Conversation 458-005

TapeTape 458StartThursday, February 25, 1971 at 3:46 PMEndThursday, February 25, 1971 at 4:05 PMTape start time01:01:23Tape end time01:20:06ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Bull, Stephen B.;  Herrera, Felipe;  Walker, Charls E.;  Costanzo, Henry J.;  Hewitt, AshleyRecording deviceOval Office

On February 25, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Felipe Herrera, Charls E. Walker, Henry J. Costanzo, and Ashley Hewitt met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:46 pm and 4:05 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 458-005 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 458-005

Date: February 25, 1971
Time: Unknown after 3:46 pm until 4:05 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull

     The President’s schedule

           -Felipe Herrera
           -Ashley Hewitt

Herrera, Charls E. Walker, Henry J. Costanzo, and Hewitt entered and Bull left at 3:48 pm;
members of the press were present at the beginning of the meeting

     Greetings
          -Herrera
          -Walker
          -Costanzo

     Herrera
          -Previous meeting with the President
               -Dwight D. Eisenhower
          -Tenure at Inter-American Development Bank [IADB]
          -University education

     United States-Latin American relations
          -Chile
                -History
                -Education
                -Herrera’s return to Chile
                      -University
          -IADB
                -US contribution
                      -Administration views
                           -President’s statement
                      -Congress
                           -Albert A. Gore, Sr.
                      -Loan policy
          -IADB loan assistance
                -Compared to World Bank
                -Bolivia
                -Paraguay
                -Honduras
                -Haiti
                -Caribbean nations
          -The President’s trip to Chile in 1967
          -United Nations’ Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO]

     Gifts
             -Presentation of Material from IADB
             -Presentation of gifts by the President
                  -Photograph
                  -President’s foreign policy report
                  -Cuff links

     Farewells

Herrera, Costanzo, and Hewitt left at an unknown time before 4:05 pm

     Public relations
           -US-Latin American relations
                 -Administration position
                       -Walker’s statements
                 -America’s partnership
                 -”Peaceful change”
                 -Stability
                       -Importance
                 -Private capital
                 -Importance of aid
                 -President’s view
                 -Dignity of all countries
                 -Self-reliance

     John B. Connally

     Farewells

Walker left at 4:05 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.

