Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 39 › Conversation 039-073

Nixon phone call with Bull on Watergate and John W. Dean III

Monday, June 4, 1973 · 1:49 PM–1:55 PM ET · White House Telephone · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.Conversation039-073 on Tape 39StartMonday, June 4, 1973 at 1:49 PMEndMonday, June 4, 1973 at 1:55 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 039-073 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon consulted with Stephen B. Bull to coordinate and compile a detailed chronology of his past meetings and interactions with John W. Dean III. The President directed Bull to gather records specifically pertaining to March 1973, prioritizing in-person meetings over telephone logs to aid in his personal review of events. Nixon intended to spend the afternoon examining these files to reconcile his own recollection with the official administrative records.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yes, sir.
Steve Ball.
Ziegler said he gave up the Hague.
He's got the figures.
Yes, sir.
And I have it now, and I have April 16th.
I'm just trying to find the meetings for you, and I'm bringing them right over.
I have the bill for the 16th.
All right.
I'll bring that over.
All right.
Steve, I'm really more interested in the, rather than the 16th, I'm really more interested in the days before that.
So while you're
I'd rather not bother with that right now.
All right, sir.
The 16th, because my recollection on that one is good.
So why don't you try to find, or can you do that?
Find the guy and run over the other meetings with me, will you?
You've got your list in front of you.
All right, sir.
I have an entry here starting with about March 1st.
March 1st, we've done.
All right.
We've finished.
See you there.
I'll go through all the contacts you have.
Not the telephone, just the others.
March 6th.
March 2nd there was something, wasn't there?
They did the press conference.
You have no record.
Now I'm double checking with the records.
Well, I might not have had something.
Go ahead.
March 2nd.
March 6th is the next one now.
March 6th, yes.
Yeah.
All right.
Do you want that one?
Yeah, if you could find out how long is that.
It's about a half hour.
Right.
March, then what after that?
And then March 7th for about 15 minutes.
Right.
March 8th for approximately five minutes.
Right.
March 10th, oh I'm sorry, that was telephone.
That was an extended telephone call, however, from Camp David.
About a 22 minute call.
Yes, sir.
Would you like that?
Yeah, you can get that for me.
Right here.
Next one is March 13th.
And that's a long one.
An hour and a quarter.
And Bob was present briefly.
Yeah.
Okay.
And March 14th.
You had, well, there was a meeting.
It was the day of the press conference, I think.
Oh, no, the 15th was the press conference, yeah.
The press conference was the 15th, wasn't it, Steve?
I'm just looking through here.
March.
Sir, the 15th was your press conference.
Right, right.
The 15th, how long was that?
It appears to be about 40 minutes.
Right.
Go ahead.
Right through the 15th, you met after the press conference.
With him and Moore.
And Moore.
That's right.
That's correct.
Okay.
And then we go on to the 16th again, where you had a meeting in the morning and a telephone call at night.
And March 17th.
You meant for about three quarters of an hour in the afternoon.
Yeah.
Get the March ones over.
Hold the telephone calls till later.
I may have them done.
All right.
That's another way.
Okay.
Can you get some March ones now?
Yes, sir.
Or can he dig those out?
Yes, we can.
Fine.
No, I can give you.
I don't want the April one.
I want to do it last.
We'll do April last.
We'll start with March 6th then.
Get that.
All right.
So anything in March.
I don't care whether it's the 6th or whatever it is.
Fine.
All right.
And then get that piled up for me because I'm going to work all afternoon on this.
Okay.
Very good, sir.
Bye.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On June 4, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 1:49 pm to 1:55 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 039-073 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 39-73

Date: June 4, 1973
Time: 1:49 pm - 1:55 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Stephen B. Bull.

[See also Conversation No. 442-23]

       Watergate
             -White House tapes
                    -Chronology of President’s conversations with John W. Dean, III
                           -Ronald L. Ziegler and Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
                    -Conversations with Dean
                           -Meeting, April 16
                           -Meetings, March 1, March 6, March 7, March 8
                           -Telephone call, March 10
                                   -Camp David
                           -Meeting, March 13
                                   -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman’s presence
                           -Meeting, March 14
                                   -Cabinet meeting
                           -Meeting, March 15
                                   -Press conference
                                   -Richard A. Moore
                           -March 16
                                   -Meeting, phone call
                           -Meeting, March 17
                           -Telephone calls
                    -President’s review
                                             -56-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                              Conversation No. 39-72 (cont’d)

Also recorded on June 4, 1973

  • 442-023 1:49 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:49 pm to 1:55 pm.
  • 039-074 1:55 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 1:55 pm and 1:58 pm.
  • 442-024 1:55 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:55 pm and 1:58 pm.
  • 442-025 1:55 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:55 pm and 1:58 pm.
  • 039-075 1:58 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 1:58 pm to 2:00 pm.
  • 442-026 1:58 PM · 57 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:58 pm to 2:00 pm.
  • 039-076 2:00 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:00 pm and 2:27 pm.
  • 442-027 2:00 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:00 pm and 2:27 pm.

All 103 conversations from June 4, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 039-073, June 4, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/039-073 (accessed October 1, 2026).