Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 563-010
Date: Friday, August 13, 1971 at 1:47 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/563-010

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:10] the means of the Quadrant in about a half hour.
[0:27] So, uh, do you have anything before we leave?
[0:31] Quiet, then.
[0:31] Right.
[0:33] Keep the damn good speech.
[0:33] Mm-hmm.
[0:34] Exactly.
[0:34] One thing I was going to tell you.
[0:35] Just virtually everything we do to attack...
[0:36] I think we should attack.
[0:43] You've got to set up the strongmen, you've got to attack them for, you don't have the disarmament, you've got to attack them for the, uh, on the economy, you know.
[0:52] I mean, get, particularly get the war, you know, he had enough brunt to get all the men.
[0:55] You can hit, hit them harder than that.
[1:04] Yeah.
[1:04] Mm-hmm.
[1:20] Because that's the way that we can get our, the difficulty is.
[1:37] And it seems that they're just all over us because of these commentators on these issues.
[1:40] Because basically the other side is attacking and we've got to attack.
[1:42] I don't see any other way.
[1:42] I guess it would be negative to tell them to attack us.
[1:52] I just wondered what you're doing, and I think it's terribly important, it's a top priority assignment, to get Muskie, Kennedy, and Humphrey to stand on bus end.
[2:11] Have you done anything on that?
[2:12] Well, well, no.
[2:13] Get them on this now.
[2:13] It's a hot issue.
[2:14] It's a hot issue with these folks.
[2:20] make statements now and then give them wide publication and apart from that, they won't make statements.
[2:36] Some grads went up, well, grads went up in the past and circulated so that people, particularly through the South, that these men aren't for busing.
[2:55] I get a major mail-in to all these people on that of the major editors with regard to this on the who's for busing.
[3:08] And they put the president's statement in one way and their statement in another to get them in and then out.
[3:13] I get attacked that hard on the busing issue to get out of that.
[3:14] Now the other thing is,
[3:15] I want you to be sure, it didn't get a great play, but it got noticed.
[3:27] I'm on the early interview yesterday, we fed around particularly the columns in our advocates, because it's a good story, and it's one of the lessons that got nominated.
[3:41] But nevertheless, nevertheless, if you could keep that one going, that would be a good idea.
[3:44] Okay.