Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 394 › Conversation 394-016

Nixon & Bull on George Shultz and White House Administration

Monday, January 8, 1973 · 3:04 PM–3:11 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.Conversation394-016 on Tape 394StartMonday, January 8, 1973 at 3:04 PMEndMonday, January 8, 1973 at 3:11 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 394-016 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his aide Stephen B. Bull to coordinate the scheduling of upcoming meetings, specifically requesting the inclusion of George Shultz and John Hurt. Nixon emphasized a desire for careful logistical planning to ensure specific interactions took place at controlled times while avoiding unauthorized or conflicting appointments. He expressed a strong preference for maintaining strict control over the composition of meeting participants to preserve administrative order.

Audio

Download MP3 · 9.1 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 3 minutes of this recording (about 40% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Yeah.
Hi, Steve.
Setting up things tomorrow that you could, uh, that don't interfere with.
I'd like to get George Schultz in and, uh, kind of, uh, with, uh, John Hurt on things, right?
Uh, and then, uh, I want things to go down.
So, uh, I'd like to have, uh, uh, just this, uh, can of Coke, uh,
They don't listen to this.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's the one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes, I have got her.
Well, my name is Jeff.
Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff,
And then, uh, uh,
Then I want him to go up to me and say this 12 o'clock in the morning.
Then I'll join him in the afternoon for another meeting.
After that, I'm all set.
I'm all set.
I just want to go up to a couple of other people.
Let's get to the meeting.
Check it out.
I don't want any opposite numbers on our side.
I don't want any other opposite numbers on our side.
Unless...
If he's here...
You know what I mean?
Well, you know, I have plenty of very, very good, but I have changed that whole thing on any mistake.
We have one good one, and now we have to have Americans there.
Go on.
Go on.
Go on.
Go on.
Go on.
Go on.
We don't want to break the circuit.
We don't want to break the circuit.
We don't want to break the circuit.
We don't want to break the circuit.
We don't want to break the circuit.
We don't want to break the circuit.
We don't want to break the circuit.
We don't want to break the circuit.
But then on our side, you know, I don't want to, you know, whether I get a, I don't want to have a, you know, no, there's only, there's only one second left.
If he breaks, if he has to, if he breaks him up there, I don't like that.
I don't have to break him.
I don't have to, you know, you know, see him.
I'd like to do it the second day.
Now, if they just work out, and they're anxious to earn it, and they can't do it the first day, they'll have to do it the second day.
And I think it's a better time to say, don't do it the eighth day, don't do it the fourth day.
... ... ... ... ...

NARA Description

On January 8, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:04 pm to 3:11 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 394-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 394-16

Date: January 8, 1973
Time: 3:04 pm - 3:11 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Stephen B. Bull.

[See Conversation No. 35-99]

Also recorded on January 8, 1973

  • 035-155 2:56 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 2:56 pm to 3:00 pm.
  • 394-014 2:56 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:56 pm to 3:00 pm.
  • 035-098 3:00 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:04 pm.
  • 394-015 3:00 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:04 pm.
  • 035-099 3:04 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 3:04 pm to 3:11 pm.
  • 394-017 3:11 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:11 pm and 3:26 pm.
  • 394-018 3:26 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:26 pm to 3:28 pm.
  • 394-019 3:29 PM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Helen A. Thomas, Frances Lewine, Ronald L. Ziegler, Manolo Sanchez, and Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:29 pm to 4:04 pm.

All 24 conversations from January 8, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 394-016, January 8, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/394-016 (accessed October 11, 2026).