Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 920 › Conversation 920-001

Nixon & Shultz on Phase III and Wage and price controls

Wednesday, May 16, 1973 · 4:09 PM–4:52 PM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Shultz, George P.Conversation920-001 on Tape 920StartWednesday, May 16, 1973 at 4:09 PMEndWednesday, May 16, 1973 at 4:52 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 920-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Treasury Secretary George Shultz met to discuss the management of the national economy and the public perception of the administration’s Phase III wage and price controls. Shultz argued that Phase III should be viewed as a flexible administrative process rather than a static system, noting that progress was being made in wage bargaining with major unions like the Teamsters. Nixon affirmed his skepticism toward dramatic interventions, such as a price freeze, and emphasized his commitment to achieving a balanced budget for fiscal year 1974 as a key economic priority.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

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and his position as a propounder of the increase in supply has shifted that.
On the other hand, there's a tremendous urge to do something dramatic, and I think John Connolly, the last I talked with him anyway, he doesn't seem to be doing anything dramatic.
The part is, well, he can't do something wrong.
Yeah, Red Freight, who was in favor of Phase 3, has a
thinks that we're in a wildly bad situation.
I know.
Many people do.
And I always want to be sure you see that side of it.
I see it.
Try to see that my views are not the only views.
I see it.
I see it.
And I know that there are people that say, Christ, do something, do something, do something.
But every time I look over, George, the spy hasn't changed his view.
He sent you an interesting little memo that I wrote over the top of.
That kind of goes through the arc as he sees them.
He's in Europe this week.
Well, it's important to recognize that phase three is not a sort of static thing that was put into place and there it is.
It's an administrative process.
And I think one of our problems is one day I think you and John and I were discussing
One of our problems is that the sense of an administrative presence has not come through to the country.
And partly that's because it's been dominated by other things, particularly for a long while the congressional action and fooling around with the wage-price system.
But we are making our presence felt more, and I've gotten ahold of Bill Baruti, who understands how to do these things better than I do.
and trying to get him working with Dunlop to see if we can make this presence felt and known about.
In the meantime, many things are going pretty well.
What?
Like the wage bargaining.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
With all the rough talk from the Indian people, the settlement's so far fine.
And I've spent quite a little time and went to a big dinner and took him out playing golf with Fitzsimmons and talked to Einar Mohn and quite a few of the Teamster guys.
And I don't think we're going to have a big problem with that de-injection contract.
And that's a big one.
And the GE seems to be coming pretty well.
Rubber came in all right.
So, so far, with our... And also that, the CDI in our start goes, you know, it's, it's, it's going to go up a W's amount, an extra four by one, you know.
We'll have, as you said in your message at the time, we're going to have some rough price performances ahead, but I think it is going to gradually settle down.
If we freeze, then where do you go from there?
That's right.
If we put in controls, then it's going to explode on you at some point.
Where do you go from there?
At the present time, as I told Tom, I said, I don't have a better plan.
And I said, I'm not going to do something wrong simply because people say you can be great in front of God.
I'm very excited right now.
I hope it will stay through.
In the back of my mind, this is why I brought up the budget business and the possibility of getting a balanced budget.
I think that continued pounding on that and showing that we are getting somewhere.
And that the is a consideration.

NARA Description

On May 16, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:09 pm and 4:52 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 920-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 920-1

Date: May 16, 1973
Time: Unknown between 4:09 pm and 4:52 pm
Location: Oval Office

[Continued from Conversation No. 919-34]

An unknown portion of the conversation was not recorded while the audiotape reels were
changed.

The President met with George P. Shultz.

       National economy
              -John B. Connally’s views
              -Pierre Rinfret’s views
                      -Phase III
              -President’s view
              -Herbert G. Stein
                      -Views
                      -Memorandum to the President
                      -Location
                              -Europe
              -Phase III
                      -Static solution
                              -Compared to administrative process
                      -President’s meeting with Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman
                      -Popular perception
                              -Administrative process
                                      -Congressional actions
                                      -Wage and price system
                              -Shultz’s meeting with William J. Baroody, Jr.
                                      -John T. Dunlop’s role
                      -Wage bargaining
                              -Settlement
                              -Shultz’s conversations
                                      -Dinners
                                      -Golf
                                              -2-

                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                           Conversation No. 920-13 (cont’d)

                               -Frank E. Fitzsimmons
                               -Einar O. E. Mohn
                               -Teamsters
                                      -Contract
                       -General Electric [GE] Company
                       -Rubber
                       -Consumer Price Index [CPI]
               -President’s message
               -Price freeze, price controls
               -Possible controls
               -President’s conversation with Connally
                       -Plan

       Fiscal Year 1974 budget
               -Balanced budget

Shultz left at 4:52 pm.

Also recorded on May 16, 1973

  • 919-032 3:02 PM · 1 hr 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon, J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr., Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:02 pm to 4:08 pm.
  • 046-084 4:08 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:08 pm and 9:33 pm.
  • 046-085 4:08 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:08 pm and 9:33 pm.
  • 919-033 4:08 PM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:08 pm.
  • 919-034 4:09 PM · 1 hr 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:09 pm and 4:52 pm.
  • 920-002 4:52 PM · 40 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:52 pm and 4:55 pm.
  • 920-003 4:55 PM · 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Manolo Sanchez, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:55 pm to 5:22 pm.
  • 046-086 4:57 PM · 12 min — J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr., White House operator, and Robert C. Mardian talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:57 pm and 9:33 pm.

All 73 conversations from May 16, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 920-001, May 16, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/920-001 (accessed October 12, 2026).