Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 80 › Conversation 080-003
Bull on White House administration and Presidential staff
Tuesday, October 19, 1971 · 12:33 PM–11:59 PM ET · Cabinet Room · 11 min
AI Summary
Stephen B. Bull met with unknown individuals to conduct a tour of the White House complex and discuss the operational details of his role as a presidential aide. During the interaction, Bull provided insights into his background as a campaign advance man and explained his professional responsibilities, which he described as a civilian counterpart to a military aide. The discussion included a review of key administrative figures, the President's schedule, and the importance of familiarizing himself with core White House staff and Cabinet members.
Audio
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080b.mp3
Transcript (AI-generated)
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Good morning.
Good morning.
How are you?
Nice to see you.
How are you?
Nice to see you.
How are you?
Nice to see you.
Nice to see you.
Nice to see you.
Nice to see you.
Nice to see you.
Uh, would you like a cup of coffee?
You got up pretty early this morning, didn't you?
Well, come over here.
I think you're going to like it.
Well, that's it.
It's a little exciting to see him, although today it's a relatively loose day, which is kind of good.
He just finished up a good job.
Well, they're going to be just in front of us right now.
And instead of the rest of the day, we'll see the Prime Minister soon on.
They'll arrive to the appropriate event very rapidly with a cordon of troops on that driveway there.
What I thought we could probably do is
I get rolling on the sewer right away.
But particularly the White House complex, because it's more than just one part .
Yeah, let's go.
Yeah, it's the road start down here.
I wasn't going to bring in Mike Stewart, Mike Farrell to just see.
I'm going to prepare a cigarette.
That's your office.
Yeah.
the affidavit.
And, you know, for you to look at.
You know, I was thinking, the pictures that you gave, remember when I asked you, I said, were you there at every particular time?
Only one.
I was not with the Pope.
The Pope.
That's what you said.
Right.
And that's the modest air I had there.
That's right.
And we're happy with that.
We can put in a different picture.
Have you ever gone, well... No, I haven't done any of the partnerships.
You haven't done any of the...
I look forward to more trips to get out of the way.
Oh, I see.
What do you do when the president is away?
I step out a little bit.
Uh-huh.
I think so.
How many days a week do you work?
Usually about six.
Oh, you do?
Can I ask you how the party came about, or how you established your relationship?
Well, I worked during the campaign.
So the need of absence from the company to work on the campaign started in July of 68, intending to go back and have the opportunity to find that agency.
Did you work as an advanced man?
I was an advanced man under Mitchell or?
Well, really, it was under the campaign of Eric Zink,
Theoretically, Hunter, you turn general, or you can transition from that side, but that direction is where you're going.
You're off the overall campaign strategy versus your partners.
Yeah.
We have separate advance operations, and we can go into that in more detail.
Did someone in the Johnson & Kennedy administration have the same job, or do you have the same job as someone in the Kennedy administration?
To a certain extent, yes.
And to a certain extent, no.
Well, in a more substantive
would have been a king of town.
Right.
So he was involved in Kennedy.
Right.
But he was involved in policy, and I withdraw myself from any sort of substantive area here at the White House.
I'll try to get you a better job description later on.
Well, of course, you're in the personal area.
More or less, to the extent that if you talk about it in aid, it might relate to the military aid, or it's the aid aid.
There are four of us.
Describe my job.
Describe it as a civilian counterpart to military aid.
But that is totally accurate.
It's his.
It draws a parallel.
More or less as well, his appointments and execution, his activities.
working in construction sometimes with military agents, and they work with us.
Do you report to home?
Yes.
What's his first name?
Bob.
Now if you ask the material for it, it's a brief biographical material in all forms, and with which you might want to familiarize yourself.
It's the basic things like president's board, and .
That's true.
Yeah.
I don't think anyone really knows his birthday is January 1913.
But he's 15 years old and just basic stuff like that.
Also have a list of cabinet members which you should probably know.
And I think you know most of them if you're a couple of the stairs in there.
Yeah.
And then you've got Rochelle Johnson and Ambassador Kennedy.
That's right.
And this is a key white house plant that I'd either like you to meet sometimes during the day, or at least one of those driver functions is where they are physically, you know, they shouldn't press themselves.
And these are basically balls and harlot and kissers in their time.
That's going to be probably where it's going to be.
And it's actually going to be this.
And, uh, I'm sure I can get it one Saturday night.
Excuse me just a second.
Thanks for watching!
NARA Description
On October 19, 1971, Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:33 pm and 11:59 pm. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 080-003 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 80-3
Date: October 19, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:33 pm and 11:59 pm
Location: Cabinet Room
Stephen B. Bull met with unknown people
Introductions
Beverage
The President’s schedule
-Congressional leadership meeting
-Prime Minister of Ceylon
-Fanfare
Tour of the White House complex
-Beverage inquiry
-Rose Garden
-Tour
******************************************************************************
[Previous non-historical (H) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 08/19/2019. Segment
cleared for release.]
[Non-Historical]
[080-003-w001]
[Duration: 1m 28s]
Tour of White House complex
-Backgrounds of speakers
-Garden City, New York
-Hempstead, New York
-Great Neck, New York
******************************************************************************
******************************************************************************
[Previous PRMPA Federal Statute (A) withdrawal. This segment was rereviewed 08/19/2019
with new guidance. Segment cleared for release.]
[Federal Statute]
[080-003-w002]
[Duration: 10s]
Alarm
-Sound
******************************************************************************
[Unintelligible]
Bull’s duties
-Affidavit
-Photographs
-Pope
-Foreign trips
-The President’s schedule
-Explanation of job selection
-Campaign
-Advance man
-John N. Mitchell
-Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy Administrations
-Kenneth P. O’Donnell
-Kennedy
-Policy
-Civilian counterpart to military aide
-H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
-Biographical data
-Cabinet members
-Donald H. Rumsfeld
-George P. Shultz
-Ambassador David M. Kennedy
-White House staff
-Haldeman
-John D. Ehrlichman
-Henry A. Kissinger
Bull left at an unknown time before 11:59 pm
******************************************************************************
[Previous non-historical (H) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 08/19/2019. Segment
cleared for release.]
[Non-Historical]
[080-003-w003]
[Duration: 1m 26s]
Conversation with unknown person
Request for more information
******************************************************************************
Recording was cut off at an unknown time before 11:59 pmAlso recorded on October 19, 1971
- 596-008 12:23 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:23 pm.
- 596-009 12:23 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:23 pm.
- 596-023 12:23 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. V. Meares, Sylvia Lawry, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:23 pm and 12:30 pm.
- 596-010 12:30 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:30 pm and 12:31 pm.
- 596-011 12:31 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Ross Tomkins, Charlton (Rink) ("Rink") Reynders, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:31 pm to 12:33 pm.
- 596-012 12:33 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:33 pm and 12:36 pm.
- 596-013 12:36 PM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, White House operator, Richard H. Poff, and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:36 pm to 12:53 pm.
- 011-128 12:42 PM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard H. Poff talked on the telephone from 12:42 pm to 12:43 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 080-003, October 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/080-003 (accessed October 12, 2026).