Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 566 › Conversation 566-020

Nixon & Spain on Economic Policy and Wage and Price Freeze

Tuesday, August 17, 1971 · 4:56 PM–5:04 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Spain, Jayne B.; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation566-020 on Tape 566 (tape position 03:47:42–03:55:18)StartTuesday, August 17, 1971 at 4:56 PMEndTuesday, August 17, 1971 at 5:04 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 566-020 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Treasury Secretary John Connally to strategize the implementation of the administration's new national economic program, including potential interest rate adjustments and a wage and price freeze. They evaluated the public and political reception of these policies, specifically discussing reactions from Congressional leaders and labor figures like George Meany. Additionally, the pair assessed international market volatility, including the status of the dollar and gold prices in response to the President's economic initiatives.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 169.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 171.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 8.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 03:47:42 into the tape and ends around 03:55:18.

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
3:49:42Uh, we, we absolutely can do anything you want.
3:49:43We can hang safe out here.
3:49:43We do probably all day.
3:49:44But I have no stand-in, and I'm sure it's been very sumptuous on some of those things that we've been doing for a long time, and it's awesome to be out here.
3:49:47That's why we're looking to, uh, we brought it up in our game today.
3:50:28No, it would not stop them.
3:50:28That's right.
3:50:28But it's hard.
3:50:29They've got no reason.
3:50:29Right.
3:50:47We just have to be sure that we're on sound ground.
3:50:48This is not about the business.
3:50:49This is all about the business.
3:50:49This is all about the business.
3:52:23All right.
3:52:23All right.
3:52:40and had to always, if he might have missed, you know, a little bit.
3:52:41He just didn't see nothing.
3:52:41I thought Peter was, the reaction around the country was support.
3:52:43Peter Franklin just told me to talk to Justice Bush.
3:52:44Justice Bush is just ecstatic about you.
3:52:45He said, Randy, you increased it again last week to make a call of the rightful faculty of the Senate.
3:53:09I'm going to shoot her and let her move inside.
3:53:25I hadn't got the report the last couple of hours, but this week, when I called those power markets, we lost 10 points at the end of the day, 1999.
3:53:28Yes, this night.
3:53:28I was at the farmhouse there standing in the chair.
3:53:29I said, one of our farm markets were in real issue.
3:53:30They're all losing gold, that's a lot, on the long extreme, on the hurt extreme.
3:53:32The dollar is gone.
3:53:53I had got the report that there was a student who had died, and I told him to get his food back, and he was knocked off the ship, and he was probably not leaving the country.
3:54:18We are working it out.
3:54:18We are working it out.
3:54:19We are working it out.
3:54:19We are working it out.
3:54:50So, as far as somebody, we've got to get somebody in.
3:54:51We've got to be involved with somebody who's just announcing it.
3:54:52As we make it, we just have this old man all the time.
3:54:53He's not doing it in our community.
3:54:54Of course, this whole program is not going to get us jobs.
3:54:55I'm going to get close to 40,000 jobs.
3:54:56I'm going to get 40,000. 40,000.

NARA Description

On August 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Jayne B. Spain, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:56 pm to 5:04 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 566-020 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 566-20

Date: August 17, 1971
Time: 4:56 pm - 5:04 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John B. Connally.

     President’s schedule
          -Forthcoming trip

     National economy
          -President's program
                -Interest rates
                      -Possible statement
                      -Arthur F. Burns
                      -Consumer credit
                            -Sears, Roebuck
                            -John Deere
                            -Connally's possible actions
                                  -Letter to bankers

An unknown person entered at an unknown time between 4:56 pm and 5:04 pm

       President’s schedule

The unknown person left at an unknown time before 5:04 pm.

                -Public psychology
                -President's previous meeting with Congressmen
                      -Wilbur D. Mills
                      -Russell B. Long
                      -Allen J. Ellender
          -Reaction
                -Connally's previous conversation with Peter M. Flanigan
                      -[Forename unknown] Bush [?]
                -Stock market
                      -Volume of trading
                      -Foreign markets
                            -Gold
                                  -London exchange
                                  -Zurich exchange
                            -Dollar
          -President's conversation with Peterson
                -Japan
                      -Possible textile quotas
          -Reaction
                -George Meany
                      -Possible Republican response

                            -Robert J. Dole
                            -Charles W. Colson
                            -Gerard R. Ford
                      -People’s Republic of China [PRC[ initiative
                      -Partisanship
                      -Wage and price freeze

     Connally's schedule
         -Camp David

The President and Connally left at 5:04 pm.

Also recorded on August 17, 1971

  • 566-016 3:26 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:26 pm and 4:12 pm.
  • 008-026 4:12 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:12 pm.
  • 008-027 4:12 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:12 pm.
  • 008-028 4:12 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:12 pm and 5:04 pm.
  • 008-029 4:12 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:12 pm and 5:04 pm.
  • 566-022 4:30 PM · 3 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:30 pm and 4:56 pm.
  • 566-019 4:56 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:56 pm.
  • 566-023 5:04 PM · 35 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at 5:04 pm.

All 48 conversations from August 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 566-020, August 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/566-020 (accessed October 12, 2026).