On March 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Hyde Murray, and Bryce N. Harlow met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:36 pm and 7:10 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 464-025 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding AidConversation No. 464-25
Date: March 9, 1971
Time: 5:36 pm - unknown before 7:10 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman
[Discontinuities appear in the original recording]
President’s schedule
-March 9, 1971
-Williamsburg speech
Topics for discussion
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Milk, cheese, dairy problems
-Textiles
-Welfare and Social Security
-Health
-Revenue sharing
Dairy industry
-Price supports
-Cheese purchase program
-Import controls
-Price supports
-Effect on cheese purchase program and import controls
-1970 parity level
-85%/492/505
-Gerald R. Ford and Hugh Scott
-March 9, 1971 talk with Clark MacGregor
-John W. Byrnes
-Democrats
-Leadership
-Mills
-Hyde Murray
-Position
-1970 increase
-Effects
-Dairy industry position
-Concerns
-Cholesterol
-Effect of high prices
-Cheese import letter
-Parity level
-505/495
-Page Belcher
-William R. Poage
-Hardin
-85%, 87%, 80.5%
-Productivity, income
-Hardin
-Robert J. Dole’s position
-85% or above
-82% to 83%
-Future
-Cheese imports
-Possible action by President
-Murray
-Barry M. Goldwater
-President’s conversation, March 6, 1971
-Position
-MacGregor
-Murray
-Mills
-Social Security-welfare connection
-Russell B. Long’s call to Shultz
-Parity level
-Milk producers
-Commitments
H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman entered at 5:48 pm
-Hardin’s position
-Farm lobby
-Belcher
-Corn, cotton, cheese
-Byrnes, Carl B. Albert
-Mills
-Albert
-President’s schedule
-Albert
-Minneapolis
-Breakfast
Haldeman left at 5:50 pm
-Administration commitments
-Textiles and [unintelligible]
-Possible future action by President
-Murray
[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:46 pm and 5:48
pm]
[Conversation No. 464-25A]
Call to Murray
[End of telephone conversation]
Social Security
-Long’s call to Shultz
-Mills
-Long’s position in Social Security increase
-Debt limit
-Interest equalization tax
-Mills
-Welfare
-Republican position
-Mills
-Byrnes
-Experience
-Mills
-Relations with administration
-Discussions with members of White House staff
-President
-Possible veto
Dairy program
-Cheese price supports
-Mills
-Relationship with Administration
-Bryce N. Harlow
-MacGregor
-Harlow
[The President talked with Murray between 5:56 pm and 5:59 pm]
[Conversation No. 464-25B]
Dairy program
-Shultz and Ehrlichman
-Dairy supporters
-Cheese for school lunch program
-Mills
-Parity level
-Effect
-Support for Ford, Albert
-Possible action
[End of telephone conversation]
-President’s conversation with Murray
-Land o’ Lakes dairy cooperative
-Wisconsin
-Position
-Dole
-Contributions to Republican National Committee
Social Security and welfare
-Long’s proposal
-Mills
-A March 9, 1971 meeting on welfare
-A further report
-Costs
-Mills
-House Ways and Means Committee
-Mills
-John B. Connally
[Thomas] Hale Boggs
-Conversation with Ehrlichman
-Connally
Mills
-Connally
-Dealings with Japanese regarding textiles
-Committee hearings
-Connally and Shultz
Textile trade negotiations with Japan
-President’s conversation with Peter M. Flanigan
-A possible letter from the President
-Ehrlichman’s March 6, 1971 meeting with Peter G. Peterson
-President’s conversation with Flanigan
-A March 10, 1971 meeting
-Textile industry
-Mills
-Legislation
-Federal Trade Commission [FTC]
-Possible future action
-Shultz’s efforts
-John N. Mitchell’s conversation with Ehrlichman
-Administration’s position
-Legislation
-Voluntary restraints
-Japanese industry proposal
-Legislation
-Options
-Possible executive action
-Dumping
President’s schedule
-Discussions on Social Security and welfare
Internal Revenue Service commissioner
-A possible nominee of Mills’
-John S. Nolan
-Background
-Department of Treasury
-Edwin S. Cohen
-Ehrlichman’s meetings with Mitchell and Connally
-Ehrlichman’s meeting with Cohen
-Nolan
-Requirements
-George D. Webster
-Background
-Johnnie M. Walters
-Mitchell’s assistant
-Requirements
-Walters
Mills
-Connally
-Revenue sharing
-Possible meeting between the President, Mills, and Byrnes
-Welfare and Social Security
-Milk
-Textile policy
-Milk
-Social Security and welfare
