Secret White House Tapes

462–13

About this recording

462–13
  • President Richard M. Nixon
  • John B. Connally
  • Arthur F. Burns
  • George P. Shultz
  • Paul W. McCracken
  • Rose Mary Woods
  • Ronald L. Ziegler
  • Alexander P. Butterfield
March 5, 1971
Conversation No. 462-13

Date: March 5, 1971
Time: 11:06 am - 1:05 pm
Location: Oval Office
Conv. No. 462-12 (cont.)
The President met with John B. Connally, Arthur F. Burns, George P. Shultz, and Paul W.
McCracken

Greetings

President’s March 4, 1971 press conference
-President’s statement about the press

Quadriad meetings
-Format
-McCracken’s and Burns’ roles
-Format

Rolls-Royce
-White House news summary
-Lockheed
-Possible deal
-Current situation
-British government involvement
-Assessment of cost
-Connally’s statements to British ambassador
-Administration’s position
-Negotiations
-New Rolls-Royce offer
-Costs
-Guarantees
-Possible restrictions and delays
-Guarantees
-Possible Lockheed bankruptcy
-Dan [Surname unintelligible] response
-Connally’s response
-Airlines’ response
-Lockheed’s financial situation
-Connally’s actions
41

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Banks
-Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr.
-Banks, airlines, Lockheed
-George R. S. Baring [Earl of Cromer]
-Tillinghast

James S. McDonnell of McDonnell-Douglas
-Previous conversation with Connally Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-DC-10 compared with L-1011
-Lockheed
-Trans World Airlines [TWA]
-United Airlines
-Sales
-Future problems
-L-1011s
-DC-10s
-Possible merger with Lockheed
-John N. Mitchell
-President’s position
-Pratt and Whitney
-TriStar
-Financial obligations
-Subcontractors

Aircraft industry
-Outlook
-Administration policy
-Secor D. Browne
-Richard W. McLaren
-View of possible merger
-Peter M. Flanigan
-American Airlines, TWA
-Braniff
-President’s position
-Lyndon B. Johnson’s position
-Need for White House staff expert
-The President’s view
-Department of Transportation
-General Lucius DuB. Clay, Jr.
-Thomas E. Dewey
-Herbert Brownell
-Pan American Airlines’ interests
42

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Dewey
-Connally’s concerns
-Banks’ and insurance companies’ concerns
-Lockheed-Rolls-Royce merger
-Financial situation
-United, American, Eastern, TWA, and Pan American Airlines
-Profits
-Effect on Wall Street Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Thomas S. Gates, Jr.
-A possible meeting
-Flanigan’s work
-Possible need for White House expert
-Jeb Stuart Magruder
-Supersonic Transport [SST] work
-Qualifications
-Banking, insurance, airline, and Civil Aeronautics Board [CAB]
jurisdictions
-Chief executive officers
-Bert S. Cross
-Robert C. Tyson
-Clay
-Dewey
-Albert H. Smith, Jr.
-Walter N. Thayer
-Frederic G. Donner
-List of recommendations
-Shultz’s role
-Lockheed merger
-Mitchell
-McLaren
-President’s position
-Possible Connally conversations
-President’s goal
-Mitchell
-Dan [Surname unintelligible]
-Justice Department
-Possible leak

Unemployment
-Figures
-Trend
-Average work week
43

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Rates of employment
-Size of workforce
-Factors
-Figures
-Administration stance
-Public relations
-Public statements
-President’s position Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Unity
-Comparison to 1930s
-Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speeches
-Confidence
-Credibility
-McCracken, Shultz
-Confidence
-President’s position
-Roosevelt’s example
-Public statements
-Administration spokesman
-President’s comments
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Compared with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s D-Day landing
-Compared with President’s Vietnam policy
-Press position
-Bias
-Administration position
-Possible wage and price controls
-Figures
-Administration position
-Credibility
-Press
-Federal Reserve Board
-Burns
-Economic policy
-Effect of criticism
-Need for unity
-Eisenhower administration example
-Federal Reserve Board
-George T. Humphrey
-Robert B. Anderson
-Jim Bains [sp?] [?]
44

