Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 77 › Conversation 077-005

Bull on White House facilities and Cabinet Room

Friday, September 24, 1971 · 11:03 AM–9:29 PM ET · Cabinet Room · 6 min

ParticipantsBull, Stephen B.; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation077-005 on Tape 77StartFriday, September 24, 1971 at 11:03 AMEndFriday, September 24, 1971 at 9:29 PMRecording deviceCabinet RoomSourceNixon Library record for 077-005 ↗

AI Summary

Stephen B. Bull met with maintenance or facilities personnel in the Cabinet Room to coordinate necessary floor refinishing work. The primary concern involved managing the project schedule around the President's availability to avoid exposing occupants to the strong, noxious odors associated with the chemical finishing process. Ultimately, the group decided to postpone the refinishing until a time when the Cabinet Room would not be in use by the President or staff.

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
There ain't no other floor over there with bare wood.
Here.
Like this.
See this?
You can see it off to here.
Something like that.
It's going to take a long day.
We'll say this is what we were checking on.
We know there isn't any security problem.
We're going to find out if the president has scheduled.
What kind of odor will there be?
A lot of odor.
Okay, just hold up a second.
A lot of odor.
Maybe I'll wait until the weekend.
Yeah, maybe so.
We better find out.
There's got to be a lot of odor.
A lot of noxious odor, too.
Okay.
Because they won't be able to sit in there with that order and they won't be able to eat.
They're coming back in two hours.
You know they're going to take all I get.
We should have done it.
I've told you before we should have done that one over there.
Yeah.
Back over there.
Yeah.
When we was doing these two.
Oh, these.
Oh, they're all good, man.
Oh, that needs to work.
Yeah, they know.
They're seeing the mark.
I know.
I'll tell you.
We got a little bit down there, too, at the fireplace, I don't know.
I suppose there's some scratches down here.
There's scratches here in front of those doors.
Yeah, I'm doing it.
And it's all waxed up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's stained, isn't it?
It's shiny.
Well, if you didn't stain it, it wouldn't get all the wax.
Yeah, that might do it.
Yeah.
There's nothing over on that side of it.
It makes scratches.
Yeah.
That's what I said before.
I don't know why they passed it down.
Because, oh, we was at it.
We should have gone along with it.
It was great at that.
It was good.
It was good.
It was good.
It was good.
It was good.
It was good.
It was good.
Yeah, it's all right.
Yeah, it looks good.
It makes you stand out.
Yeah, it makes you stand out and still not enough.
It makes it look like it's actually laid on there.
Yeah, like it's supposed to.
Yeah.
Can it be done?
Can we sleep?
Tomorrow?
We've got a long weekend.
He's here today.
The President's here today.
Right.
I think that's long.
No, we've got to put it off until Monday.
It has to be done today.
Well, it doesn't have to be.
You know, the president comes first.
Right.
We prefer to do this on Monday.
At least he will not be here on Monday.
We can't.
We won't be here on Monday.
He's going to be here on Monday.
We can't do it tomorrow.
I'd rather not do it today.
It's going to be obnoxious.
Let's put it off.
It's because other people don't like it.
I know they won't like it.
Okay.
Okay, sir.
Take care of that.
Yeah, tomorrow or Monday, huh?
Okay, sir.
We thought he had left last night.
So we got the wrong...
I know we started it with that stinking stuff and it ain't like...
We don't know.
We don't know.
We don't know.
Okay, we'll come back.
We'll come back tomorrow night.
Sometimes he's going to be here tomorrow night.
Okay, so okay then.
I wish we could do that before you guys started talking over there.
Yeah.

NARA Description

On September 24, 1971, Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 11:03 am and 9:29 pm. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 077-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 77-5

Date: September 24, 1971

Time: Unknown between 11:03 am and 9:29 pm
Location: Cabinet Room

Stephen B. Bull met with unknown men

     The Cabinet Room
          -Floor
               -Quality
               -Refinishing requirements
                    -Schedule
                          -The East Room
                          -The President’s schedule
               -The President’s schedule
                    -Departure on morning of September 25, 1971
               -Refinishing Schedule

Bull and the unknown men left at an unknown time before 9:29 pm

Also recorded on September 24, 1971

  • 578-004 9:52 AM · 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John B. Connally, and Arthur F. Burns met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:52 am to 10:29 am.
  • 077-003 9:53 AM · 7 min — George P. Shultz, Milton Friedman, and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:53 am and 11:03 am.
  • 077-006 9:53 AM · 43 sec — Manolo Sanchez [?] and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 9:53 am and 3:15 pm.
  • 578-005 10:33 AM · 1 hr 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Milton Friedman, George P. Shultz, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:33 am to 11:44 am.
  • 578-006 11:44 AM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and William M. Magruder met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:44 am to 12:05 pm.
  • 578-007 12:05 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:05 pm and 12:07 pm.
  • 578-008 12:07 PM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Melvin R. Laird, Brig. Gen. Cunningham C. Bryant, Brig. Gen. Benjamin L. Hunton, Adm. Rear Adm. Samuel Gravely, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:07 pm to 12:23 pm.
  • 578-009 12:23 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Michael ("White Antelope") Naranjo, Mrs. Larry Underwood, and Donald E. Johnson met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:23 pm to 12:32 pm.

All 27 conversations from September 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 077-005, September 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/077-005 (accessed October 23, 2026).