Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 474 › Conversation 474-012

Nixon & Mitchell on Economic policy and Public relations

Friday, March 26, 1971 · 4:55 PM–4:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.Conversation474-012 on Tape 474 (tape position 01:20:55–01:24:55)StartFriday, March 26, 1971 at 4:55 PMEndFriday, March 26, 1971 at 4:59 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 474-012 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417176337 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell confer briefly regarding the administration's economic policy and public relations strategy. Nixon expresses a desire to move past political distractions and firmly commit to the administration's primary economic agenda, referencing recent interactions with business leaders. The discussion emphasizes the need for a cohesive, disciplined approach to managing economic policy and public perceptions.

Audio

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NARA Description

On March 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:55 pm to 4:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 474-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 474-12

Date: March 26, 1971
Time: 4:55 pm - 4:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with John N. Mitchell

     President’s helicopter

     Unknown issue
         -Mitchell’s advice
         -President’s view

     Economy
         -President’s policy
               -Wage-price boards
                    -A response
                    -Davis-Bacon Act
                    -Public relations
                          -President’s previous dinner for businessmen
                          -John B. Connally’s role

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 36% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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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Yeah.
Hello?
Hello?
Yeah, I'll go get that.
Just a minute, just a minute.
I've got to get this thing.
All right, I'm prepared to go.
All we're really trying to do there is to occur an embarrassing situation that I have no cause for.
Yeah, yeah.
Right, right, right.
And so that's where we're going to stick, John, now.
And this is a very complicated project.
I mean, we're going to stick now on our main plan on the economy and quit this jacking around about everything else.
I know that you talked about some of the things that I said last night.
You know, they all talk about the way you try sports and the way you try to go past what you want.
Not really.
And it all
Yeah.
Sure.
All right.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah, sure.
They can fly when they know he's got a gun.
You can do it in this field where he doesn't make a mistake.
You don't have to destroy him.
That's what you're used to all the time.
That's right, that's right.
Okay.
Right, right, right, right, right.
Matter of fact, I think that just, uh, I think that those three guys last night seemed to be in pretty good trouble.
They were, uh, they were, uh, they were, uh, they were, uh,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's about it.
All right, all right.
All right.
As a matter of fact, I think you would have been better on that subject if you'd had confidence.
You know, if you know you know anything about it.
You know, you know, you know, you can say something.
Well, anyway, take it easy now.
We'll see you.
Bye.

Also recorded on March 26, 1971

  • 474-005 11:17 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:17 am and 11:22 am.
  • 474-006 11:22 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:22 am and 11:35 am.
  • 474-007 11:22 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and members of the Justinian Society met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:22 am and 2:54 pm.
  • 474-008 4:09 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Melvin R. Laird, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, David Packard, Henry A. Kissinger, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:09 pm and 4:53 pm.
  • 474-009 4:53 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 4:55 pm.
  • 474-010 4:53 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 4:55 pm.
  • 474-011 4:53 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 4:55 pm.
  • 474-013 4:59 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:59 pm to 5:04 pm.

All 14 conversations from March 26, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 474-012, March 26, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417176337). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/474-012 (accessed November 2, 2026).