887–26

Conversation No. 887-26

Date: March 22, 1973
Time: Unknown between 4:05 pm and 5:00 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with George P. Shultz and John D. Ehrlichman.
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)



US-Canada relations
-Shultz’s contact with John H. Turner


****************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 5s]

CANADA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
****************************************************************************


-Trade
-Wilbur D. Mills speech
-Peter M. Flanigan
-Committee on International Economic Policy [CIEP]
-Annual report
-Shultz’s call to Turner
-Canada’s cabinet meeting


****************************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
[National security]
[Duration: 28s]

CANADA

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2
****************************************************************************


-Turner’s attendance at Canada’s cabinet meeting

Economy
 -36-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Shultz’s trip to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Shultz’s impressions on USSR’s leadership
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Manner, personality

An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 4:05 pm.

Refreshment

The unknown man left and Steven B. Bull entered at an unknown time before 5:00 pm.

Arthur F. Burns

President's schedule
-Flight to Florida
-Delay

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:00 pm.

Wage and price controls
-Inflation problems
-Meeting of economic advisors
-Reports
-Herbert Stein, Burns
-John T. Dunlop
-Roy L. Ash
-Administrations plans
-Formulation
-Implementation
-Public concern
-Food prices
-Dunlop
-Stein
-Support for current policies
-Ezra Solomon
-Support for price freeze
-William E. Simon
-Contracts with business
-Phase III
 -37-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Current problems
-Phase III compared with Phase II
-Food prices
-International scope
-Travel
-Perspective
-Shultz's opposition to controls
-Discussion at Camp David
-Problem of ending controls
-Meetings with President
-Economic advisors
-Scheduling
-California
-Current problems
-Solutions
-Partial freeze
-Controls
-Opposition
-Raw agricultural products
-Prices
-International scope
-Burns
-Support for Phase III
-Interest rates
-Work on budget
-Proposals
-Pre-notification of price increases
-90-day price freeze
-Return to Phase I
-August 1971 comparison
-Economic state
-Excess capacity
-Political advantages
-Price freeze
-Long-range problems
-Consumer demand
-Inflation
-Belief in markets
-Political impact
 -38-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Food prices
-Significance
-Business community
-Raw agricultural products
-Labor-Management Advisory Committee
-Meeting
-President's presence
-Proposals
-Labor
-Opposition to Phase I
-Wage controls
-George Meany
-Attitude toward inflation
-President's meeting with labor leaders
-Timing
-Reaction to recent price rises
-Miami, Florida
-Wholesale price index
-Labor
-Meeting with President
-Scheduling
-Location
-Labor-Management Advisory Committee
-Commission on Industrial Peace [?]
-Dunlop
-Frank E. Fitzsimmons
-Transportation
-James D. Hodgson
-Shultz's attendance
-President’s role
-Charles W. Colson's attendance
-Problem
-Purpose
-Colson
-Work with labor leaders
-Conflict with Meany
-Closeness to administration

Pennsylvania Central Railroad
 -39-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Congressional act
-Strike limitations
-Administration proposals on bankruptcy
-Study group
-Claude S. Brinegar, Simon, Kenneth W. Dam
-Proposals
-Federal government’s role
-Private solution
-Administration proposal
-Retention of efficient lines
-Identification and separation as new corporation
-Profitable operation
-Old claims
-Labor
-Source of cash
-Selling stock
-Report for President
-Federal government operation
-Study group
-Expertise
-Simon
-Uneconomical portions
-Sale
-Judge's decision on assets
-Responsibility
-Recommendations to Congress
-Big business
-Economic support

Congressional relations
-Shultz’s meeting with Mills
-Future cooperation
-Meet the Press appearance
-Transcript
-Tax reform
-Trade
-International monetary system
-Shultz’s call
-Mills’s unpredictability
 -40-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)



