We do have a budget problem that I mentioned to you, but we're either going to have to take down some of these things, or get some more money.
I guess it's going to be the latter.
It's going to be that or the other.
It depends on how successful you are with the Russians, I think, from your own
Oh, he didn't get that, but I already told the car.
The second he comes, he goes, let's see if he can get off.
Let's see if he can get on early.
He's lost three times.
Hold on.
Hold on.
He, uh, has an impact on how, how fast we get out of here, not what we do in this town.
And the intelligence review.
I think very, um, going through that material, and I'm going to meet on Wednesday, but I think it's going to have a pretty good story for you, but before the end of the webinar.
Good.
Uh, okay, uh, John, I'm not going to leave that right now.
You, uh, I don't know if you know what happened when I was in Florida, just reading a little bit of stuff down there.
A hundred people went down.
that our, not our decision, but our P.R.
and the barge in the house, perhaps as effective as it might have been in the sense that, uh, that, uh, that we, right, didn't make the case for what we were doing well enough.
It's very important that you maintain health and all those things.
It's very important.
It's very important, yeah.
Now, uh, there is, uh, there are important last days here in Europe.
uh, by the, uh, most of the way in the, uh, editorials and the letters.
Uh, the money just all went away.
Uh, so it's a serious war on the ground.
And among, uh, people who have a vested interest in that project, black cars won't like the loose cars.
Crankers.
So if I did that right across through, uh, the northern district, and all the way to the north, I would support it.
This isn't our airtime, so I'm concerned that if you're planning to drive, that's where you're going to be.
Well, probably not, uh, because that was kind of the direction that you perpetually came off.
Uh, but as far as we're concerned, you know, we're just going to be quiet.
We haven't heard from him.
We haven't heard from him.
We haven't heard from him.
We haven't heard from him.
We haven't heard from him.
We haven't heard from him.
We haven't heard from him.
We haven't heard from him.
to use part of their county for this, you know, quicker interior, you know, what to do with what is there in terms of resource and, you know, arenas and all that kind of thing, waterfront properties and so forth.
So they were in fact on the part that was going to dance the river at all times, so it was the best in the college.
But what to do with what you have there now?
Is this a problem?
I'm not sure that they would come up with anything as satisfactory to the people as the person in front of that car is going through.
And you can never be able to achieve this sort of geographical return, I guess, you know.
Okay, we've got a partner.
We've got a partner.
We've got a partner.
We've got a partner.
We've got a partner.
We've got a partner.
or at least your current security law.
On the very night that they say you're not aware of any of these laws,
Oh, thank you.
Now, I see your apartment.
So, during the night, is your apartment.
And so, who did it to you?
I said, well, you're all supposed to deal with it.
You ought to have done it for a reason.