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Burns’ position
-Press
-Credibility
-President’s timing of press conferences
-President’s statement about press at March 4, 1971 press conference

Quadriad
-Relationship with the President Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Burns
-President’s relationship
-Advisory capacity
-Compared with President’s use of Henry A. Kissinger, William P. Rogers, and
National Security Council
-Response to press conference question
-Federal Reserve Board
-Burns
-Position
-Shultz
-McCracken
-Connally
-Uses
-SST testimony

SST
-President’s decision
-Burns’ position
-Testimony
-George H. Mahon’s assessment
-Connally
-Warren G. (“Maggie”) Magnuson
-William Proxmire
-Support
-Compared with Wayne Morse
-A previous filibuster
-Administration’s position
-Importance

Interest rates
-Need for a decrease
-Connally’s view
-Percentage
-M1 money supply
45

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Need for administration action
-Prime rate decrease
-Extent
-Effect
-General Motors
-Average American
-Foreign capital
-Burns’ view Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-M1 money supply
-Federal Reserve Board action
-Long-term rates
-New public offerings of corporate securities
-Trends in recent years
-Current situation
-Reasons
-Expansionary effect
-Effect on interest rates
-Federal actions
-Monetary policy
-Possible negative effect
-Banking
-Charles G. (“Bebe”) Rebozo’s view
-Effect of prosperity
-Statements by Burns and Connally
-Internal, public
-Alfred Hayes’ press conference
-New York Times
-Possible Federal actions
-Short-term rates
-Long-term rates
-Burns’ forthcoming Congressional testimony

Dupont brokerage firm
-Possible insolvency
-Connally’s previous conversations
-Gustave L. Levy of Goldman Sachs
-Bernard J. (“Bunny”) Lasker
-H. Ross Perot
-Financial support
-Connally’s efforts
-Possible Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] action
-Possible action by Burns and Connally
46

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Call from Connally to Perot
-Possible action by Perot
-SEC
-Possible actions
-Possible meeting between Perot and SEC
-Securities Investors Protection Insurance Corporation [SIPIC]
-SEC and Federal Reserve Board rules
-Violations Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-SIPIC
-Possible actions
-Burns’ view
-Connally’s forthcoming call to Perot
-Administration efforts
-President’s instructions
-Lockheed and Penn Central comparisons
-Anti-trust actions
-Shultz’s instructions
-Study
-Domestic Council review
-John D. Ehrlichman
-John W. Dean, III and Egil (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
-President’s position
-Enforcement
-Mergers
-Criteria
-Dupont family actions
-Perot’s actions
-Withdrawal of financial support
-Purpose
-Stanford University research study
-Connally’s forthcoming call to Perot

Milk price supports
-Parity level
-Clifford M. Hardin
-Importance
-Wilbur D. Mills
-Department of Agriculture, Shultz’s position
-Cost estimates
-Department of Agriculture
-Mills
-Importance
47

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Mills
-Cheese
-President’s position on parity level
-Cost estimates
-Land O’ Lakes of Sarasota, Florida
-Possible effects
-Mills
-Hubert H. Humphrey Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Mills
-Farmers’ lobby
-1970 campaign
-Compared with Congress of Industrial Organizations [CIO]
-Mills
-Cheese, school milk
-Farmers’ lobby
-Program
-Effect on textile quotas
-Government actions to date
-Cheese for school lunch program
-Office of Management and Budget [OMB] response
-Political and trade implications


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National Security]
[Duration: 58s ]


JAPAN


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

**********************************************************************


Milk price supports
-Farmers’ lobby
-Price goal
-Possible effect on production
48

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Hardin
-US consumption of dairy products
-School lunch program
-Effect on farm program, economy as a whole
-Mills
-Possible action
-Cheese and school milk program
-Possible meeting between the President and Mills Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-An anecdote
-House Ways and Means Committee
-John W. Byrnes
-Mills
-Byrnes
-Social Security and Welfare Reform
-Possible meeting between Connally and Byrnes

