Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 665-011
Date: Thursday, February 3, 1972 at 4:23 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Colson, Charles W.; Woods, Rose Mary; Bull, Stephen B.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/665-011

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 Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:09] I'm not going to give a report on the subject of what you see and read, so I told you, you left me for an hour, but, uh, hold on.
[0:16] I just, I had a very, I had a very interesting discussion that, uh, frankly, I, all I can do is, uh, I, I have read a very few, uh, personal social histories, uh, and, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,
[0:43] Welcome to your visit.
[0:50] Oh, yes.
[1:09] And her.
[1:40] poetry, music, literature, international language, trans, political, political, political, political, political, political, political, political, political, political, political, political, political, political,
[2:07] How's your back?
[2:08] Any better today?
[2:09] A little better?
[2:10] Every time you come in, you look a little better.
[2:14] Yeah, a lot more relaxed as they're working.
[2:17] It takes a while.
[2:19] We've only got about five minutes.
[2:22] I would say we're glad to get that...
[2:26] We've got a guy over there who might mention to you who's shifted the system so that we're going to get, we won't get the big break that we got early in the year last year.
[2:39] We're going to get a more gradual one.
[2:52] But on the system, we also aren't going to take that bad play in August and September that we took this year, I think.
[3:01] But the basic ticket is to getting the immediate numbers.
[3:04] There are 300,000 entries.
[3:06] But under that, the married men ticket, which is the one that counts, and this is something that our economic spokesmen are going to start taking a little different tack on.
[3:16] We've got to start explaining this to them.
[3:18] The married men dropped from 3.2 to 3.0.
[3:22] If you go back to the early 60s, the married men, which is the breadwinner category, was up at 5%.
[3:25] So we simply had to let it start.
[3:28] We had to kind of cross that this is the best figure in three years for married men or something like that.
[3:33] Well, in this case, it was 19 months.
[3:35] All right, fine.
[3:36] It's your best figure in 19 months.
[3:39] And importantly, it really is, for a peacetime economy, it is.
[3:45] Well, let's brag about it this year.
[3:46] Oh, this month.
[3:47] The first month we had a brag about it.
[3:49] Three years.
[3:49] I'm sorry.
[3:50] We didn't have a brag about it.
[3:51] no i've talked to hudson and he's a little six point it was up to six point two six points six point two was uh no it was a year ago six point was it was up to six point uh well it was over six points sometime this fall uh wasn't it six point five yes i don't think it's below six that sounds like a lot better 5.9 we'll get another break next month because the insurance
[4:19] Claims are just coming down on a weekly basis.
[4:21] This hasn't started having a toothache.
[4:24] Right.
[4:25] Rocker's had a fine job.
[4:27] He's really deserved it.
[4:28] We can't let him.
[4:30] I did a lot of talk to him.
[4:31] We have a little high quote to show people are invited and so forth.
[4:35] They're going to take it on anyway.
[4:36] I mean, and Musk, he has stepped out of line here.
[4:39] He deserved a kick in the ass.
[4:41] Well, I think it's more than deserving a kick in the ass, Mr. President.
[4:44] I think that we have got to take this now and exploit it and
[4:49] and turn it against him because what he has done, I took your 1968 statement to the five-point convention, which is superb, where you say that a presidential candidate isn't like a private citizen.
[5:01] I don't know if you remember that statement.
[5:03] He has a special responsibility.
[5:06] His statements can be interpreted by the other side.
[5:08] It can mean something.
[5:09] Muskie is really saying, and this is where I think he is very vulnerable,
[5:13] that if you just, in a way, don't settle.
[5:16] Don't settle, Nixon.
[5:17] Wait for me.
[5:18] I'll give you everything, of course.
[5:19] That's what he said.
[5:20] He is sacrificing his chances for peace.
[5:22] And we're just sacrificing what we do.
[5:25] Well, and not a term.
[5:26] And defeat.
[5:27] As Rajasthan has defeated, he's calling for America.
[5:31] Right.
[5:32] Jackson is smart.
[5:33] Jackson sees on this, and he would really gain all that.
[5:37] He already does.
[5:37] He's on it.
[5:38] He's got a few goals in New Hampshire.
[5:40] He's not meet the price.
[5:42] He's got to know Jackson on Sunday.
