About this recording
413–17
- President Richard M. Nixon
- H. R. Haldeman
- Gerald R. Ford
- White House operator
- Wilbur D. Mills
- Stephen B. Bull
- Henry A. Kissinger
- UNKNOWN
February 23, 1973
Conversation No. 413-17
Date: February 23, 1973
Time: 3:35 pm-4:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Haldeman's talk with Patricia R. Hitt
-Hitt’s knowledge
-Appointment to ACTION
-Easing out
-Rogers C. B. Morton [?]
-Peter M. Flanigan [?]
-Peace Corps
-VISTA
-Hitt’s reaction
-Robert H. Finch
-Political opponents
The President talked with Gerald R. Ford between 3:38 pm and 3:44 pm.
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
[Conversation No. 413-17A]
[See Conversation No. 43-194]
[End of telephone conversation]
Wilbur D. Mills
-Press conference and press release
-Timing
-Surcharge
-Selected imports
-Trade legislation
-Staff recommendation [?]
-President’s phone call to Mills
-President's conversation with George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 3:44 pm and
3:47 pm.
[Conversation No. 413-17B]
[See Conversation No. 43-195]
[End of telephone conversation]
President's schedule
Donald C. Alexander [?]
-Ohio
-Qualifications
-Harvard law, Yale undergraduate
Charles W. Colson’s role
President’s knowledge [?]
Ehrlichman’s role
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
Herbert G. Klein
-Talk with Haldeman
-Trip to California
-Meeting
-Possibilities
-Newspaper division
The President talked with Mills between 3:47 pm and 3:53 pm.
[Conversation No. 413-17C]
[See Conversation No. 43-196]
[End of telephone conversation]
Surcharge
-John B. Connally
-Political motivation
Alexander's appointment to Internal Revenue Service [IRS] position
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] background check
-Support from Shultz, Ehrlichman, Colson
-Compared to George H. W. Bush
-Ehrlichman
-Administration’s expectations
-Background
-Newspaper
-Editor, Harvard Law Review
-Yale University
-Academic honors
-World War II service
-European theater
-Academic honors
-Comparison to Elliot L. Richardson
-Tax background
-Criticism
-Head of IRS
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Support for IRS appointment
Executive appointments
-Diversity
Advisor to President
-Part-time
-Guidance for staff
Staff changes
Anne L. Armstrong
-Spanish-speaking related work
-Ehrlichman [?]
-Office staff
-Diversity
-Male staff members
-Duties
-Haldeman’s relationship with Armstrong
-Compared with Finch
-Additional staff
-Competence of staff members
-Pamela Powell
-Ongoing projects
-Youth business [?]
-New Majority activity
-Bicentennial
-Organizing public activities
-Entertainment
-Youth night
-Work with Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Management style
-Productivity
John A. Volpe [?]
White House staff
-Management
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Costs
-High level
-Political appointments [?]
Sub-Cabinet officers [?]
-Meetings with President
-Stephen B. Bull
-Charls E. Walker
-Camp David
-Undersecretaries
-Work ethic
-James F. Oates
-Veterans
Prisoners of war [POWs] function
-Scheduling
-Public relations
Letters
-Preparation
-Endorsement of resolution
-Subsidies [?]
-Batch prepared for March, April
-Statement on Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] visit
Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO]
-Job Corps
-Public relations
-Reaction
-Speech
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Announcement on OEO
-Timing
Harris poll on issues
-Results
-OEO [?]
-Phase III wage-price action
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Public support
-Lack of confidence
-Prices
-Gold
-Budget issue
-Economic issues
-Haldeman’s agreement with Shultz’s view
-Consumer Price Index [CPI]
-Food prices
-Importance
Price controls
-Action
-Delayed results
William J. Baroody, Jr.
-Citizens committee
-Taxes
-Prices
-Actions
-Control
-Offensive stance
-Opposition
-Congressional, press relations
-Academic community
-Effects
-Need for villains, civility
-Vance Hartke, Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Press
-New York Times
Campaign financing [?]
-Contributors [?]