All right.
This is Felipe Herrera, Captain Innocent, on the total of this.
Who is it?
Mr. Andrew Hewitt of the NSC staff is coming in this night.
Herrera.
He's been harassed.
All right.
He's the tall man, Andrew Hewitt.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Mr. President, Mr. President.
You know, I started when you were vice president of the Eisenhower administration.
That's right.
I remember this was the president of Eisenhower.
That's a big point at this time in 1960.
You were a member of the ADP.
Uh, well, uh, the 15th of February, 1916.
But after 15, 11 years, it was, I had to go back home, because I had another year with the monetary part, yes, before, I think, the 13th of February.
Thank you for this.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I'm doing more of a focus on what's happening.
What's happening, right?
I'm doing more of a focus on what's happening.
Yes, I am a lawyer by profession, I do.
I am a lawyer who has migrated to Buckingham, and I am planning to be a director of the audience, I thought, which is a nationally renowned, well, nationally known one.
Okay, why are you here?
Well, I'm happy to meet you.
I'm a citizen of the town.
in a very large course.
It will be very difficult.
I would say about 20, 30, 40 hours.
I was asked by the college university, perhaps I may be with what all this may be,
Those are the most important universities in the region.
You know, we don't have many universities in other countries, but they have a large number of students.
Oh, sure, sure.
Well, you have a great tradition of education.
and lots of money, and a lot of people believe in it very deeply.
And you know, more and more universities are having quite a weight in national ladder, and I should say all over the hemisphere, all over and particularly down there.
But you're going there at a very important time.
Of course, you know, you are, of course,
I think people like yourself who know this country
that make you do a lot of good in that respect.
We are trying to do our best, as I have told my friends here and in other countries in Latin America.
One of the reasons I'm going back, I think, is it's an interesting period, particularly to establish a better understanding of Chile vis-a-vis the outside world, because we are not going to be an easy period.
And from that point of view, Mr. President, it's very interesting.
that the bank has been able to produce people that are active in international life in their own countries.
You know, the new China ambassador, Mr. Mifediri, he was one of our top people of our executive staff, one of our new divisions.
So he was here 10 years too.
I think it's very interesting, but one of the artists from this international entity is people, we have saw them from Latin America, but after some years of training and of their own contributions to the institution, they go back home and they give the service to the country.
Yes, well, it's a great thing.
It's a great, the way it all works, in fact, it's like, it's almost like a
I always say, practical, that we are not only the bankers for Latin American universities, but the university for Latin American bankers.
Very good.
Very good.
Yes.
As you know, our contribution this year is to get as much as we ask, and we're going after another 800,000.
And we have great confidence in this institution.
It's the best.
I mean, it's the biggest, and we think the best job is this.
We are very appreciative of that, Mr. President.
You made a very important statement.
Apropos of our meeting with D'Aresti last year, when the vote came to increase our resources 3.5 million dollars, you know, that amount elapsed part-time through Latin American contributions.
And I would say, on the whole, we had an acceptance from the US Congress, particularly the so-called ordinary side.
of the bank.
We have some problems with our software.
Do you remember Senator Gore last week?
He was critical about our software.
Not only in our case, the Asian Bank too.
But I have been reading your messages where you are going again to present this to Congress, particularly the message that was circulated today for policy.
The, well, as you know, the situation with regard to the soft windows has been, that's been argued for 20 years.
And there's a place for it.
It has to be handled with discretion, because if you don't, as you know, if you make it too tolerant, everybody goes there, and you've got to, there's certain, but unless you have it,
that window as well as the other one.
There are some enterprises who never get off the ground.
They can never qualify for the, well, for basically the hard-on space.
And particularly, you know, some countries, things such like Bolivia or Paraguay or Central American countries or less developed Asia or Haiti, it's impossible that you can live to them on hard terms.
I read a very interesting statement that you made, that you have been in all countries all over the world, particularly Latin America, and so you have traveled every one of the Latin American countries except for
If we call the Caribbean in Latin America, there's so many new ones there.
I could fit in there, but except for that one.
But all of South America and all of Southern America right there.
I remember that you went to two-digit walk coming to the president in 1967.
I don't know if you see that.
The other time I was going was in 1958.
And I told you the president at that time.
So we couldn't go there then, but then I went on as a private citizen.
I remember Ulysses Venizelio.
Exactly.
One of our very bright group of people.
They were very impressed.
He was a very young man who was the chair of the board.
Mr. Godoy, I think was his name.
I recall him as extremely impressive.
You know, we had a joint venture with UNESCO in political science and state science.
And they were very impressed that you could go there.
You had a good talk with the students.
Yes, of course.
I remember, yes.
They had a photo of your visit there four years ago.
And I brought you some of this from the bank.
You can read all of this.
All of it was in Spanish.
This we published at the bank party that we said, that you're going to have good service.
Thank you very much.
And this was my speech after 10 years.
You may just look at that a little bit.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I know I'm not sure it goes in the speech.
You probably said it.
Because you never know.
I've got this Bible.
It's got this top name.
You've heard of it.
It's part of the history.
Oh, I've read that last night.
You know what I'm saying?
The other topic?
Yes, yes.
That was very nice.
Yes.
Very, very easy to come to.
Particularly living in an optical civilization, people, they like that.
That's what I'm saying.
I'll give you the, uh, the, uh, they have the collection of, uh, which, uh, the, uh, the first years.
And, you know, the second, of course, have one of those, and I'll endorse it, and send it over to the, uh,
We're going to have a foreign policy report about
When it is, you know, there is a new harp.
We've got a new cover of that.
I'll sign that for you.
The harp for it.
Oh, and there's a little box there.
Very, very good.
I'll have a little gadget for you to get it.
Thank you.
I know I can.
These are the presidential comics.
Oh, thank you.
And very, very much.
It's soft, and this is not cold.
Thank you very much.
You're very happy.
We've got a bunch of cops.
You go off and eat those smokers.
You go off and eat those smokers.
You go off and eat those smokers.
You go off and eat those smokers.
You go off and eat those smokers.
It's blurred right now.
That's a long way.
But what stopped you from turning that around?
Right.
I made it.
Now when you get the SSD, it's going to be great.
$3.
Right.
and not for pain because it brings the world closer together.
It brings the world closer together.
You know, you stopped living in the U.S. as people of Asia.
Now it's a facility, but it is, you know, it should pass 18 hours, but it reduces it to four hours.
Well, it's a great deal.
I ask you very much for this award for India, and I just really like to see you have it.
Thank you.
We wish you the best.
And your Congress, thank you very much.
Thank you to your young people.
So thank you.
Good luck, Charlie.
Thank you, sir.
I think it would be good if we were there, representing the state of the country.
I do want to say that we have a part of the president, and as he acknowledged in his State of the World speech, but also in his State of the World message in his speech that he did.
and besides his students about Latin America, and that he is, and to reiterate the idea, you know, the partnership and all that, but that the enormous importance of our uniting the principle of peaceful change.
There must be change, but it must be peaceful.
And that the two of us go together.
We cannot have change.
Changing alone without peace is wrong.
And peace without change is wrong.
It must be.
We live in a changing world.
The Latin American countries particularly are changing.
The Americas, the young people demand change.
They demand progress, but make it peaceful.
And the other thing is that the enormous importance of stability
In that part of the world, by peaceful change and have change, they can address the disability.
Because of my strong conviction that while the United States will play with our leadership, it is fair, they get a fair share in the
old business of government to government loans and supporting the banks and the rest, that private capital is the greatest service.
It is expensable.
It is expensable.
While the other is limited by budgets, limited by the mercurial attitudes of congressmen and senators.
et cetera, and that even, no matter what the attitude of President Chase, so you could, but more than even all the Latin, sorry, they love to hear the flowery language.
The President deeply believes in the Americans.
He is old, he is for what they are, he watches these programs personally, he puts his complete endorsement behind them, and that we will support these, and that it's up, and he thinks it's very important
That's why he said the attitude of rather little brotherhood, the attitude that we feel, that we really mean when we say we're a bigger partnership.
Sure, we're a bigger country and a richer country than any of those countries.
But if an idea is good, that idea
any superior idea can come from a little country as well as from a big country.
The quality of an idea is not determined by the size of the country.
That is my philosophy.
And for that reason, we want their ideas as to how we should operate.
And then finally, the idea that we in America are, that I believe that above everything else in the relations between
us in the American family, the key word is dignity, that we must recognize the individual dignity of every country, large and small, of every leader, large and small, and that we cannot have dignity without self-reliance.
I think it will come to good, because that
Good to see you.
Thanks, sir.