Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 596 › Conversation 596-018

Nixon & Mitchell on Stock Market and Inflation

Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 1:26 PM–1:37 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Mitchell, John N.Conversation596-018 on Tape 596 (tape position 03:11:52–03:18:22)StartTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 1:26 PMEndTuesday, October 19, 1971 at 1:37 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 596-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Richard Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell discuss the recent volatility in the stock market and the public perception of the administration's economic policies, specifically regarding monetary tightening and inflation. The two men dismiss concerns over market fluctuations, noting that housing starts remain strong and that the current economic indicators should eventually lead to a market recovery. Additionally, they discuss personnel matters and potential political appointments, briefly touching upon the qualifications of candidates for judicial or administrative positions.

Audio

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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 03:11:52 into the tape and ends around 03:18:22.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
3:11:52housing start year this year will clearly be two million on a on an annual basis and that's a hell of a strong housing right market's floundering again today and i i called up the market let's see at noon it was down eight points i called two of my friends both of them said well they're now wild when there's about tight money which i
3:12:16Interesting.
3:12:16I saw that little blurb last night and asked about it in this morning's meeting.
3:12:23And that's just the kind of little item that sends Wall Street into a tizzy.
3:12:27But the argument is that it's going to tighten up the money that it has.
3:12:32Although it's an article that he has tightened it up since August 15th.
3:12:37But he's now more concerned with inflation than expansion.
3:12:40And it just turns out...
3:12:41I wouldn't be concerned about the market.
3:12:47I just think that's one of those things that, I mean, we've got to remember that the market, more when it goes down, more when we have to go up.
3:12:53Well, the reflection, it's just one of those things.
3:12:56It just hasn't done it.
3:12:57We've had a bit of burns and all these people in here yelling around about where we're going.
3:13:02I mean, at least where the market helped was the day after COVID-19 went roaring through the dial dust.
3:13:13That's my point is I don't think there's a hell of a lot of difference between what's going on in 1878 and 1868.
3:13:20It's still a damn high.
3:13:23And one day it's going to take off.
3:13:25But it's only going to take it off, actually.
3:13:27They're good numbers.
3:13:28We've got a few good numbers.
3:13:30Well, we've got a few good numbers, but they're not as good as they want our old people to be.
3:13:35Those are a pretty low volume.
3:13:36Yesterday it was like 10 million or something.
3:13:39This city was a very low volume.
3:13:40Today it's 6 million shares, which is nothing.
3:13:44The, uh, I thought there was a person speaking to you on the phone.
3:13:47I wouldn't want to keep that motion.
3:13:49Ed Rumsfeld is trying to reach you on the phone.
3:13:52Would you try to take it, Rumsfeld?
3:13:54Oh, you let me know about Rumsfeld, so I might take it later.
3:14:02All right.
3:14:03Yeah.
3:14:21Yes.
3:14:21Drought.
3:14:21Drought.
3:14:21No problem.
3:14:22Absolutely.
3:14:50For a certain purpose and so there, you know what I mean?
3:14:53It's for life, you know what I mean?
3:14:55You can forget your name and have a lot of other names.
3:15:05Right?
3:15:07Nice beaches.
3:15:08Good, how about the other ball?
3:15:16Too bad.
3:15:29I don't know why.
3:15:33Oh, it's so good.
3:15:58I just must, I just think the fact that he raised such a thing indicates that we ought to, ought to press him.
3:16:08I think, I just think.
3:16:10Yeah.
3:16:10That, uh, we just, he's, two years of handling this work ought, ought to give a lot.
3:16:14To keep his time and give us some terribly prestigious support and some that.
3:16:23I frankly think we ought to press him on the job when we do that.
3:16:26And I'm following up with Sarah.
3:16:29I'd be glad to.
3:16:30But I really feel that the point is that I think that right now the coordination, that's the point that we need.
3:16:36I heard the length of time it works out.
3:16:38And also, this is something that the history ought to take.
3:16:50Well, what I had to come here to do on the phone.
3:17:11All right, fine, I'll pay the code.
3:17:18Okay.
3:17:18Yeah.
3:17:18The Baker thing would be a good one.
3:17:21Now, if we don't, we could get a holler.
3:17:27Hello there.
3:17:37I just think the Mulligan thing is, you know, he's thought of him originally as a top man, so he's mediocre.
3:17:43He's not mediocre.
3:17:45So he's the dean of a law school.
3:17:47And so that's a hell of a thing, John.
3:17:50Everybody else says a dean's a big thing, right?
3:17:58But he was a dean before he was a good Catholic law school.
3:18:00And I said, well, that isn't such a good thing.
3:18:11We're not doing it for that reason because he's already on the court, on a certain court.
3:18:20Would it be out of the way at all to not let me in?

NARA Description

On October 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:26 pm to 1:37 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 596-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 596-18

Date: October 19, 1971
Time: 1:26 pm - 1:37 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with John N. Mitchell

[See Conversation No. 11-133]

Also recorded on October 19, 1971

  • 011-133 1:26 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 1:26 pm to 1:37 pm.
  • 011-134 1:37 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 1:39 pm.
  • 596-019 1:37 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 1:39 pm.
  • 596-020 1:37 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 1:39 pm.
  • 011-135 1:39 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld talked on the telephone from 1:39 pm to 1:44 pm.
  • 596-021 1:39 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:39 pm to 1:44 pm.
  • 011-136 1:44 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:44 pm and 3:00 pm.
  • 011-137 1:44 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:44 pm and 3:00 pm.

All 93 conversations from October 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 596-018, October 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/596-018 (accessed September 28, 2026).