On December 2, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Gordon M. Metcalf, William M. Batten, George P. Shultz, Richard A. Moore, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:19 pm to 2:50 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 628-013 of the White House Tapes.
Transcript (AI-Generated)This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.
Well, hi, how are you?
Well, let's sit over here.
I think they want to take a picture of you.
Well, uh, the, uh, the thing with Barry, uh,
Tell me how are we doing?
We did it for four weeks and we got a hundred and ninety-nine percent.
And we can sample a lot, around 90 percent.
Unless there are too many of them, that's a secret.
We didn't have a lot of figures back in that period.
And that takes a lot of money.
But that's, that's, that's awfully good.
Not that we can put it on the 5% of the budget.
Thank you.
Five seconds.
Right.
It's a very delicate
I think all of our people now feel that there hasn't been any change.
And there is a change.
I hope there is a change.
Sorry.
There are those periods where you're not sure whether it's a change or not.
You wonder.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I think we're in the middle.
There is a change.
It's a very unpredictable time yet, but we think something will change.
We'll be in some of them.
I wonder if the month of December turned out like that.
The month of December turned out like that.
I wonder if the month of December turned out like that.
Is that important?
Well, they just wrote these things down.
I wonder if that is good.
I don't know.
I think they're going to put it in the box.
Oh, yeah.
You missed it there, too.
Mm-hmm.
You just don't make it out of here, do you?
No.
Yeah, we're sitting right here.
That's right, yeah.
Mr. President, I think you might be interested in some of the geographic breakdowns.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I see it, sir.
If you have a minute, sir, one more call me.
And they called some of our bigger groups.
So we got to a good spot.
Right.
Because the other had a great deal of changes.
One group was running.
And I thought, this is actually because in places like Seattle, they're going to slow you down.
Yeah.
You know, that was the end of it.
And so they're in the middle of that period.
That's last November.
And then we asked them to come on the way in December, it looks like.
I don't know if you're familiar with that.
So we're basically 15% ahead in December of 2017.
Now, last year was bad, but I mean, we got a little bit here.
Whereas New York, they're very static this year.
They're about 6% ahead.
Very good.
We can take it out here.
Yeah.
It looks like we're back down here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But Washington, D.C. is at 11%.
Yeah, you're right.
You're at 11%.
Thanks to your vice president.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm looking for.
That's good.
This bird fell off and they had their box.
And he presented himself.
Now, these are a judgment that they've never had with me in my whole life.
And here's a doll set of folks.
I had them 13 for Christmas.
I had them 13 for Christmas.
We were 10, 15.
Plus, I explained, 3% plus.
And I learned it was accurate.
So, uh, how much of it was the cost of the telephone?
I don't know.
I figured it out.
I didn't know why I didn't like it.
Where it had a long history of terrorism, of course, because of this time of year, and if you put our world at 13.7, now we have the blood of 8.7.
We can see what we're going to get out of it.
And these are pictures.
In December, they came to be at about 5, and that's when we had the blood of the church.
So, would you all figure it out?
Yes, yeah, we're really trying to figure it out, of course, but we have to figure it out.
Yeah, certainly.
Oh, this is the result of that, exactly that.
Once you were saying, I'm trying to think, I'm trying to think, I'm trying to think, I'm trying to think.
I was thinking about how much television has changed over the times.
You know, that thing comes on.
It's just, you know what I'm saying?
I mean, of course, it's an effective actor, seriously.
But you say, so long as it's serious, I don't know.
You always want to change my mind.
I don't know what you're saying.
I'm good with those.
But one of the interesting parts of this, a large percentage of the interest is the sense in which they're real versus the sense in which they reflect inflation.
July 31st.
July 31st.
That's the day here.
See?
See how much it varies?
Last year gold went in next year.
We were there to grow the trees at two and a half percent.
Now the trees and the vegetation on our next stop were bound to be lower than two and a half percent.
And the way it goes out is very quick.
Lucky to have two and a half percent too.
I think the concern should be made of the program.
After you're going to pay the services.
And they, at the same time, were doing it.
And so I had to go over to that example.
He had the spirit.
Now, if there's somebody who had those services, you're not going to get to that.
We're already there.
Yeah, you know, we can hold them.
They should be allowed.
Yeah, why not?
As your services are not there.
Well, that's okay.
I don't get it.
The services are very rare, but if somebody isn't done by that jury, you might as well be able to do it again.
Yes, sir.
You can see the eyes.
Yes.
I'm worried about that part.
It's awfully hard to control it, sir.
It's not the search point.
We're ultimately just being worried.
And yeah, I know that I'm not telling you to have help, but I really can't use it on others.
We're a bit worried, and we are, you know.
But over here, we're going to have to do a forgettable thing again.
Right.
So, we can have our joke.
