{"conversationCode":"351-013","tapeNumber":351,"conversationNumber":13,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-351-013","startDateTime":"1972-08-01T18:50:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-08-01T19:04:00.000Z","startDate":"1-Aug-1972","startTime":"2:50 PM","endDate":"1-Aug-1972","endTime":"3:04 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose Mary; Bull, Stephen B.;","description":"On August 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:50 pm to 3:04 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 351-013 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":4,"chronRelease":"Fourth Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"10-Dec-2003","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 351-13\n\nDate: August 1, 1972\nTime: 2:50 pm - 3:04 pm\n\n                                        (rev. Mar-02)\n\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President met with Rose Mary Woods.\n\n     Greetings\n\n     Items to discuss\n          -Woods's meeting with William R. Codus\n                 -Understandings\n                      -Visitors\n\n     George C. Wallace\n         -The President's offer of film, Sunrise at Campobello\n               -Staff member\n               -The President’s instructions to H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman\n                    -Paul Fisher\n               -Warren L. (“Bill”) Gulley\n\n     Elmer H. Bobst\n         -Call to Woods\n         -Capital punishment\n                -Possible message to Congress\n                -Hijackers, kidnappers\n                -Kidnapping case\n                     -Minneapolis\n                -John D. Ehrlichman\n\n     Crime\n         -Kidnapping\n              -Case\n              -Probable sentence for kidnapper\n\n     Capital punishment\n          -Opposition\n                -Reasons\n                     -Woods’s maid’s view\n                     -Rebuttal by Woods\n                -Treatment of criminals\n          -Arthur H. Bremer\n\n*****************************************************************\n\nBEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1\n\n                                        (rev. Mar-02)\n\n[Personal returnable]\n[Duration: 3m 35s ]\n\nEND WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1\n\n*****************************************************************\n\nStephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 2:50 pm.\n\n     Meeting with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.\n\n     Photograph opportunity at 4:00 pm\n          -[Paul Horst]\n          -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon\n\nBull left at an unknown time before 3:04 pm.\n\n*****************************************************************\n\nBEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n[Personal returnable]\n[Duration: 1m 31s ]\n\nEND WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 2\n\n*****************************************************************\n\n     John N. and Martha (Beall) Mitchell\n          -Rita [?] [Surname unknown]\n          -Republican National Committee\n\n     International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] scandal\n          -Watergate\n                -John Mitchell\n                      -Stress\n          -Martha Mitchell’s health\n                -Rita [?] [Surname unknown] comments\n                      -John Mitchell’s concern\n\n                                        (rev. Mar-02)\n\n     The President’s schedule\n          -Haig\n                -Executive Office Building [EOB]\n\nWoods left at 3:04 pm.","filename":["351-013.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Woods, Rose Mary","Bull, Stephen B."],"prevCode":"351-012","nextCode":"351-014","transcript":[{"start":1.25,"end":24.14,"text":"Hi."},{"start":24.16,"end":24.84,"text":"I just have a couple of questions."},{"start":24.86,"end":29.32,"text":"I was talking to Bill Coates about, and he understands fully, you know, trying to keep everybody busy, and he also understands the need to keep all the good news coming and all of that."},{"start":29.34,"end":29.46,"text":"Right."},{"start":29.48,"end":29.58,"text":"Sure."},{"start":31.33,"end":48.86,"text":"And I guess maybe somebody else might be working on it, but Miss Hyatt said Wallace and Spence did call him and said he would like to see that movie that you mentioned, Sunrise at Camp Abel."},{"start":48.88,"end":49.18,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":49.84,"end":52.28,"text":"I told the military, but I think you had already told somebody."},{"start":52.3,"end":53.77,"text":"I told, yeah, I just told Paul to be sure that Fisher was all right."},{"start":53.79,"end":56.95,"text":"So anyway, they were very grateful."},{"start":56.97,"end":57.85,"text":"Well, then, until..."},{"start":57.87,"end":60.18,"text":"They told me that Casey had called about it."},{"start":61.79,"end":66.66,"text":"So Bill Gulley will get it and get it on him."},{"start":66.68,"end":67.1,"text":"Who is it?"},{"start":67.12,"end":68,"text":"Bill Gulley."},{"start":68.02,"end":69.92,"text":"He's a guy I know who's just fantastic."},{"start":69.94,"end":70.44,"text":"He'll get it on a plane."},{"start":71.24,"end":73.52,"text":"He worked with you?"},{"start":73.72,"end":76.05,"text":"He's been here for a long time."},{"start":76.06,"end":77.75,"text":"Good."},{"start":77.91,"end":80.21,"text":"That's good to know."},{"start":80.37,"end":80.83,"text":"That's great."},{"start":80.85,"end":85.87,"text":"So if he doesn't, I think they won't be able to get them down until Thursday morning and send them right up to him."},{"start":85.89,"end":86.23,"text":"Right."},{"start":86.25,"end":89.96,"text":"And they're going to call the time for the government."},{"start":89.98,"end":90.52,"text":"And she was so grateful."},{"start":90.54,"end":91.38,"text":"I thought I'd tell you this."},{"start":92.17,"end":95.51,"text":"the government."