Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 451 › Conversation 451-015

Nixon, Goode & Shultz on Teleprompter and Inflation

Thursday, February 18, 1971 · 3:32 PM–3:40 PM ET · Oval Office · 6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Goode, Mark I.; Shultz, George P.Conversation451-015 on Tape 451 (tape position 03:17:59–03:23:20)StartThursday, February 18, 1971 at 3:32 PMEndThursday, February 18, 1971 at 3:40 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 451-015 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with Mark I. Goode regarding the technical logistics and camera setups for an upcoming media appearance, specifically debating the use of a teleprompter to maintain a natural presentation. Simultaneously, the President conferred with George P. Shultz to analyze economic indicators, focusing on inflation, food prices, and recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The discussion addressed concerns about how wholesale price index changes might impact future retail costs and the potential for negative media framing regarding economic reporting.

Audio

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NARA Description

On February 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Mark I. Goode, and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:32 pm to 3:40 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 451-015 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 451-15

Date: February 18, 1971
Time: 3:32 pm - 3:40 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Mark I. Goode

     Briefing for forthcoming media appearance
           -Teleprompter
                 -Use
[The President talked with George P. Shultz at an unknown time between 3:32 pm and 3:38 pm]

[Conversation No. 451-15A]

     National economy
          -Inflation
                -Adjustments
                      -Briefing
                -Prices
                      -Food
                            -Compared to other prices
                -Patrick J. Buchanan
                      -News summaries
                -Consumer Price Index [CPI]
                      -Adjustment
                -Wholesale Price Index [WPI]
                      -Food
          -Rate of investment

     Commerce Department story
        -Herbert Stein
        -Bureau of Labor Statistics

     Schedule

[End of telephone conversation]

     The President’s schedule

The President and Goode left at 3:40 pm

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 33% 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.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

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Okay, I'm just going to call Harry.
Uh, check the setup.
I don't see any of them on your records, but you do not use that telecom.
You have five cameras in front of you, and if you use that telecom, you'll be tied to the center one, and it'll look like you haven't played.
The seat is on tape around the desk, and I think it'd be better off to leave you a little more free and to, uh, play all five cameras rather than being locked to that center one.
Oh, well, how do you use
Yeah.
Yeah, low charge.
Yeah.
Yeah, why not?
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, they're adjusting.
They're getting freaky.
They're not adjusting.
It's high, but it's not quite the adjustment.
Right.
something on that store with the wholesale index going up.
And I thought, you know, this is very something.
They talked to staff.
They're trying to readjust some of the thing and bang the thing up.
But the tolls that they got, it seemed to me, it was a huge part of that box that was in the
uh, food, that, uh, that the other prices were, were, were, were quoted fairly reasonable.
I mean, uh, I mean, what I mean, I mean, it's just right or not.
They, uh, use drugs.
Exactly.
That's right.
That's right.
Well, as a matter of fact, the reason I called you was that
I don't know if you can, but it's a recurring news summary.
As far as I can remember, there's a press today, a formal press, and he sent over to me the hot news lead that I had, that might be asked about, that might have been asked about in previous, but he probably didn't write anything.
It was strictly seen there.
But that's going to New York City, where these things are.
I couldn't agree more.
I haven't thought about that in the next one.
I don't know what he did.
Yeah, I, yeah, yeah, alright, yeah.
One other thing, in terms of this, what we can end on some later, but what the CPI did is, well, even three times it's not bad, but, you know, say they played the other gesture, that's quite important.
Uh, but they, it doesn't end up intriguing.
Yeah.
I said, well, yeah.
Uh, looking at the whole sale thing on food, which we saw in January, is that going to be reflected in a substantial bounce-up of food at the grocery store, which you're, you know, usually follows that, uh, that's what the story is going to get at, you know, for this.
I know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Did you find out who in the hell at Connors was supposed to put on, I saw a person, I couldn't believe my eyes, or something, where Connors put on a directly dialectical, a different story that's fine, you know, you aren't going to sign it up too well, is there?
In the name of God, they put it out.
Now, we don't do that, you know what I mean?
This is, uh, this is, uh, this is the microchip, the BLS majority.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let me guess, that's all we got.
Uh, yeah, that's it.
What would you like to assist us on tonight?
We'd like you to tell us now, whether you're free or on a mission.
All right, I am.
I am Mr. Gooding, and I'm going to try without a doubt to take you on a mission.
I'm going on a mission.
I'm going on a mission.
I'm going on a mission.
I am the leader of the church, and I am the leader of the church.
I am the leader of the church.

Also recorded on February 18, 1971

  • 451-013 2:32 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:32 pm and 3:32 pm.
  • 451-014 3:32 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:32 pm.
  • 451-016 3:40 PM · 23 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 3:52 pm.
  • 451-017 3:40 PM · 40 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 3:52 pm.
  • 451-018 3:52 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mark I. Goode met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:52 pm to 3:55 pm.
  • 451-019 3:55 PM · 1 hr 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:55 pm to 4:52 pm.
  • 451-020 5:10 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:10 pm to 5:14 pm.
  • 451-021 5:14 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:14 pm and 5:25 pm.

All 24 conversations from February 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 451-015, February 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/451-015 (accessed November 2, 2026).