Conversation: 540-009
Prev: 540-008 Next: 540-010Start Date: Tuesday, July 20, 1971 3:09 PM
End Date: Tuesday, July 20, 1971 5:21 PM
Participants:
Nixon, Richard M. (President); Baker, Steven; Ehrlichman, John D.; Shultz, George P.Recording Device: Oval Office
Full Tape Conversation Start Time: 01:10:54
Full Tape Conversation End Time: 03:22:10
NARA Description:
On July 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Steven Baker, John D. Ehrlichman, and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:09 am and 1:21 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 540-009 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid:
Conversation No. 540-9
Date: July 20, 1971
Time: Unknown between 11:09 am and 1:21 pm
Location: Oval Office
13
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
The President met with an unknown person [Stephen B. Bull?].
George P. Shultz
-Forthcoming meeting
John D. Ehrlichman entered at 11:09 am; the unknown person [Bull?] left before 1:21 pm.
The President's trip to the People's Republic of China [PRC] Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Trip advance preparations
-Ehrlichman
School desegregation
-Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW]
-Edward L. Morgan's handling of issue
-Elliot L. Richardson
-Shultz
-Committees
-HEW
-Staff
-President’s position
-Leaks
-Texas
-Lawsuits
-Funding
-Morgan
-Strategy for delay
-Richardson
-Edith Green
-Timing
-Congressional adjournment
-Forthcoming economic action
-Shultz, Leonard Garment
Family assistance
-Senate Finance Committee
-John C. Williams role
The Pentagon Papers
Family assistance and welfare reform
-The President's conversation with John B. Connally
14
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Effectiveness of issue in political terms
-Polls
-The working poor
-Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan's theories
-Support for the President
-Voting record
-Effectiveness of efforts in helping the poor
-Ehrlichman’s conversation with Richardson Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
Stephen B. Bull (?) entered at an unknown time after 11:09 am.
Shultz
Bull left at an unknown time before 1:21 pm
Welfare
-Psychology
-The President’s view
-Effect on recipients of being on welfare
-Acceptance of charity
-Growth of welfare psychology
-Effect on president’s policies
-The President's family
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[Duration: 49s ]
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-Attitude toward welfare
-Present system
-Need for change
-Impossibility of total abolition of welfare
-Propose reforms
15
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Efforts to put more people on the payroll
-Premiums on working and penalties on welfare
-Study of implementation effort
-James H. Cavanaugh
-HEW
-Richardson
-Possible effect of passage of present legislation
-Possibility of Congressional action Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-Russell B. Long, Abraham A. Ribicoff
-Cavanaugh study
-Richardson
-Ronald W. Reagan's position on welfare reform
-Recent meeting with Richardson
-Requested meeting with the President
-August 1971
The Department of Justice
-Number of staff members with Ivy League background
-The President's comment to Robert C. Mardian
-Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Penn
-Statistics
-Appointees
The Pentagon Papers
-Richard H. Ichord
-Disinclination to pursue matter in his House Internal Security Committee
-Possible forthcoming bid for gubernatorial job
-Need to appeal to liberal voters
-F. Edward Herbert, Leslie C. Arends
-Interest in investigation
-Selection of junior member of Congress to handle case
-Chance for a special Congressional counsel to make a name for himself
-White House staff efforts
-Egil G. (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
-Charles M. Cooke, Jr.'s meetings with Daniel Ellsberg
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:09 am.
Unknown Senator
-Possible meeting with the President
Bull left at an unknown time before 11:46 am.
16
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
The Pentagon Papers case
-Cooke-Ellsberg contacts
-Planned polygraph test
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Preparations
-Kleindienst
-Richardson Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-Questions
-Rogers
-National Security Council [NSC] documents in possession of Sen. Charles Mc.
Mathias
-Request for return
-Rogers
-Ehrlichman
-Kleindienst to request return
F. Donald Nixon
-F. Donald Nixon, Jr.
-Conversation with John D. Ehrlichman
-European trip
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
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[Duration: 32s ]
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Privacy]
[Duration: 15s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
17
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 1m 27s ] Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
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-Robert Vesco, Bernard Cornfeld
-Investigation
-Edward C. Nixon's conversation with John D. Ehrlichman about presidential
library
-F. Donald Nixon
-Business dealings with Gilbert R. J. Straub, Vesco
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 5
[Privacy]
[Duration: 1m 8s ]
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 45s ]
18
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 6
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
[Privacy] Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
[Duration: 8s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 7
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 54s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 8
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Consumer sentiment
-Edwin L. Harper's memorandum
-Shultz
Republican leaders meeting, July 20, 1971
-Congressmen's reaction to People’s Republic of China [PRC] briefing
-Lack of reaction
-Kissinger's discussion of developments
-Norris Cotton's reaction
-Contrast to Democratic President and leaders scenario
-Dangers of speculation
-Vietnam War
-Settlement
-Lack of reaction by leaders
19
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Presidential leadership
-Robert J. Dole
-Peter H. Dominick
-Robert P. Griffin
-John B. Anderson
-President’s role
-Richard H. Poff
-Ehrlichman, Shultz Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
The Bohemian Grove
-Invitation for Ehrlichman to speak
-PRC talking points
-Kissinger
The PRC initiative
-Public reaction
-Contrast to Congressional leaders meeting
Congressional liaison
-Clark MacGregor
-Congressional support for the President
-Democrats
-Margaret Chase Smith
-Poff
Shultz entered at 11:46 am.