},{"start":95.71,"end":118.82,"text":"Then Elmer called me this morning and he wanted me to be sure to tell you as soon as I could that he just feels urgent that you send a message to Congress today at 5 o'clock asking them to get legislation to legalize the capital punishment for hijackers and detainees."},{"start":118.86,"end":122.11,"text":"It's interesting that I raised this before."},{"start":126.31,"end":135.91,"text":"Because the whole country, you know, here this weekend we've got a million dollar kidnapping in the campus, and now a hijacking of a million dollars."},{"start":135.93,"end":139.3,"text":"And each hijacking, each time it goes up because they don't have any very good time."},{"start":148.51,"end":164.76,"text":"I think that's the reason."},{"start":164.78,"end":166.98,"text":"You have to give that woman a chance to create one million bucks or something like that."},{"start":167,"end":168.84,"text":"If you catch that son of a bitch, you'll probably be, you know, you're an all-in catcher."},{"start":168.86,"end":170.32,"text":"If you give him a license, he's out in six years for good behavior."},{"start":170.34,"end":170.92,"text":"So what the heck is going on?"},{"start":170.94,"end":175.57,"text":"So, and in the meantime, somebody, the million dollars is just there."},{"start":175.59,"end":176.09,"text":"It's just a lot of money."},{"start":180.34,"end":188.87,"text":"I think it's so bad."},{"start":189.05,"end":196.62,"text":"You know, my co-ed mate said to me today, they outlawed that."},{"start":196.63,"end":199.52,"text":"She thought it was a good idea."},{"start":199.54,"end":200.02,"text":"She convinced me."},{"start":200.04,"end":202.18,"text":"And I said, do you know what they've done?"},{"start":202.2,"end":203.54,"text":"She said, well, why?"},{"start":203.56,"end":208.31,"text":"She said, well, as they said, it's cruel and inhumane punishment."},{"start":208.32,"end":209.43,"text":"And I said, supposedly someone killed you."},{"start":209.45,"end":210.35,"text":"Or your sister, or your little girl."},{"start":211.68,"end":214.98,"text":"And they were tried."},{"start":215,"end":219.05,"text":"Would you think it was inhumane punishment to have them killed too?"},{"start":219.07,"end":221.65,"text":"She says, oh, I'd want to torture them then."},{"start":221.67,"end":224.77,"text":"I said, well, you see, that's it."},{"start":224.79,"end":231.56,"text":"I said, what's happening here is that we're giving all the grace to this guy who does commit the crime."},{"start":232.18,"end":237.23,"text":"And the poor person is the one who gives up their life."},{"start":237.25,"end":238.51,"text":"Nobody cares about that person."},{"start":240.48,"end":242.73,"text":"Oh, sure."},{"start":243.05,"end":269.76,"text":"I think we've got to do something to stop everyone from saying they're crazy."},{"start":270.81,"end":291.81,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":292.41,"end":295.29,"text":"Steve, is that still on the picture, 4 o'clock?"},{"start":295.31,"end":300.09,"text":"I'm just going over the date, so I can figure it out still."},{"start":300.11,"end":300.81,"text":"But he hasn't revealed his details."},{"start":321.33,"end":334.63,"text":"Yeah, that was something else."},{"start":334.65,"end":338.6,"text":"That was something else."},{"start":338.62,"end":342.35,"text":"The reason she didn't think for it, really, for weeks and weeks, of Johnson and Mabel, that's why she didn't think for it."},{"start":342.37,"end":343.57,"text":"Those young guys didn't have the committee."},{"start":343.59,"end":344.57,"text":"They had such, you know, a sample that was going."},{"start":344.59,"end":347.57,"text":"Probably Johnson wasn't thinking about it either, but she said the way Mark was."},{"start":348.16,"end":350.9,"text":"what I was saying to John."},{"start":350.92,"end":354.88,"text":"She said, I know the ICT thing and Martha and that stupid bogey thing."},{"start":354.9,"end":355.52,"text":"She said, it's just"},{"start":392.96,"end":421.34,"text":"I understand, even in front of some people in the department, she would come out and curse them and scratch them, whatever it is."},{"start":421.36,"end":421.64,"text":"She said that?"},{"start":421.66,"end":421.76,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":422.58,"end":439.33,"text":"Rita was not there, and she told me to tell her, to agree that I was there."},{"start":439.35,"end":441.72,"text":"And she said he was just like someone, you know, he was so mortified that he was going to hurt you and all this paper."},{"start":441.74,"end":441.84,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":450.98,"end":452.06,"text":"Well, OK, then."},{"start":452.08,"end":461.62,"text":"You'll get to pay it yourself."},{"start":461.64,"end":461.7,"text":"OK."},{"start":461.72,"end":471.32,"text":"I'll tell you what, when you go out there, you can drop over to ."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon met with Rose Mary Woods and Stephen B. Bull to coordinate administrative tasks and discuss sensitive political matters. The conversation covered logistical arrangements for providing the film *Sunrise at Campobello* to George C. Wallace and addressed Elmer Bobst’s urgent recommendation that the President seek legislation for capital punishment regarding hijackers and kidnappers. Additionally, the participants touched upon the health and behavior of Martha Mitchell and the associated stress placed on John Mitchell amid the ongoing ITT and Watergate controversies.","topics":["Capital punishment","George C. Wallace","John Mitchell","Martha Mitchell","Watergate","ITT scandal","Criminal justice"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T16:34:56.518Z"},"topicSlugs":["capital-punishment","george-c-wallace","john-mitchell","martha-mitchell","watergate","itt-scandal","criminal-justice"],"audioDurationSec":475,"audioFiles":[{"file":"351-013.mp3","bytes":11396492,"durationSec":474.8,"bitrate":192021,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:44.538Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/351-013.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/351-013","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/351/conversation-351-013","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}