Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 456 › Conversation 456-007

Nixon, Young & Andrews on Revenue sharing and Rural development

Tuesday, February 23, 1971 · 11:36 AM–11:48 AM ET · Oval Office · 13 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Young, Milton R.; Andrews, Mark; Huebner, Lee W.; [Unknown person(s)]; White House photographerConversation456-007 on Tape 456 (tape position 01:44:50–01:57:46)StartTuesday, February 23, 1971 at 11:36 AMEndTuesday, February 23, 1971 at 11:48 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 456-007 ↗

President Nixon met with Senator Milton R. Young, Representative Mark Andrews, and a delegation of twenty-five members of the North Dakota Legislature to discuss his Administration's revenue sharing proposals. The President emphasized the specific benefits of general and special revenue sharing for North Dakota, highlighting a new $1 billion initiative dedicated to rural development. The meeting concluded with the President presenting gifts to the attendees and engaging in informal conversation regarding North Dakota and the legislative delegation's influence in Congress.

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How are you?
How are you?
How are you?
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You are, yeah, you have to put it to what elementary or private level?
Secondary, correct.
That was first, but yes.
All right, thank you.
All right, thank you, Mr. Hill.
Okay.
Okay.
Way back.
.
.
.
.
All right, we appreciate you coming.
We'd love for you to join us.
All right.
We'd love to have you here.
It's been a beautiful time.
All right, we'll see you later.
Yeah, all right.
We'll see you later, Senator.
Senator Johnson.
You come over and you stand by me.
We always have a play here.
Mr. President, we've been talking a little bit about the General Revenue Area proposal.
They're delighted to schedule a $20.5 million on the General Revenue Area.
We're delighted with the effort.
Well, there are two points on the general revenue that would be of interest to North Dakota.
First is that in terms of revenue sharing, North Dakota will be a beneficiary state.
We have some problem with some of the big cities, the very large cities in some of the big states.
because they think they're going to do as well without it, or almost as well as Lincoln.
However, on the other hand, we have a good double plan.
We have both Governor Rockefeller and Governor Reagan for it.
So you get the two big states who really do not benefit as much and go for it.
But North Dakota, when you look at the map, is a state of the world.
will receive, it's about 20 states that gets a good big buy-in, or you'll get substantially more than your president did.
So you really have a vested interest in that.
The second point, however, that I think I particularly want to mention with Bill here, and Mark, is this, that one thing that has not been noted, as well as it should, is in the special revenue, and that is special revenue sharing.
where we move basically a categorical transit in certain general areas, that a new initiative there is in terms
as for financial aid is in terms of the rural development area.
We've kicked that up to a billion dollars, and that's about a $300 billion increase over anything we've had for rural development before.
Now, you remember when I was out there, when we had our meeting, first of all, I pointed out the need to develop a program for rural development, not just in terms of agricultural policy, which of course we're interested in, farm policy and the rest, but in terms of creating the conditions
in what I call the heartland of America, where there will be job opportunities, business opportunities, etc., that will see that those kind of states that are losing population and having to move to the coast already, to some of the cities inside the country, that it begins to have a reverse flow.
And this rural development, the vision dollars that we have for rural development is something that is a new issue and should be very strongly emphasized.
I would say if I were from North Dakota, and I'm very little different from some other states, but if I were from North Dakota, any state which is basically more rural than it is urban, you have a very great state, not only in the general revenue share,
Also, a very rich vision, especially of this section, and particularly the rural development part, because that $1 billion is a billion dollars that would not have been there unless we had came to that meeting and said, we've got a week left.
A week left.
Frankly, when we went along with this, we took it with what we did, and that would be an appropriate way.
Looking at it in terms of new money, $5 billion, that in general revenue sharing is all new money, as you understand.
All that is new money, which will come to the states and cities and so forth.
In addition to that, we have the special revenue sharing, which is a total of $11 billion.
However, of that $11 billion, $1 billion of the $11 billion is new money, in other words, which we have added to these categories.
Of that $1 billion, which is new money, the major argument that was made to me when I was first proposed was that that should mainly go into solely, you know, the urban programs and the rest.
And I have had this feeling about the development of, about what we, I mean, we have a rural affairs council, which is now part of our domestic council, that we ought to, that we have to recognize that half the people in this country still live in what we call rural America.
So that when you're talking about the problems that are there, they're there as well as in urban America.
We don't play one against the other.
I've told them about it in one way or another.
And that's why when we took this $1 billion and spread it around, that instead of just putting it all away in housing and urban development, those other programs and these special grants, that we have this special amount for the rural development.
It's very important to find a market to do it.
And I know the National Authority has made a commitment that you ought to emphasize it here.
I'm sure we'll begin to get there.
You're going to be the question, Secretary.
Oh, what are we going to give the legislators?
All right.
Would you like a... That's the best thing for us.
I guess so.
They said that this is the official pen for signing.
It's a really quite good one, actually.
It works.
And...
So, Mark, you have one.
You've got several.
That's your favorite secretary.
Don't tell the other ones what you did.
Yes, we did, Mark.
Let's do something else.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now, one of these, I just want to say, give it to your wife or your secretary, but if you give it to your secretary, don't tell your wife.
Mr. President, you made a statement on TV.
If you were from North Dakota, we consider you as being from North Dakota.
My wife's mother and father were in South Dakota, so we didn't go to South Dakota background.
I'll tell you one thing, I was really, I want to tell you this, I was a friend, of course, when I was there, and I made the remark to Senator Collins, that anybody who doesn't have a case or doesn't, all they've got to watch,
Is that airplane coming into the landing land?
Yeah, it's a great sight.
That was a great mistake.
I can speak for every person in my life, and I'll say this very frankly.
Mr. President, I'd just like to say that this has been a great plan for us.
You, James, are well-scheduled.
Well, you know, we always wish we could do more of it.
I know we had business with the governors today, but I did not.
And we don't see all groups, but...
You have a very influential senator.
Very influential.
Congressman.
You don't know, but I saw that in the appropriations.
You don't know how he made that money.
He made so much money that it wouldn't be a big thing.
Oh, yeah.
You have a very influential senator.
You got the money for it.
I understand.
That's one.
That's the great.
That's a great program.
That's a great program.
That's a great program.
Take care of your own time, all right?
Be late.

