Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 455 › Conversation 455-008

Nixon, Geneen & Goldenson on National economy and Business leaders

Monday, February 22, 1971 · 12:34 PM–12:40 PM ET · Oval Office ·6 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Geneen, Harold S.;  Goldenson, Leonard H.;  McFall, Rusell;  Haggerty, Patrick E.;  Wyly, Samuel E.;  Scott, Walter D.;  Hart, Milledge A.;  Stanton, Frank;  Flanigan, Peter M.;  Boatner, James G.;  Parker, David N.;  Price, Raymond K., Jr.;  White House photographerConversation455-008 onTape 455 (tape position 03:17:07–03:23:10)StartMonday, February 22, 1971 at 12:34 PMEndMonday, February 22, 1971 at 12:40 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 455-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon hosted a meeting with a group of prominent American business leaders to express his appreciation for their contributions and to discuss the current state of the national economy. During the brief interaction, the President underscored the vital role of "movers and shakers" in maintaining economic stability and expressed optimism regarding upward economic growth. The session concluded with the President presenting gifts to the attendees as a token of his gratitude.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I'm cold, I'm free, I don't know why, but I'll say you're there, because you're the exact same person most of the time, aren't you?
You're not a girl who's not involved with me, you're dead of a decision, you've got it.
You've got to go to NBC, I'll see you there, I'm already asking for you, I'm going to spit out the arrow, I'll see you there, I'm going to give you the same order.
I'm going to come and you'll mess with me, I'm going to mess with you.
That's how you do it.
I mean, it's just like at your meeting, Jeff.
Where are you going to have lunch now?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
And so I want to thank all of you for coming down and giving our people a chance to talk to you.
And I guess the big shift in the first time, we have almost got to be very, very initiated now.
We still have to.
We're the targets of what we want to do.
fiscal policy, monetary policy, and regular management.
It's true that, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's true, uh, it's true like this because I think it's very important that each state has an economic sophistication.
It's kind of like your brother.
It's very important to, uh, have the movers and shakers.
That's what you are, of course.
The movers and shakers, uh, direct them.
I'm talking to our people.
I'll give you your ideas, too.
I've had a group of people who have been smart enough to go to the Batman business people and they wanted to come out and catch the gun.
What?
What?
and what they're trying to do is improve the situation.
I understand that.
I have great doubts as to what it would do as far as the government is concerned, but I use that as an example.
I think that the interest that I have in this whole period, after we've lost some people, and we start looking at the answers, and think about this debate about the forecast,
They're not arguing about whether the economy will go up or down.
The question is, how far will it go up?
And that's the better thing to be arguing about.
How many of you would have a presidential conference?
You didn't know.
Well, you all get them then.
All you guys forgot, we're not trying to bribe you.
These are not gold.
They look like them.
They're very nice.
I wear them myself.
And I also think they all have bubbles.
I got so many of these.
Yeah, we don't give a bang.
I don't have anybody hitting somebody at all.
The standard is that you just start with a T-Rex.
I'm always down in the middle.
See who's got the lowest ending.
Who's over a hundred?
We had a nice crew of yours down at El Ferraro.
Good to see you.
Nice to meet you.
Good to see you.
Thank you very much.

NARA Description

On February 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Harold S. Geneen, Leonard H. Goldenson, Rusell McFall, Patrick E. Haggerty, Samuel E. Wyly, Walter D. Scott, Milledge A. Hart, Frank Stanton, Peter M. Flanigan, James G. Boatner, David N. Parker, Raymond K. Price, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:34 pm to 12:40 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 455-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 455-8

Date: February 22, 1971
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Harold S. Geneen, Leonard H. Goldenson, Russell McFall, Patrick E.
Haggerty, Samuel E. Wyly, Walter D. Scott, Milledge A. Hart, Frank Stanton, Peter M. Flanigan,
James G. Boatner, David N. Parker, and Raymond K. Price, Jr.; the White House photographer
was present at the beginning of the meeting

     The President’s appreciation

     National economy
          -Role of business leaders
          -Fluctuations

     Presentation of gifts by the President
          -Golf balls
                -The Vice President

     [General conversation]

Geneen, et al. left at 12:40 pm

Also recorded on February 22, 1971

  • 455-006 12:23 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Oswald Hoffman, George T. Bell, Raymond K. Price, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:23 pm to 12:33 pm.
  • 455-007 12:33 PM · 56 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:33 pm.
  • 455-009 12:41 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, James Udall, Murray M. Chotiner, David N. Parker, Raymond K. Price, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:41 pm to 12:45 pm.
  • 455-010 12:46 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Robert L. Kunzig, John B. Rhoads, A. N. Spence, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Cecelia D. Bellinger, David N. Parker, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:46 pm to 12:49 pm.
  • 455-011 12:50 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Carl W. Haley, Mrs. Carl W. Haley, Rose Mary Woods, David N. Parker, Raymond K. Price, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:50 pm to 12:56 pm.
  • 455-012 12:57 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, David H. Popper, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., David N. Parker, Raymond K. Price, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:57 pm to 1:01 pm.
  • 455-013 1:01 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 1:01 pm.
  • 455-014 1:01 PM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. E. Sanders, Mrs. H. E. Sanders, Henry C. Cashen, II, David N. Parker, Raymond K. Price, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:01 pm to 1:12 pm.

All 25 conversations from February 22, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 455-008, February 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/455-008 (accessed September 18, 2026).