What is the, what is your, you know, Trace was saying, was saying?
Yeah, I'm trying to look at my notes.
I don't have our figures for November on the geographical breakdown.
I can get them to you if you're getting interested.
We can get back.
But I would say that we too have, probably have, in November, followed the pattern of the greatest month.
What a very interesting geographical moment.
We, too, are concerned, as Gordon said, with regard to some of the more depressed areas, like Seattle and the aerospace parts of the country.
We feel that those have, often,
It's been a rough, rough time, you know.
I'd like to see the figures that vote, yours and Federated's.
It's Federated's.
Yeah, so sure.
We'd like to see .
So, now part of the country that's been strong in the history of two, or in the southeast part of the country, whatever, has been quite strong.
Yes, except Miami.
And the Midwest has been a little weak for us.
It has been, yes.
I don't know how it's been for you, but you're trying to destroy us in places like Jersey.
You should move on to the other side.
I'm talking about two minutes ago.
I said I don't have a November breakdown.
We got this yesterday by telephone.
I was down here.
But I will give you, in fact, if you want it, I will give you the breakdown.
We're going back a few months.
Why isn't that any better?
Because the approach was huge, yes.
Yeah, of course not.
And they've got a better road to purchase.
And some of the markets, too, get temporarily over-stored.
Over-stored, yeah.
So there's a lot of competition goes in, and there isn't just that much new business.
They're all people.
And it'll come out there, and they'll actually all suffer for a little while, and gradually the growth catches up with their space, and we get back on track.
But this happens market by market, doesn't it?
I mean, listen, there's more of us.
So it makes this weird.
You'd better believe it.
You'd better believe it.
You'd better believe it.
You'd better believe it.
You'd better believe it.
You'd better believe it.
You'd better believe it.
I have a few working out.
They are going to be here as long as the summer was lasting.
I first checked.
So she has to move in a lot.
But look at it, I promise you that I believe the legacy that Charles promised us.
He said, it's a state that I'm going to deal with now, as bad as I know it's necessary, or as an abomination to peace.
I mean, you know, they'll all factor out in the end, because I'm sure I'm through with that one there, Hugh, weren't we?
Yeah.
Let's do this gospel.
And that's just all we have.
I read it, and I felt ready.
I don't know.
What was the situation in another area?
What do you confirm in the way of later settlements?
You don't bargain nationwide, do you?
No.
We have a little bargain, which is going into the business system.
Is that what you're saying?
You know about 80 stores.
Yeah.
So it's not much of a problem.
It's not a problem at all.
It's not a problem at all.
It's not a problem at all.
It's not a problem at all.
There isn't a problem in this sense, unless you've heard this many times.
That is that we are largely unorganized.
And sometimes, by what is said and so forth, impressions get given out that everything is organized.
The unorganized labor in this country really isn't too important.
I know you've heard that many times.
So many times when comments are made,
They're talking about organized labor.
Sometimes these things tend to give the feeling to unorganized people that they ought to get organized or they're going to be missing out on something.
In other words, I think we have to be very, very careful in our language to differentiate between organized labor and labor.
It's two different things.
Well, I always use the term .
That's right.
.
So this is .
I noticed that.
And this is the kind of thing you must keep saying.
They don't like to hear it.
No, they don't like to hear it.
But this is the kind of thing that's very helpful.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
$59.00 worth of the taxpayer's money to campaign expenses.
That money should be used to help whoever selects the key responses.
Listen, besides the robbery, the military, if they're institutionalized, third parties, it takes, it means a less responsible people have much more say, hopefully, in another way.
I mean, we can't talk about this one.
it's good for campaigns for political office to have to get out and raise money.
It's good for them to have to repeat it with a response of the people.
And I don't mean just the very rich.
It's the very rich and not the ones that really finance campaigns.
I mean, they talk about them as big getters.
If you take even our funds in 1968, they were perhaps $30 million.
In 1985, it was big getters.
The rest was...
$500 less.
One of the first things was that kind of things.
I mean, these are pains to business.
They're a little guy.
They're doctors and this and that guy.
And my colleague is good for that responsible intelligent person.
for the individuals rather than have that polygon mass out there.
Either one of those is an obligation to them.
That's why they talk about the founders and their wisdom and their democracy.
You know how many they let vote?
250,000 or 40,000 women.
Now, of course, we don't do anything like that.
Now, we do a lot of women.
Almost anybody does it.
But the point is, these things have changed.
But to go so far as to say, no, that's all we can have.
Because if it did not happen with the president, it would go to the House and the Senate and the rest of it.
So all the traffic can't even be enhanced out of the taxpayers' funds.
You know, it's a painless thing.
Can you imagine?
the total demagoguery of this country would be submerged under, it would be unbelievable.
Now, it's bad, you know, I have to go to the State Department of Internal Affairs,
It's a special interest group that's coming in and telling the president what to do.