-George H. W. Bush
Press relations
-Economic issues
-Poor
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Inflation
-Greed [?]
-Prices
-Supermarket
-Public interest in President’s economic program
-Trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC], February 1972
-Cultural exchanges
-Ping pong team
-Acrobats
-Opening of trade office
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Announcement of PRC trip
-Effective results
-Vietnam War settlement
-Effective results
-POWs return
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] agreement, Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit
-Public relations value
-Charles H. Percy’s media profile
-Responses
Phase III wage-price actions
-Bureaucracy
-Expansion
-Inflation
-Prices and wages
Israel
-Libyan airline shoot down
-Public apology
-1972 Olympics incident
-Moshe Dayan
-Explanation
-George H. W. Bush [?]
William L. Safire
-Preparation of draft
-Death of Shelley A. (Scarney) Buchanan’s father
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Patrick J. Buchanan
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 3:53 pm.
Meeting with Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, Charles J. DiBona, and Henry A. Kissinger
Bull left at an unknown time before 4:40 pm.
Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 3:53 pm.
Telephone call from McGeorge Bundy
An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:53 pm.
Refreshments
The unknown man left at an unknown time before 4:40 pm.
Bundy
-George W. Ball
-Organizing
-Initiative
-Principles
PRC
-Kissinger’s message from President
-Visit
-Chou En-lai
-Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-Ambassador
-Chiang Kai-shek
-John H. Holdridge
Bundy
-Telephone call
Economic affairs
-Diplomatic exchange with PRC
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Bush
-Ball
-Bruce
-Bipartisan support
-Leo Cherne
North Vietnam troops in Laos and Cambodia
-Laotian government
-US bombings
-Targets
William H. Sullivan
William J. Casey, William J. Porter [?], William P. Rogers [?]
-Skills
Kissinger left at an unknown time before 4:40 pm.
Shultz and Ehrlichman
-Talks with Haldeman
-Polls on public perception of economic issues
-August 1971 New Economic Program
-Problems
Haldeman left at 4:40 pm.
Date: February 23, 1973
Time: 3:35 pm-4:40 pm
Location: Executive Office Building
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
Haldeman's talk with Patricia R. Hitt
-Hitt’s knowledge
-Appointment to ACTION
-Easing out
-Rogers C. B. Morton [?]
-Peter M. Flanigan [?]
-Peace Corps
-VISTA
-Hitt’s reaction
-Robert H. Finch
-Political opponents
The President talked with Gerald R. Ford between 3:38 pm and 3:44 pm.
-10-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
[Conversation No. 413-17A]
[See Conversation No. 43-194]
[End of telephone conversation]
Wilbur D. Mills
-Press conference and press release
-Timing
-Surcharge
-Selected imports
-Trade legislation
-Staff recommendation [?]
-President’s phone call to Mills
-President's conversation with George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman
The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 3:44 pm and
3:47 pm.
[Conversation No. 413-17B]
[See Conversation No. 43-195]
[End of telephone conversation]
President's schedule
Donald C. Alexander [?]
-Ohio
-Qualifications
-Harvard law, Yale undergraduate
Charles W. Colson’s role
President’s knowledge [?]
Ehrlichman’s role
-11-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
Herbert G. Klein
-Talk with Haldeman
-Trip to California
-Meeting
-Possibilities
-Newspaper division
The President talked with Mills between 3:47 pm and 3:53 pm.
[Conversation No. 413-17C]
[See Conversation No. 43-196]
[End of telephone conversation]
Surcharge
-John B. Connally
-Political motivation
Alexander's appointment to Internal Revenue Service [IRS] position
-Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] background check
-Support from Shultz, Ehrlichman, Colson
-Compared to George H. W. Bush
-Ehrlichman
-Administration’s expectations
-Background
-Newspaper
-Editor, Harvard Law Review
-Yale University
-Academic honors
-World War II service
-European theater
-Academic honors
-Comparison to Elliot L. Richardson
-Tax background
-Criticism
-Head of IRS
-12-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Support for IRS appointment
Executive appointments
-Diversity
Advisor to President
-Part-time
-Guidance for staff
Staff changes
Anne L. Armstrong
-Spanish-speaking related work
-Ehrlichman [?]
