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    "title": "WHSF: Contested, 3-32",
    "description": "This file contains:\n\nFrom Colson to George Shultz RE: Jim Suffridge and the attempt to win over prominent labor leaders. 2 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], 9/21/1971\n\nFrom George T. Bell to Colson RE: Suffridge's advice on how to cultivate labor support for RN. 1 pg. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], 9/20/1971",
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    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/1445/26144547/content/presidential-libraries/nixon/RN-RET/2546065/Contested-Box-3/Contested-03-32.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "Richard Nixon Presidential Library\nContested Materials Collection\nFolder List\nBox Number\nFolder Number\nDocument Date\nNo Date\nSubject\nDocument Type\nDocument Description\n3\n32\n9/21/1971\nCampaign\nMemo\nFrom Colson to George Shultz RE: Jim\nSuffridge and the attempt to win over\nprominent labor leaders. 2 pgs.\n3\n32\n9/20/1971\nCampaign\nMemo\nFrom George T. Bell to Colson RE:\nSuffridge's advice on how to cultivate labor\nsupport for RN. 1 pg.\nMonday, October 18, 2010\nPage 1 of 1\nEYES ONLY\nSeptember 21, 1971\nMEMORANDUM FOR:\nGEORGE SHULTZ\nFROM:\nCHARLES COLSON\nSUBJECT:\nJim Suffridge\nAttached is the memo that I referred to during our 8:15\nmeeting this morning. Suffridge is a very level-headed\nfellow and that is what disturbs me most about the memo.\nJim is usually very low key. According to George, he\nwas very forthright and came on very strong.\nI am not entirely satisfied that George has the right approach.\nI am completely satisfied, however, that we are not doing\nthe job properly at the moment with respect to labor. I'm\nnot talking now about substantive matters, I am talking strictly\nabout political cultivation.\nWhat is apparently most troublesome is that Suffridge had\nsome very confidential discussion with us about the possibility\nof his coming on board. You will remember that you and I\ntalked about this sometime ago. I was never able to get Hodgson\nor Usery to agree to it but apparently Usery let someone at the\nAFL-CIO Headquarters know that Suffridge was interested.\nThis was the one thing Suffridge asked us not to do and I gather\nit has greatly hurt his effectiveness within the AFL-CIO Councils\nunderstandable so, particularly now.\nAs we head into the campaign we are going to need some people,\neither here or at 1701, who can really work extensively in the\npolitical cultivation of labor leaders. I don't think I have ever\nsucceeded in getting Hodgson and Usery and understand that\nthere is an important distinction between their substantive rela-\ntionships with labor leaders and our political relationships. The\n2.\nattached memo simply highlights the problem and it is one that\nI think you and I should discuss to see if we can't get it resolved\nto everyone's satisfaction.\nI would prefer that you not send a copy of George's memo to\nanyone, especially to Labor in view of the comments about\nHodgson. I might add, by the way, from the contacts I have\nhad that Suffridge is in no way overstating the case with respect\nto Hodgson.\nMEMORANDUM\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nWASHINGTON\nSeptember 20, 1971\nMEMORANDUM FOR:\nCHARLES W. COLSON\nSUBJECT:\nContact with Organized Labor\nI talked to Jim Suffridge this morning about getting\norganized for the campaign, about which I will submit\na separate memorandum. Jim immediately took off,\nhowever, on our situation with organized labor in a\nway which was uniquely forthright in contrast with\nhis usual round-about approach, and made the following\npoints:\n1.\nOur relationship with labor leadership has\nsteadily deteriorated and is now at an all-\ntime low. Even Lee Minton who is not reluctant\nto stand up and be a Republican has taken off\non the President very severely. Jim feels our\ncommunication with labor has been badly muffed.\n2.\nThere seems to be too many fingers in the pie,\nno coordination and no security. Jim said he\nhad been burned up and embarrassed that our\ndiscussions regarding his coming aboard as\nliaison with labor had been thrown in his face\nfrom those at 16th Street, who apparently heard\nabout it he thinks from Bill Usery.\n3.\nPolitically, the Secretary is totally lost to us\nwith the leadership and can be of no help whatso-\never. Bill Usery is a nice guy, wants to be\nfriendly to everyone, but should not be utilized\npolitically.\n4.\nThere must be continuous contact with top labor\nleaders from the White House, and the President\nshould make more calls. Someone should be invit-\ning every one of the leaders to lunch, visiting with\nthem, and getting their views. They cannot be won\nover, but they become less violent and even\nneutralized.\n-2-\n5.\nHe is very discouraged and feels we are headed\nfor further unnecessary trouble.\nI could be helpful by doing the same type of thing I\nhave done with Fitzsimmons, if I were given in-house\n(no public) annointment, the mandate were recognized\nby the Labor Department, and we had an agreed-upon\nstrategy. I, or no one else, can do it on a hit-and-\nmiss basis and without overall mandate and coordina-\ntion. Actually, this is a suggestion from Jim Suffridge,\nwho feels Hodgson is irretrievable, Shultz has other\nduties, you are involved, but that I am (he thinks)\nunemcumbered and could relate diplomatically with these\npeople.\nAs you know, I have long felt we could do better in\ncommunicating with organized labor. I believe our need\nhas come to a climax; so for the past days I have been\nexploring the matter and trying to put other things\naside. This weekend I started formulating a plan\nwhereby through the RNC and the 1701 operation we could\nstart working directly with local leadership and the\nrank and file. I am turning in this direction, because\nI feel our program with the top leaders has come to\nsomething of a grinding halt. I will have the memo\nready for you shortly regarding the local approach,\nbut wanted to relay to you at once Suffridge's comments,\nwhich certainly jibe with my own feelings, in hope that\nwe can tackle the national leadership problem and do\nsomething about it. Suffridge feels it will be much\nmore difficult now than it would have been 6 months ago,\nbut that we have not quite reached the point of no\nreturn. Can we bite the bullet?\nGeorge T. Bell"
}