[5:43] And we've already had a man up this afternoon who we can trust.
[5:46] He's given them all our best lines.
[5:49] And the first reaction is from Jackson's people that could use it.
[5:53] Because of the poll that came out this morning in New Hampshire that Mills released showing that 46% of the
[5:59] Democrats in New Hampshire classified themselves as conservatives.
[6:03] And he was released in the poll.
[6:05] Was he on New Hampshire?
[6:06] Oh, he's got a hell of a party in New Hampshire.
[6:10] Mills?
[6:10] Yes, sir.
[6:10] And he's come in with a lot of money.
[6:13] He's bought a lot of radio time, a lot of TV.
[6:15] Ran his first television program last night.
[6:17] And my people up there said very, very tough that his stuff is, his advertising stuff is good.
[6:23] And he's got a pro outfit.
[6:25] You know, you never know unless you make up less than 70%.
[6:28] Oh, he won't take 70%.
[6:30] But no one is trying to pull a key cover, but doing it through the media rather than tromping through the snow.
[6:37] But the percentage, the 46%, is very significant.
[6:40] Because this statement, if we can exploit the fact that he is, as a presidential candidate, he is in effect saying that it was done to negotiate an end to the war.
[6:51] And the continuation of the war is in his hands.
[6:55] Then it isn't a question just of hitting him because he deserves it, but it's a question of exploiting the weapon.
[6:59] It'll be a weakness of the body.
[7:02] That's what I feel.
[7:03] It's an opportunity in our heart.
[7:06] I gave it a lot of thought last night.
[7:08] I wrote the memorandum yesterday, and all of them said that Stanley and all of you better decide it.
[7:17] and we thought we should really take him on.
[7:20] Jake, I hope you didn't represent his wife.
[7:22] No, I didn't.
[7:22] I was saying that... Well, we weren't blaming anybody.
[7:27] I said, well, I'm not going to address it.
[7:29] I said, I just have a gut reaction, and then the guy steps out.
[7:33] I said, we ought to make it.
[7:35] No, no, no, let's block him.
[7:36] That's an advantage to a 10-year-old.
[7:37] You kick him right in the balls.
[7:39] Now, Rodgers being on, we'll make it.
[7:41] Secretary of State should take him on.
[7:43] Goddamn adults used to kick the hell out of the Democrats.
[7:45] Well, and Goldwater said today, he used, in 1964, Ruskin and Eisenhower were just kind of a little better with it.
[7:51] Every time he... Did Goldwater say that?
[7:53] Yes, sir.
[7:54] Goldwater was a little upset that we were asking him to put stuff out, and he said, where's your own people?
[8:00] So I called him and got the wire copy to him, and Rogers came through, which was...
[8:08] He's not here, sir.
[8:08] No, he's not.
[8:10] Well, we're not sure how much longer he's going to be here.
[8:13] Well, Rain, you can tell that Henry's tied up over there and have Haig come in and talk to him.
[8:23] Rain, Haig is here.
[8:24] Now, Haig is sitting in the meeting.
[8:25] He's familiar with the concept of his life.
[8:27] Yeah, hold on, it's all right, hold on, it's all right.
[8:30] I'll be about five.
[8:31] You can tell them you want to wait five minutes, you see a tenner set back, you know, not all.
[8:34] The other thing is, really, there's no hurry because they're running late at that conference over there.
[8:39] How late?
[8:39] About 20 minutes late.
[8:40] Oh, jeez.
[8:41] I know that might disrupt some other plans, but, so, you need to speak to them.
[8:47] They shouldn't keep them that long.
[8:49] It'd be boring then.
[8:51] I don't know.
[8:52] I don't know.
[8:54] I don't know.
[8:55] I don't know.
[8:57] I don't know.
[9:10] He's a good, he's a good law officer, but he's not going to give us a present.
[9:14] No, he's not.
[9:15] And, uh, before Admiral Moore comes in, you might want to have Alex Blackfield come in with some signing material to get that out of the way, so you don't have to consider yourself with that in the blue.
[9:25] Yeah.
[9:26] Yeah, well, you, since we do have a little more time, just tell the Admiral he can wait 10 minutes, and I'll validate and talk to him.
[9:33] Yeah, right.
[9:34] Right.
[9:35] We are, we're just a little late, and so...