President’s schedule
-Possible meeting between the President and Shultz
-Mid-decade concerns
-Congress
-Department of Commerce
-Cost
-President’s position
Haldeman entered at 6:13 pm
-Meeting with Ehrlichman and Haldeman
[Name unintelligible]
-Note to Shultz
Shultz left at 6:14 pm
Mills
-Harlow
-Haldeman’s conversation with Harlow
-Possible meeting of Byrnes and Harlow
Harlow
-Forthcoming call from Haldeman
[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 6:14 pm and 6:16
pm]
[Conversation No. 464-25C]
Call to Harlow
[End of telephone conversation]
Mills
-Dealings with Japanese on textiles
-Foreign policy implications
-Harlow’s response
-President’s response
-Mills’ activities
-Possible future actions
-Long’s response
-Harlow’s view
-Long
[The President talked with Harlow between 6:16 pm and 6:18 pm]
[Conversation No. 464-25D]
Harlow’s promotion
Mills
-President’s meeting with Ehrlichman, Haldeman, and Shultz
-Forthcoming meeting between Harlow and Ehrlichman
-Dealings with Japanese
-Textile negotiations
-President’s position
-Forthcoming call to Harlow by Ehrlichman
-Byrnes
-Future relations with administration
[End of telephone conversation]
-Connally’s relationship with Mills
-Position of Social Security
Textile trade negotiations with Japan
-Flanigan
-Workload
-Mills
-Flanigan’s work
-Workload
-Flanigan’s meetings with Japanese negotiator
-State Department
-Maurice H. Stans
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Possible action
-Administration’s position
-Mills
-Legislation
-Possible statement
-Administration position
-A voluntary steel program
-Alaska Pipeline case
-Previous conversation with the President
-Lyndon B. Johnson Administration case
-Differences
-Peterson and Shultz’s philosophy
-President’s position
-Kissinger’s position
-President’s position
-Peterson’s role
-Possible instructions from the President
-Flanigan
-Role
Grain sale to Great Britain
-Peterson’s role
-Conversation with Connally
-Trip to New York
-Possible meeting with Hardin
-Outcome
-Hardin’s call to Connally
-Hardin
-Connally
-State Department’s role
Kissinger
-Previous conversation with the President
-Newsweek article
-Background
-William L. Safire
-Kissinger’s response
-Possible resignation
-President’s position
-Duties
-Laos
-Soviet Union
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Middle East
-Compared with William P. Rogers
-Role in US Middle East policy
-A paper on the Middle East by State Department
-Jewish background
-Holocaust
-Potential problems
-Effect on American Middle East policy
-Compared with a health decision
-Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.
-Role
-Reason
-Possible resignation
-Relations with Rogers
-Compared with Ehrlichman’s relations with George W. Romney
-Possible meeting with Rogers
-General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s call to Rogers
-Rogers’ call to Kissinger
-Relations with Rogers
-President’s position
-President’s foreign policy decisions
-Laos, Middle East, SALT
-Kissinger’s role
-President’s position
-State Department
-Possible resignation
-The President’s view
-Other considerations
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Relations with Rogers
-Rogers’ call to Kissinger
-Position
-National Security Council [NSC] system
-Meaning
-Rogers
-President’s calls to Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
-Compared with Haldeman’s situation
-President’s talks with Rogers
-Trip to an unidentified island [Guam?]
-President’s talks with Rogers and Richard M. Helms
-Position
-President’s foreign policy decisions
-Bases
-NSC papers
-Kissinger
-Rogers
-Differences of opinions
-Public relations considerations
-Compared with Rogers and Melvin R. Laird
-Compared with Ehrlichman
-John A. Volpe
-Romney
-Hardin
-Knowledge of foreign policy
-Employment at the White House
-Compared to Ehrlichman
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Privacy]
[Duration: 29s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
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-Foreign policy reports
-President’s view
-Department of State
-Circulation
-Influence on President’s Nixon Doctrine
-Meeting with reporters on Guam
Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 7:10 pmNo transcript is available for this conversation. The audio may not contain audible speech, or the recording may not yet have been processed.