Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 509 › Conversation 509-004

Nixon, Haldeman & Bull on Economic indicators and Unemployment

Thursday, June 3, 1971 · 9:54 AM–9:59 AM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Bull, Stephen B.Conversation509-004 on Tape 509 (tape position 00:43:22–00:46:37)StartThursday, June 3, 1971 at 9:54 AMEndThursday, June 3, 1971 at 9:59 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 509-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman met to review the President's upcoming schedule, including various appointments and the preparation for a press conference. The discussion focused heavily on the political risks posed by unfavorable economic indicators, specifically rising unemployment figures and the wholesale price index. They strategized on how to manage media narratives surrounding these economic reports and potential legislative vetoes to minimize negative press coverage.

Audio

Download MP3 · 7.5 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 29% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Military command lined up.
Corinne Griffith is in town.
Do you want her to come by for a second before you go out to them boys' choir business this morning?
No, it's no big deal.
You asked about whether there were any news coming.
The employment and wholesale price index is a book we have tomorrow.
And the unemployment will be bad.
of being increased because of the increase in the labor market.
And the number of employees will go up by a quarter of a million.
But the number in the labor market goes up by more than that.
So the percent is 6.1 or 2.
I'm not sure.
They don't have the figure for sure.
Wholesale price index, I don't know whether it would be good or bad for that reason.
Being able to do that afterwards, it might be a good idea to have the .
President Morton has his press conference scheduled on national energy policy, which he will have .
I'm going to fly right in the face of it.
I mean, I'm after your news conference.
You ought to do the year 10 and 11.
idea going on in this conference.
And then they ask about the economy.
And this bill, you see there's just a vetoed bill.
And the final figure comes out.
I'm just thinking of the parlay.
Yeah.
Well, then the final figure is going to be the final one tonight.
For me to override that in my vision.
Yeah, that's the problem.
That's the very thing.
The president talking about bad news is a good thing.
That's my real point.
That hypers it even more and that commentators talk about bad news.
That's really what I'm getting at.
And I don't see any way that they will play that except
I mean, they're going to give that the lead.
I don't care what other damn issue they cover.
I mean, it has to have a lot of revenue sharing.
Unless they don't announce that until afterwards, then it has to run as a different story than the press conference, sir.
Well, they usually announce it, sir.
I guess so.
That's the problem I see with it, sir.

NARA Description

On June 3, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:54 am and 9:59 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 509-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 509-004

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

Date: June 3, 1971
Time: Unknown between 9:54 am and 9:59 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

     President’s schedule
           -Military command
           -Corrine Griffith
                 -Poznan Boys Choir of Poland and All-Philadelphia Boys Choir
                 -Roger E. Johnson
           -David Packard

     Economic indicators
          -Wholesale price index
          -Unemployment

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:54 am

           -J. Edgar Hoover, John N. Mitchell

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:59 am

     Rogers C. B. Morton’s forthcoming press conference
          -National energy policy

     President’s forthcoming press conference
           -Questions
                -Economy
                      -Congressional bill
                      -Unemployment figures
           -News leads
                -Revenue sharing
                -Haldeman’s forthcoming conversation with John D. Ehrlichman

Haldeman left at an unknown time before 9:59 am

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

Also recorded on June 3, 1971

  • 059-001 8:02 AM · 12 min — unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:02 am and 10:04 am.
  • 509-003 9:49 AM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:49 am to 9:54 am.
  • 059-002 9:51 AM · 1 hr 33 min — President Richard M Nixon and police chiefs, staffers, and others, including John R. Shryock, George A. Murphy, Don R. Derning, Edmund I. Hockaday, Rocky Pomerance, Richard C. Clement, Ramon M. Nardini, Michael N. Canlis, James H. Young, Clarence M. Kelley, James B. Conlisk, Jr., Jerry V. Wilson, William E. Kirwan, Edmund L. McNamara, Wilson E. Speir, Edward M. Davis, Peter J. Pitchess, Joseph J. Caspar, Guy F. Van Cleave, Roman L. Hruska, Richard H. Poff, Emanuel Celler, J. Edgar Hoover, John N. Mitchell, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., White House photographer, and members of the press, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:51 am and 11:44 am.
  • 509-005 9:59 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, John N. Mitchell, Egil ("Bud") Krogh, Jr., and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:59 am to 10:04 am.
  • 509-021 10:04 AM · 16 sec — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:04 am and 11:47 am.
  • 509-006 11:47 AM · 18 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:47 am to 12:08 pm.
  • 509-007 12:09 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Corrine Griffith, Roger E. Johnson, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:09 pm to 12:13 pm.
  • 509-008 12:13 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:13 pm.

All 24 conversations from June 3, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 509-004, June 3, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/509-004 (accessed September 28, 2026).