Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 95
Nixon White House Tape 95 (March 17, 1972)
2 conversations · Cabinet Room · about 3 hr 11 min of released audio
Featuring Nixon, Richardson, Kleindienst, Shultz, Mansfield
President Nixon met with bipartisan Congressional leaders, administration officials, and cabinet members to advocate for a legislative moratorium on court-ordered busing to achieve racial balance in schools. Nixon argued that current judicial mandates were causing societal turmoil and urged Congress to act immediately to stop new busing orders while advancing his broader 'Equal Educational Opportunities Act.' The administration proposed a two-pronged strategy involving an immediate legislative moratorium followed by a long-term commitment to compensatory education funding to improve school quality, specifically for low-income and minority students.
President Nixon and members of the National Security Council met to evaluate strategic options for the ongoing Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), focusing on ABM site deployments and the potential inclusion of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Nixon emphasized the political necessity of securing an agreement that prevents Soviet strategic superiority, while participants debated the relative merits of "hard-site" defense versus current safeguard proposals and the impact of these negotiations on Congressional support. The discussion underscored a shared concern regarding the erosion of U.S. bargaining leverage and established a firm directive to pursue an agreement based on the principle of strategic equivalency.