Well, they don't really do that, not the president.
Maybe sometimes they tell him, maybe not the congressman or senator or president, but it should be to understand.
It's a way to assist in our system.
That's right.
But we'll have fun with that before we have a lot.
That's right.
Well, that's to say that the main thing is that we want to just have the greatest Christmas you've ever had.
We've got to get a great psychological boost in the economy for these and some of these inventories and the whole set-side and pick-up.
So we've got to do both sides.
heard of a treatment such in the part of the community.
And I say this to you every year.
Every year we make a catalog.
And we didn't know a thing about what we were going to do.
Yeah, it would be a pleasure.
I'd like to bring you that one.
Yeah, it would be really special, because it's been six months, and we're passionate about something else.
It's like double the period that we're anticipating, almost double the increase we had last year.
Um, it's really, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh,
I was doing, sorry, for not reading for a while.
I was there in the parking lot.
I could see the old man.
I could see Don.
And the last four days, that marker came up.
And, well, thank God it did.
I was there.
I was there.
I was there.
Oh, I see.
Mm-hmm.
I see.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's four points, something like that.
And then?
But three days later, we're back at the same place.
Aren't you on the job?
Yes, I am.
You're on the job.
I've been there since 1928.
So you look back on it.
How far did you come back?
How soon?
I think it was three days later.
I remember
Saw bill.
Saw bill.
I got it.
Police comes over.
There's a nice car.
There's a nice car over there.
And I was standing there.
And I was standing there the whole time.
And there was a very hot car.
And I looked across the street.
I said, do that.
I said, do that.
I said, do that.
I said, do that.
I said, do that.
I said, do that.
I said, do that.
I said, do that.
Oh, sure.
That's a good one.
you've got to keep open the possibility
I don't want you to open it up because I want to keep the pressure off.
It will allow the
What McGregor is probably going to recommend is that the bill be signed with a declaration that I will submit legislation to repeal it in the next session, just so we don't have to come back and say the truth.
So actually, this action, I think, was not wanted.
or wouldn't personify until it's .
Well, I asked him what I was doing.
Well, I didn't get off on it, except to say, well, I would say that .
The president is totally against
attached to our operation.
As a matter of principle, it does not involve the subject too much.
As a matter of fact, he sees the evidence and doesn't overreact that much.
He does not believe that that should be part of the American political system.
He's a great leader, a great leader.
He will certainly force the nationality of the British into that process as well.
Now, this commission, as she calls it, is one that this is a change.
I'll let you know.
This is a change.
You see, what I'm trying to get at is that we might
I've got to have Roe in the event that our Congressional College is signed with a statement that I will call for his, that I will have him in the legislature to produce the first open session of the bill.
What are my sentences?
As I've said, the President is against this matter.
It's a matter of principle.
He's been against it in the past.
He's against it now.
He's being against it in the future.
He's not concerned about the effect he's going to have on the 72 election.
He's concerned about the principle itself.
He doesn't feel it should be part of the American political process.
Now, the provision before the Congresses came about when the Congresses changed.
That doesn't change the President's position about the tax channel.
But now, we're going to take a look at this.
We're just going to take a look at it to see really what this compromise means.
While Roth will, does that mean he might not veto it?
I'll just tell you this, gentlemen.
His position on this matter has not changed.
He's against it.
I think you can say this.
The question now, the question is, he will do, he is the president, he is so solid about this that he will use whatever his legislative authority feels is most, whatever is most effective.
uh, to, uh, defeat it.
In that case, that, uh, that may be the need of, uh, the need of all the media.
That would be the need of the press, sir.
That's, uh, that's, uh, that would be the need for it.
If necessary, that's, uh, uh, I would say, uh, uh, uh, you know, you would say, you know, the timeline, I think,
to title that English provision.
There's some, they've been raised to say that it would be anti-legislative, but you don't even get that.
You just say that would include a veto if necessary.
And who do you believe to do whatever, you feel so strongly about this, that you would do whatever is necessary to
he would remain adopted as parliamentarian because we do not face now the same situation of an immediate government of all i think that is
If they do, if you do want to get rid of him, if you want to get rid of him, if you want to get rid of him, if you want to get rid of him, if you want to get rid of him,
Well, I'm not respecting it unless you do, but the president is.
And yet, if the veto is necessary, if the president finds that a veto is the only way, that is the only way that can keep this provision from being implemented, he will use a veto.
In the bar, they pass the center, the people with the video.
and the farm that is past the house, it may be an old budget, but the president's good values will be to all that, unless the, unless there is a, I guess a complaint to make to, I don't know, unless, I don't know, making the point that it's just sort of a fact, that we'll put no limitation on the $20 million that unions use to educate their, you know, co-farmers.
Oh, God.