President’s schedule
-Nelson A. Rockefeller
-Rochester trip cancellation
-Forthcoming Evening at the White House
-Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon’s birthday party
-Invitations
-Entertainment
-Irish singers
-Irish Prime Minister [John M. (“Jack”) Lynch]
-Refreshments
-Shultz’s wife

Ireland
-Lynch
-History
-Great Britain
-Potato Famine
-Immigration to US
-View of US

Economy
-Capital expenditures
-Increases
-Trend
-Importance
-Commerce Department figures
49

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Need for credibility
-Press
-President’s relations with the press
-Statement at March 4, 1971 press conference
-Money supply
-Report by Burns
-President’s understanding
-Federal Reserve Board action Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Hayes
-President’s understanding
-Weekly figures
-President’s staff’s understanding
-Bankers’ position

President’s staff
-Kissinger and Rogers
-Need for unity
-Comparison with Johnson’s staff
-Clark M. Clifford
-Vietnam policy
-H. H. Humphrey
-Need for unity
-Teamwork
-James B. (“Scotty”) Reston
-Winston S. Churchill’s On the Eastern Front
-Lessons of World War I
-Leadership
-Austria
-Soviet Union
-Germany
-Erich F. W. Ludendorf
-Helmut von Moltke

Economy
-Quadriad
-Press comments
-President’s response
-Meetings
-Frequency of President’s contacts with individual members
-Money supply
-Connally’s testimony
-Shultz’s, McCracken’s, and Burns’ responses
50

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Wage and price increases
-Effect on individual savings
-President’s position
-Need for unity
-Burns, McCracken, Connally
-Effect
-President
-Ronald L. Ziegler Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)


**********************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[National Security]
[Duration: 3m 59s ]

MIDDLE EAST

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3

**********************************************************************

Economy
-Need for unity
-Interest rates
-Burns’ forthcoming Congressional testimony
-Connally’s response
-President’s position
-Federal Reserve Board
-Press reports
-Burns’ report to the President

President’s schedule
-Forthcoming Rockefeller meeting
-Time
-Purpose
-Revenue sharing
-Reorganization

Connally’s schedule
-Possible meeting with Rockefeller
-New York
51

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)




Burns and McCracken left at 12:47 pm

-Possible press briefing

Rose Mary Woods entered at an unknown time after 12:47 pm

Evening at the White House Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Invitations
-Cabinet members
-Mr. and Mrs. Burns
-McCracken
-Connally

Woods left at an unknown time before 1:00 pm

Ziegler entered at an unknown time after 12:47 pm

Unemployment
-July 1
-Press coverage
-James D. Hodgson’s statement
-Post-Quadriad briefing
-Press questions
-Connally’s possible statement
-Compared with confirmation testimony
-Connally’s role
-Compared with confirmation testimony
-New plant and equipment figures
-Shultz’s view
-Tone, content
-Shultz’s view
-President’s view

Ziegler left at an unknown time before 1:00 pm

Burns
-Actions
-Effect on Administration
-Shultz
-Position
-Interest rates discussion
52

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-President’s demeanor

Building trades
-Agreements
-Davis-Bacon Act
-Acceptance prospects
-Administration follow-up
-Possible problems Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Wage and price freeze
-Possible labor response
-Davis-Bacon Act
-Wage and price controls
-President’s position

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 1:00 pm

President’s schedule

Butterfield left at 1:02 pm

Milk price supports
-Shultz’s preparation
-Mills
-Administration position
-Possible announcement
-Effect
-Department of Agriculture
-President’s position
-Political implications
-Compared to steel
-Connally’s view
-Farmers
-Importance
-Parity levels
-Importance compared to other industries
-Grain negotiations with Great Britain
-Connally’s conversation with Hardin
-President’s position
-Cheese

President’s schedule
-Rockefeller meeting
53

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 9/08)



-Shultz’s attendance

Connally’s schedule
-Hardin
-New job
-Confirmation testimony
-A party in New York
-John Loeb [?] Conv. No. 462-13 (cont.)
-Rockefeller

Connally and Shultz left at 1:05 pm
Secret White House Tapes |

462–13

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