On February 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Milton R. Young, Mark Andrews, Lee W. Huebner, unknown person(s), and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:36 am to 11:48 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 456-007 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 456-7

Date: February 23, 1971
Time: 11:36 am - 11:48 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Milton R. Young, Mark Andrews, Lee W. Huebner, and twenty-five
members of the North Dakota Legislature [list of names unavailable]; the White House
photographer was present during the meeting

     [General conversation]
          -Seating
     Revenue sharing
          -Importance to North Dakota
          -Rural development
          -Administration policy
                -Funding

     Presentation of gifts by the President

     Description of Oval Office
          -Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt
          -John B. Connally

Young, et al. left at 11:48 am
  • 456-006 11:30 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:30 am and 11:36 am.
  • 456-008 11:48 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:48 am.
  • 456-009 11:49 AM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John R. ("Jack") Williams, Jr., John D. Ehrlichman, Lee W. Huebner, White House photographer, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:49 am to 12:02 pm.
  • 456-010 12:02 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John B. Waters, Jr., Patsy (Temple) Waters, Cynthia Waters, John B. Waters, III, John D. Ehrlichman, Ronald L. Ziegler, Lee W. Huebner, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:02 pm to 12:06 pm.
  • 456-011 12:06 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:06 pm to 12:07 pm.
  • 456-026 12:06 PM · 10 sec — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:06 pm and 12:16 pm.
  • 048-001 12:16 PM · 49 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the President's Science Advisory Committee, including Dr. Edward E. David, Dr. John D. Baldeschwieler, David Z. Beckler, Dr. Ivan L. Bennett, Jr., Dr. Detlev W. Bronk, Dr. Solomon J. Buchsbaum, Dr. Theodore L. Cairns, Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, Dr. Val L. Fitch, Dr. Herbert Friedman, Dr. Richard L. Garwin, Dr. Murray Gell-Mann, Patrick E. Haggerty, Philip Handler, Dr. Hubert Heffner, Dr. Donald F. Hornig, Kenneth Harry Olsen, Dr. Herbert A. Simon, Dr. Lloyd H. Smith, Jr., Dr. Gerald F. Tape, Dr. Harland G. Wood, Dr. John Truxal, and Frank R. Pagnotta, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:16 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 048-002 1:03 PM · 9 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 1:03 pm on February 23, 1971 and 11:45 am on February 25, 1971.

Conversation 456-007, February 23, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/456-007 (accessed October 12, 2026).