[9:38] Well, the economic news is mixed, but on a balance, most of the things that are actually really important are coming through very well.
[10:06] The unfortunate thing, Mr. President, from our standpoint, is that if we haven't been through that boom, the economy today is in damn filthy shape.
[10:18] People are making more money, they're saving more money, they're spending more money.
[10:26] And 3% of unemployment on breadwinners is nothing in the county like this.
[10:32] Bill Rogers called me and said, you know, it's like a kid would do too, and he just, he was so pleased with himself.
[10:37] And of course, the lawyer said, just?
[10:39] Bill has got to realize that he must have made this.
[10:43] You know, he's aesthetically, as we all are, but he is, you know, vain about wanting to get us to be paid attention to.
[10:50] Well, God damn it.
[10:52] He thinks the way to get attention is to be a nice guy, but the press, the way to get attention is to kick somebody in the balls.
[10:58] That's all.
[10:59] That's exactly right.
[11:00] How does that come into play with these kids being on the walls?
[11:03] Now, of course, they're taking him on for other reasons, but it's all right.
[11:08] It's good that Bill's checking on him.
[11:10] Well, he said to me, he said, Chuck, I sent him over some things last evening.
[11:15] And he said, Chuck, would you send me over some work for Sunday to replace the nation?
[11:18] He's going on, and Jackson's going on this weekend.
[11:22] uh, go over to speaking tonight, and- That we can't at all.
[11:25] We can't.
[11:27] In fact, we're not tired.
[11:30] We've really done some good stuff.
[11:31] The, the, the boys have done a good job as accountants, who are buying two lines, a lot of times, are buying the irresponsibility of a presidential candidate who has that coming on right away.
[11:44] And the other that they're, that they're gobbling up is Muskie's stampede on the left.
[11:49] He did this.
[11:50] to recover from his two bad shows, Arizona and Iowa.
[11:53] They call it a spanky to the left hand.
[11:56] The press address was panting, panting was the word.
[12:00] Well, he came into a speech that was typed in three different typewrites and handwritten changes.
[12:04] He was in just such a hell of a hurry to do that.
[12:06] He said, of course, I had gotten tips by a fellow who's now traveling with the press that it was coming.
[12:13] And he told me this.
[12:14] I told you Monday night.
[12:15] He told me basically what he was going to do and why.
[12:19] He also, the same reporter who told me last evening, too, said, once he was press-campaged yesterday, he was just about, he really is very good.
[12:29] When they asked him the question, well, what would you do?
[12:32] I heard about it.
[12:33] And he said, don't bother you, dot the I's, dot the E's, dot the I's, of course.
[12:38] That's all right.
[12:40] But just as well, I just, why would one of the Democrats start thinking?
[12:43] Those guys are gone.
[12:45] They don't start taking them on.
[12:46] Jackson's been taking them on for a hard time.
[12:48] I'm on the environment and I'm busting in the space shuttle.
[12:52] Good.
[12:53] And now we've had this one.
[12:54] And I think Jackson is desperate enough that he may...
[12:57] He might start getting...
[12:59] He might start unloading them.
[13:01] Yes, sir.
[13:04] And we've also got, we've got Goldwater speaking tonight, we've got...
[13:07] In addition to these lines, we should constantly keep the Popsley lines.
[13:12] The peace offer is a good one to be a conqueror and not get rejected.
[13:16] They put us in a better home than we did.
[13:17] The president took all this goddamn beating for 30 months when he hadn't.
[13:21] was working on this thing, you know, the man, because I think your point that we have mentioned at author and that a lot of people that see the president in a different light, don't you think that's always, I think that one of these journalists, he saw it a few days ago, and he said, yeah, I saw it.
[13:38] That's really the best.
[13:40] I think when I say the best, it's the best because it's such a respected figure.
[13:45] Well, it's beautifully written.
[13:46] It's a beautifully written editorial.
[13:48] We sent that all over the government and all over the Hill.
[13:53] And we're doing a special issue of Monday that's $250,000.
[13:56] It's one of those Franklin-type headlines and quotes.
[14:01] Different people's statements will have that link from Monday.
[14:04] That was a good job you did.
[14:05] It was an excellent trip to my issue.
[14:09] I think that she appreciated it.
[14:10] Oh, I...
[14:10] It makes you money.
[14:11] That comes this Monday.