Economy
-Meany
-Shultz's call
-Fitzsimmons [?]
-President's opposition to wage controls
-Farmers
-Farm subsidies
-Administrative proposals
-Farmers’ Congress members
-Problems
-Budget vetoes
-Votes
-Trade
-Shultz's testimony on taxes and trade
-Briefing of Congress
-Work with Mills
-International monetary reform
-Shultz’s meeting with Anthony Barker
-Trade
-Energy
-Foreign leaders
-Valery Giscard d'Estaing
-Helmut H. W. Schmidt, Barber
-Political influence
-Meetings
-Location
-Treasury Department
-White House
-Camp David
-Timing
-Location
-White House
-Anatoliy F. Dobrynin
-Arrangements
-Lunch
-Entry to White House
-Privacy
-President's presence
 -41-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Location
-Tax credits for private education
-Refundability
-Shultz's support
-Ways and Means bill
-Opposition
-Constitutional question
-Tax deduction
-Political dimensions
-Burden on Congress
-Reaction of Catholics
-Equity issues

Eleanor Roosevelt
-Elliott Roosevelt
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Lucy Mercer, Missy Lee Hand
-Number of children
-Birth control

Economic issues
-Tax credits for private education
-Burden on Congress
-Political consideration
-Burden on Supreme Court
-Simon
-Shultz
-Areas of responsibility
-Taxes
-Wage and price controls
-Phase III
-Trade
-Labor Department
-Welfare
-Family Assistance Plan
-Negative income tax
-Herman Kahn
-Great Britain’s reforms
-Solutions
 -42-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Great Britain’s reforms
-Pennsylvania Central Railroad
-Shultz
-Areas of responsibility
-Priorities
-Amount of work
-Taxes trade
-Phase III
-Commerce Department
-Frederick B. Dent
-Capabilities
-Golf
-Meeting with Meany
-Meeting with Fitzsimmons
-Assignments
-Shultz's administrative role
-Helmut (“Hal”) Sonnenfeldt
-Henry A. Kissinger's office
-Knowledge of Europe trade
-International monetary situation
-Knowledge of languages
-Russian
-German
-French
-Sonnenfeldt
-Work with Shultz
-Personality
-Conflicts with Kissinger
-Intelligence
-Natural gas deal with USSR
-Sonnenfeldt
-Kissinger
-Competence
-USSR summit
-Work with Kissinger
-Work with Shultz
-Simon
-Intelligence
 -43-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


Personnel appointments
-Treasury Department
-General Counsel
-Edward C. Schmults
-Intelligence
-George D. Webster
-Possible appointment
-Shultz’s reaction
-Record with labor
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
-Meany
-Labor opposition
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

Henry Kearns
-Resignation from Export - Import Bank
-Replacement
-Kearn's recommendation
-[First name unknown] Larsen
-Background
-San Francisco law firm
-Ivy League
-Kearns's opinion
Pierre-Paul Schweitzer
-Reappointment to International Monetary Fund [IMF]
-Other candidates
-Shultz's recommendation
-Appointment length
-Other candidates
-Europeans
-Post
-Importance
-Relationship with president
-Kissinger

President's trip to Florida
-Return
-Demonstration
-Jewish Defense League
 -44-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Miami

Economic policy
-Phase III
-Problems
-Shultz’s meetings with Stein, Dunlop and Burns
-Labor-Management Advisory Committee
-Proposals
-President's judgment
-Criteria
-Political implications
-Labor
-Congressional relations
-Stock market
-Editorials
-Finance and business people
-Public relations problems
-Shultz as spokesman
-Statements and controls
-Repetition on Phase II
-Lack of confidence in program
-Europe
-Great Britain
-Labor relations
-Strikes
-Spirit of confrontation
-Inflation
-Comparison with US
-Economy
-Avoidance of class warfare
-Political costs
-Labor settlements
-Food prices
-Complaints
-Problems
-Need for action
-Public relations considerations
-Food price freeze
-Next month's figures
 -45-

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Tape Subject Log
(rev. July-2010)
Conversation No. 887-26 (cont’d)


-Firing of economists
-Food prices
-Kansas City
-Increases in basic commodities
-Earl L. Butz
-Report to President

Shultz's trip
-Press briefing
-Call to Turner
-Talk with Mills
-Dollar

Shultz and Ehrlichman left at an unknown time before 5:00 pm.