-Office staff
-Diversity
-Male staff members
-Duties
-Haldeman’s relationship with Armstrong
-Compared with Finch
-Additional staff
-Competence of staff members
-Pamela Powell
-Ongoing projects
-Youth business [?]
-New Majority activity
-Bicentennial
-Organizing public activities
-Entertainment
-Youth night
-Work with Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Management style
-Productivity
John A. Volpe [?]
White House staff
-Management
-13-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Costs
-High level
-Political appointments [?]
Sub-Cabinet officers [?]
-Meetings with President
-Stephen B. Bull
-Charls E. Walker
-Camp David
-Undersecretaries
-Work ethic
-James F. Oates
-Veterans
Prisoners of war [POWs] function
-Scheduling
-Public relations
Letters
-Preparation
-Endorsement of resolution
-Subsidies [?]
-Batch prepared for March, April
-Statement on Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] visit
Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO]
-Job Corps
-Public relations
-Reaction
-Speech
-Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-Announcement on OEO
-Timing
Harris poll on issues
-Results
-OEO [?]
-Phase III wage-price action
-14-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Public support
-Lack of confidence
-Prices
-Gold
-Budget issue
-Economic issues
-Haldeman’s agreement with Shultz’s view
-Consumer Price Index [CPI]
-Food prices
-Importance
Price controls
-Action
-Delayed results
William J. Baroody, Jr.
-Citizens committee
-Taxes
-Prices
-Actions
-Control
-Offensive stance
-Opposition
-Congressional, press relations
-Academic community
-Effects
-Need for villains, civility
-Vance Hartke, Edward M. (“Ted”) Kennedy
-Press
-New York Times
Campaign financing [?]
-Contributors [?]
-George H. W. Bush
Press relations
-Economic issues
-Poor
-15-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Inflation
-Greed [?]
-Prices
-Supermarket
-Public interest in President’s economic program
-Trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC], February 1972
-Cultural exchanges
-Ping pong team
-Acrobats
-Opening of trade office
-Michael J. (“Mike”) Mansfield
-Announcement of PRC trip
-Effective results
-Vietnam War settlement
-Effective results
-POWs return
-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] agreement, Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit
-Public relations value
-Charles H. Percy’s media profile
-Responses
Phase III wage-price actions
-Bureaucracy
-Expansion
-Inflation
-Prices and wages
Israel
-Libyan airline shoot down
-Public apology
-1972 Olympics incident
-Moshe Dayan
-Explanation
-George H. W. Bush [?]
William L. Safire
-Preparation of draft
-Death of Shelley A. (Scarney) Buchanan’s father
-16-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Patrick J. Buchanan
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 3:53 pm.
Meeting with Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, Charles J. DiBona, and Henry A. Kissinger
Bull left at an unknown time before 4:40 pm.
Kissinger entered at an unknown time after 3:53 pm.
Telephone call from McGeorge Bundy
An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 3:53 pm.
Refreshments
The unknown man left at an unknown time before 4:40 pm.
Bundy
-George W. Ball
-Organizing
-Initiative
-Principles
PRC
-Kissinger’s message from President
-Visit
-Chou En-lai
-Dr. David K. E. Bruce
-Ambassador
-Chiang Kai-shek
-John H. Holdridge
Bundy
-Telephone call
Economic affairs
-Diplomatic exchange with PRC
-17-
NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Tape Subject Log
(rev. Mar.-09)
Conversation No. 413-17 (cont’d)
-Bush
-Ball
-Bruce
-Bipartisan support
-Leo Cherne
North Vietnam troops in Laos and Cambodia
-Laotian government
-US bombings
-Targets
William H. Sullivan
William J. Casey, William J. Porter [?], William P. Rogers [?]
-Skills
Kissinger left at an unknown time before 4:40 pm.
Shultz and Ehrlichman
-Talks with Haldeman
-Polls on public perception of economic issues
-August 1971 New Economic Program
-Problems
Haldeman left at 4:40 pm.