Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 88
Nixon White House Tape 88 (January 24, 1972 – January 28, 1972)
4 conversations · Cabinet Room · about 2 hr 54 min of released audio
Featuring Nixon, Shultz, Weinberger, Gifford, Cohn
President Nixon met with a large contingent of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) staff in the Cabinet Room for a ceremony regarding the signing of the Fiscal Year 1973 Budget Message. During the brief visit, the President expressed his appreciation for the intensive labor and dedication the staff contributed to the budgetary process. The discussion focused on acknowledging the team's professional efforts and coordinating the logistics for the formal bill-signing event.
President Nixon met with Vice President Agnew and Republican congressional leaders to discuss strategy regarding his recent speech on Vietnam and the administration's upcoming FY 1973 budget. The President and Henry Kissinger briefed the attendees on the Vietnam peace negotiations, emphasizing that the U.S. had made comprehensive offers while denouncing North Vietnamese intransigence and political maneuvering. Economic advisors, including George Shultz and Herbert Stein, presented the administration's fiscal plans, highlighting the importance of balancing the budget while supporting a transition to a peacetime economy through controlled spending and wage-price stabilization. Participants agreed on the necessity of maintaining a firm stance on defense and economic policy to solidify public support and improve the administration's negotiating leverage.
President Nixon met with the Construction Industry Collective Bargaining Commission to review the progress of labor-management relations and wage stabilization efforts in the construction sector. The discussion focused on the success of the Commission's voluntary approach to curbing inflation, the role of craft boards in fostering industry cooperation, and the broader integration of productivity goals. Nixon commended the participants for their responsible leadership and collaborative efforts, emphasizing the importance of keeping the industry's management in the hands of construction professionals while continuing to modernize labor practices.
This recording captures an unidentified group of men meeting in the White House Cabinet Room. The entire duration of the discussion has been withdrawn from the public record due to non-historical content. Consequently, no substantive topics, decisions, or action items are available for historical analysis.