Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 617 › Conversation 617-022

Nixon & Connally on Phase Two economic policy and Inflation

Friday, November 12, 1971 · 5:55 PM–6:03 PM ET · Oval Office · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Connally, John B.Conversation617-022 on Tape 617 (tape position 03:42:08–03:48:59)StartFriday, November 12, 1971 at 5:55 PMEndFriday, November 12, 1971 at 6:03 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 617-022 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417179795 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Treasury Secretary John Connally confer on domestic economic policy, specifically the implementation and market reception of Phase Two of the administration's stabilization program. The discussion touches on the political necessity of adopting a firmer stance in public negotiations and the complexities of handling wage-price retroactivity. The two also coordinate upcoming meetings and communication channels with Henry Kissinger regarding international monetary and foreign policy issues.

Audio

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NARA Description

On November 12, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:03 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 617-022 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 617-22

Date: November 15, 1971
Time: Unknown after 5:55 pm until 6:03 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with John B. Connally.

[See Conversation No. 14-108]

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 32% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I just wanted you to know that I felt very nice to play the hard line of these leaders exactly right.
I hadn't decided and I don't know what to call it.
And I took that line.
I was very nice to keep it kept.
But by golly, John, after our talk last night, I just decided we got to fight back.
We can sit here and sort of roll with this stuff and the other thing.
And then they're going to take it, in my opinion.
They don't.
That's right.
And frankly, let me tell you this, we'll, we'll have the damn fire department off and the welfare mothers, let them go down there, let them come down, you know, and sit in their front steps, you know, with their little babies.
And we'll, we'll say that we can't protect our Americans abroad because they're not going to send our Air Force out when they don't have American planes probably done.
You know, you've got a hell of a case here.
And so I thought it was the right thing.
But
And it was a, it was a, it was a kind of a narrow discussion.
We had a, we had a, we had about, it took me nearly 45 minutes, but I'll tell you, it, it, this might, might have disappointed me somewhere.
I mean, what, what do you think is the, he seems so partisan.
Yeah, yeah.
Well.
It came around because I think it's gonna work out sometime tonight.
Tell me, how's everything else going?
Did you get through the cost of everything all right?
Is it worth your satisfaction?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, don't.
I wouldn't get too, I wouldn't get too good.
I mean, I think that's what I'm supposed to do.
And it's just that they're doing the best they can.
that retroactivity thing is the hardest thing.
And I'm afraid, I don't care, they're gonna have to probably pay most of that.
Don't you think?
I don't see how you could raise money.
And that'll just be a flip and then off we go.
All right, all right, George out.
I had a big charge, you know, as an old friend came in today, you know, Eisenhardt's German friends, and he said, do you know anyone?
Yeah, he said, and we were talking, he had quite a clever call on the market.
He said, you know, you know what's happening in the market?
I said, no.
He said what they can say about all these other things.
You know what it really is?
It isn't because they think phase two is uncertain.
They think it's going to work.
And therefore, part of this is the fact that the market is discounting the fact that it's inflation.
And they don't see it as inflationary as it was.
You know, he may have a point there.
And frankly, phase two is going to work.
It's going to work damn well for problems of all kinds.
I'm not sure.
Well, we could get along.
But you got to go talk with Henry, did you?
Yeah, I haven't seen him since then.
Yeah.
Except that he's not Dr. Merriman.
He doesn't care about stuff.
I mean, he's got, he had one point that he made for him.
He says it, you know, he's of course looking out after Hawks, but he said, he said, the main thing in view that he thinks he, that he thinks, he said that, well, Gary says that, Gary, he said, we did exactly the right thing.
It had a massive effect.
It was a great event.
And he said, now, he said, he said, I just want to see the secretary.
He said, I want to see him take, take the major move, the big move.
you know, and the stages of the thing at the right time.
And I think he's probably right on that.
Now, he was thinking politically, not on the economic side.
So I said that before he went over, I said, well, pass an on to you, for whatever it's worth, and yeah.
Well.
All right.
Try it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Got one.
That.
That could be.
But on the other hand, we got a hell of a lot of cars to play, too.
Because we're on the right side.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But part of this is political.
Yeah, right, right.
Yeah, well, we'll have some fun with it.
Well, anyway, now one other thing.
What job do you want to do by the quarter end of this week?
Do you want to have one or not?
All right.
And you, and at that time, we'll, I've always said, I told my sick dad on the money supply line, he knows him well, so I'm saying to everybody, that's the way to do it, isn't it?
So I tell them around here in the hall to see them, to work out a date later this week, about Thursday would be a good time for you.
And you get a quadrat in.
And on the other thing, let me say, I'm still keeping ears and arms length.
The other thing is I understand you will continue to keep your own counsel on, talk to Henry and if you want to show us.
And I'm available any time, because at this time I've kept my calendar free to talk this week on international monetary or possibly any of those things.
You see, we've got Vietnam back up for a week or two.

Also recorded on November 12, 1971

  • 082-002 5:03 PM · 1 hr 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon and members of the National Security Council, including Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, William P. Rogers, Melvin R. Laird, Gen. George A. Lincoln, John N. Mitchell, John N. Irwin, II, Richard M. Helms, [Name withdrawn], Gen. John D. Ryan, Ronald I. Spiers, Gerard C. Smith, Philip J. Farley, Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr., John J. McCloy, Gen. Royal B. Allison, J. Graham Parsons, Paul H. Nitze, Col. Richard T. Kennedy, Dr. K. Wayne Smith, Helmut ("Hal") Sonnenfedlt, Henry A. Kissinger, Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and Gardiner L. Tucker, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 5:03 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 617-008 5:03 PM · 16 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:03 pm and 6:22 pm.
  • 617-019 5:55 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 5:55 pm.
  • 617-020 5:55 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 5:55 pm.
  • 617-021 5:55 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:03 pm.
  • 617-023 6:03 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, Hugh Scott, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:03 pm to 6:19 pm.
  • 617-024 6:20 PM · 33 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:20 pm to 6:55 pm.
  • 617-009 6:22 PM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William P. Rogers, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:22 pm to 6:37 pm.

All 64 conversations from November 12, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 617-022, November 12, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417179795). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/617-022 (accessed November 2, 2026).