{"conversationCode":"031-073","tapeNumber":31,"conversationNumber":73,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-031-073","startDateTime":"1972-10-16T20:53:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-10-16T20:59:00.000Z","startDate":"16-Oct-1972","startTime":"4:53 PM","endDate":"16-Oct-1972","endTime":"4:59 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; White House operator;","description":"On October 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 4:59 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-073 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":4,"chronRelease":"Fourth Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"10-Dec-2003","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 31-73\n\nDate: October 16, 1972\nTime: Unknown between 4:53 pm and 4:59 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nStephen B. Bull talked with the White House operator. Bull conferred with the President during\nthe telephone call.\n\n        The President's telephone call requests\n            -Calls completed\n            -Number of switchboard operators\n            -Instructions on handling calls","filename":["031-073.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Bull, Stephen B.","White House operator"],"prevCode":"031-072","nextCode":"031-074","transcript":[{"start":9.8,"end":10.8,"text":"Yes, Steve."},{"start":10.82,"end":11.53,"text":"Yes, this is Steve."},{"start":11.59,"end":13.23,"text":"How are you coming with the president's calls?"},{"start":26.91,"end":28.91,"text":"They've only come through with four so far, Mr. President."},{"start":29.29,"end":30.05,"text":"I think it's just four."},{"start":30.07,"end":31.35,"text":"They reported just a moment ago."},{"start":42.83,"end":45.02,"text":"There's three girls working on it."},{"start":45.24,"end":45.74,"text":"All right."},{"start":45.76,"end":47.91,"text":"Just pile them all up, please, and just hold them on the line."},{"start":48.01,"end":48.27,"text":"All right."},{"start":48.48,"end":48.94,"text":"Thank you."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon consulted with Stephen B. Bull regarding the status and efficiency of his incoming telephone calls. They discussed the current progress of the switchboard operations and the limited number of operators currently processing his communications. Nixon directed Bull to hold all incoming calls in a queue rather than forwarding them individually.","topics":["White House communications","Switchboard operations","Presidential scheduling","Call management"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T03:52:42.702Z"},"topicSlugs":["white-house-communications","switchboard-operations","presidential-scheduling","call-management"],"audioDurationSec":54,"audioFiles":[{"file":"031-073.mp3","bytes":1299016,"durationSec":54.05,"bitrate":192256,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:28.233Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/031-073.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-073","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/31/conversation-031-073","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}