July 20, 1971 Congressional leaders meeting
-Lack of reaction by leaders to the President's PRC initiative
-Kissinger
-Cotton
-Complaints about the economy
-Anderson
Economic briefing by Shultz
-Nineteen Republicans up for Congressional re-election
-Dole
-Dominick
-The Vietnam war
-Impact of war on economy
-Peace issue
20
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Current economic conditions
-Congressmen
-Briefings by Shultz, John B. Connally
-Peace issue
-Griffin
-Knowledge of economic matters
-Circulation of columns
-Gerald R. Ford, Hugh Scott Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
The economy
-Public perceptions
-Polls
-Consumer sentiment
-Influences
-Action taken on the economy
-Eliot Janeway
-Predictions
-Predictions for autumn 1971
-Comparison with the Kennedy administration
-Griffin
-Reporting and forecasting
-Republicans
-Racists
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Assignment
-Retailers
-Retail sales situation
-Anderson
-Inventories
-Steel
-Foreign imports
Public service jobs
-Funding situation
-Appropriation
-Bill signing
-Time needed for passage
-Post-Labor Day prediction
-Reasons for delay
-MacGregor
-Distribution of funds
-San Clemente meeting
21
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Shultz
-Appointment of disbursement agent
-States, locales
-California
-Report by [unintelligible name] [Foy?]
-Reagan's perceptions
Perception of administration
-Economy Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-PRC initiative
Tax reform
-Connally
-Wilbur D. Mills bill
-Proposals
-Value added tax
-Mills
-Tactics
-Revenue sharing
-Tax credit, tax relief
-Proposals for tax relief
-Lack of comment from Connally
-Effects of tax relief and revenue sharing on the taxpayer
-Mills
Federal Reserve Board [FRB]
-Connally’s conversation with the President
-Arthur F. Burns
-Burns
-Request for a meeting with the President
-Dwight L. Chapin
-Quadriad
-Forthcoming meeting with Shultz
-Economic prediction
-Inflation, recovery
-Statistics released
-Burns
-Connally
-Milton Friedman
-Future meetings
-Money supply
-Possible vacancy
-Possible intent of Burns's meeting
22
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Candidate for appointment
-Connally's search
-Populist
President of the Steelworkers Union I[lworth] W. Abel
-Telephone
-Forthcoming letter to the President
-Support for possible steel merger Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-Reasons for delay
-Investigation
-Anti-trust laws
-Richard W. McLaren
-Administration’s position
-Abel's views
American Telephone and Telegraph [AT&T]
-H. I. Romnes
-Telephone call to the President
-Labor settlement
-Possible call from the President
-Stance on regional wage differentials
Postal settlement
-Willie J. Usery, Jr.