[14:12] And then the following Monday will be on the world reaction and the national reaction to your peace initiatives.
[14:21] We'll keep it positive, though.
[14:23] I mean, that's .
[14:24] You've got 48 seconds.
[14:26] I didn't quote it correctly.
[14:29] That's good.
[14:30] Well, that's his first choice.
[14:31] He has two questions.
[14:34] All you've got to say to realize it.
[14:36] And then the second question is, is that what's probably good?
[14:40] Oh, that's not entirely good.
[14:42] That's very good.
[14:45] He and Gannon are some Republicans, of course, like Reagan gets a few, but Agnew gets one, too.
[14:51] So if he had all those together, he'd come up above 50%.
[14:54] Well, but I mean,
[14:56] Thank you, sir.
[14:57] That is the first person present at 48 on the main.
[14:59] I don't see how it could be.
[15:01] All of our business plans have been pulled.
[15:03] Oh, I think it is.
[15:05] Some people, I know people that practice in it, but I've looked at his technique and the way he swings and the way he does his computer, and it's scientific in the sense that to the extent it is scientific, we're hurt by it.
[15:18] It doesn't swing out necessarily in the likelihood of the others.
[15:22] He claims we're riding the wave.
[15:24] He said he's closer.
[15:27] One thing about the market these days is that, you know, the thing about the market
[15:42] They're doing what they did in 68 when they just clearly couldn't.
[16:00] And we know, you know normally, 24 million is not bad.
[16:03] Well, it's not bad.
[16:04] We were down to that.
[16:06] 7 million a day, 6 million a day.
[16:09] Per week.
[16:10] Per week.
[16:10] That's right.
[16:11] Now, see, there's only five days in a week.
[16:13] And those jackasses that sit there for 200,000 years just trading paper for us.
[16:17] Is that what they do?
[16:19] Oh, you know, that's it.
[16:22] On that kind of volume, they all make a fortune.
[16:25] It was off today, 2.7 inches or something, but 24 shares.
[16:29] And that's a healthy sign.
[16:31] I told you it was going to go down.
[16:34] 903, I think.
[16:35] I know if you look at it, it's very bad.
[16:37] It's going to go to 1,000 someday.
[16:39] It goes up in about half the game.
[16:43] Usually it's a race, and then it goes up in half.
[16:44] It hasn't been dropping that much.
[16:46] It's been really moving.
[16:47] I think it's been a moving market these days.
[16:52] That was a great, so good, a great couple of matches.
[16:55] Yeah, that's really, okay.
[17:02] All here?
[17:03] Yes, sir.
[17:04] I guess you're working on it.
[17:07] I know.
[17:07] I hate to work, but I thought it was so goddamn disgraceful.
[17:13] Unbelievable.
[17:14] Unbelievable, too disgraceful, and they ought to be taken on.
[17:17] The networks have just got to be, I heard you did this, right?
[17:20] I don't know if they won't do it again.
[17:23] They'll say, it's White House pressure.
[17:24] What's wrong?
[17:25] What the hell's the matter with these people?
[17:27] I had Golden sitting in my office.
[17:30] I didn't raise that one up.
[17:31] I just said, you guys, this is why people don't trust the network.
[17:36] Well, if he was there, they'd hire him.
[17:38] Oh, sure, the campers.
[17:39] All three networks are running the campers.
[17:41] But they have not missed one single day of the urban committee testimony until yesterday.
[17:48] Yesterday was the first day that they haven't gotten it.
[17:50] They ran a crowd.
[17:51] Are there any complaints going to the top or up there?
[17:54] Yes, sir.
[17:56] Well, like in the past, like...
[17:58] I don't know.
[17:59] We're going to take them to the FCC, which is just going to raise hope.
[18:05] Can you do that?
[18:06] Yes, sir.
[18:06] With this accuracy and media, this little group of... Can you do that?
[18:10] Oh, hell, we've got... ...commentary about the military state.
[18:13] Remember, you have to do that.
[18:15] Perfect.
[18:17] I got out of the park to read Chinese this weekend.
[18:20] Well, if you get sunshine on that side, you get an arm's play down there.
[18:25] I don't think that's good.
[18:27] It's a dirty building.
[18:28] You know, you can already see it.
[18:30] I don't sign it.
[18:30] Right.