-Winton M. (“Red”) Blount
-Efforts
Wage settlements
-1972 projections
-Shultz's forthcoming briefing
-Railroads
Steel industry
-Possibility of strike
-The President’s view
-James D. Hodgson
-Businesses view
Longshoremen
-West Coast strike
Productivity Commission
23
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Forthcoming conference in September
-George Meany
-Possible forthcoming telephone call from Shultz
-Stance
-Tactics towards labor
-Meany
-Partisan action
-Coordination with Carl B. Albert Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-Democratic attacks
-Effect of the President's PRC announcement
Timing of the PRC announcement
-Focus of news media
-Same day announcement of presidential candidacy by Senator Fred Harris
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 10
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 49s ]
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Forthcoming meeting
-The President, Ehrlichman, Shultz, Connally, Charles W. Colson
-Productivity Commission
-Meany's recent actions
-Possible reaction
-Polls
-Public opinion of labor unions
-Labor support for the President
-Teamsters, construction trades, New York groups
-Meany
-Schedule
-Usery
-Colson
-Connally
24
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Preparation for meeting
-Hodgson, Maurice H. Stans
-Political considerations
-J. Curtis Counts
Office of Management and Budget [OMB]
-Personnel
-Arnold R. Weber Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-Return to University of Chicago
-Replacement
-Frank C. Carlucci
-Ehrlichman, Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO]
-Abolition
-Downgrading agency
-Carlucci's replacement as OEO head
-[John O.?] Wilson
-Wesley Hjornevik
-Carlucci
-Announcement
-California Rural Legal Assistance [CRLA] settlement
-Alan Cranston
Economic statistics
-Major statistical agencies
-Agriculture, Labor, Commerce
-Consolidation
-Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS]
-Goldstein [Leon Greenberg (sic)]
-Hodgson
-Julius Shiskin
-Margaret Martin
Executive pay schedule
-Memorandum to the President from Shultz
-OMB Deputy director job
-Ash Council recommendations
-Pay scale
-Weinberger
-Public perception salary increases
-Contrast to industry wages
-Level IV, Level II
25
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Burns, Weinberger
-Problem of attracting potential job applicants
-William M. Magruder of the Department of Transportation
-Conflict with fight against inflation
-Congressional review
-Carlucci
-Level II job
-Quadrennial executive pay review Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-New commission
-Timing
-Ash Council
-Burns’ conversation with Weinberger
Department of the Treasury
-Connally's authority
-Raise in under secretary level
-The Bureau of Customs
-Increase in number of slots
-Krogh
-Recommendation on request
-Connally, John N. Mitchell
-Connally's inquiries
-Impetus from Eugene T. Rossides
Office of Science and Technology [OST]
-Deputy for Dr. Edward E. David, Jr.
-Level IV job
-Role of office
-Research and development field
-Peter G. Peterson, Productivity Commission
-Research and development efforts
-Increase in slots
-Possible restructuring effort
National Urban League
-Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
-Shultz's appearance
-Whitney M. Young, Jr.
-Possible speech on civil rights topic
-Spiro T. Agnew
-The President's comments to Robert J. Brown
-African heritage issue
26
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Agnew’s remarks
-African leaders
-Sese Seko Mobutu
-Slavery, cannibalism
Blacks
-Roy Wilkins' comments
-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Conv.No.
[NAACP]
540-9 (cont.)
-The President's incumbency
-Agnew's remarks
-Reaction
-Black caucus
-The press
-Appeal to voters
Africa
-Mobutu, Jomo Kenyatta
-African Countries
-Nature of governments
-William V.S. Tubman, Kenyatta, Mobutu
-Compared to Latin America
-Mobutu
-Reception of Visitors
-Agnew
Agnew
-Press relations
-Effect of relaxation
-Recollection of "fat Jap" comment
National Urban League
-Administration relationship
-Young
-President’s eulogy
-[Unintelligible name]
-Letter after meeting
Revenue sharing
-Proposals
-Mills' efforts
-John W. Byrnes
-Nelson A. Rockefeller's plan
27
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Mills
-General revenue sharing, special revenue sharing
National Urban League
-Shultz’s forthcoming address
-Agnew’s comments about blacks
-The President's eulogy of Young
-National Urban League leadership Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
-Letter from the President
-Raymond K. Price, Jr., Leonard Garment
Agnew
-Efforts to restrain Agnew's comments
-Ehrlichman’s conversation with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Meeting with Mobutu
-The PRC Initiative
-Cable
-Kissinger
-Release
-As representative of the President
-Solidarity with the President's views by the Vice President and Cabinet
-Walter J. Hickel
-Nixon as Vice President
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-1956 Suez crisis
-1956 Hungarian revolution
-1959 economic action
-Burns, John N. Mitchell, the President
-Robert O. Anderson
-[Unintelligible name]
-Stans
-Credibility
-Need for restraint
-Bryce N. Harlow's experiences during Agnew's trip to Korea
-Staff
-The President’s view
-Agnew's relations with his staff and Secret Service
-Comparison with the President
Staff relations
-The President
-The Vice President
28
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
-Dignity of office
Connally
-Willingness to speak out
-Mills
-July 15, 1971 press conference
-Misleading press report of statement on unemployment
-Mills Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)
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BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 14
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 2m 17s ]
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Paul W. McCracken
-Requested meeting with the President
-Plans to return to teaching
-Timing
-Current state of the economy and possible future action
The economy
-Actions of congressmen, senators
-Connally’s theory
-Burns
-Influence
-Forthcoming briefings of Administration’s position
-Shultz, Connally
-William E. Timmons
-Timing
-Fact sheet
-Senators
-Joint presentation
-Location
-Kissinger's meetings with Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
29
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF
Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)
Campaign spending reform
-Status of legislation
Scheduling
-Connally meeting
-Response to Meany
Ehrlichman and Shultz left at 1:21 pm. Conv.No. 540-9 (cont.)