Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 495 › Conversation 495-016

Nixon, Howard & Northrup on White House Photography and Presidential Gifts

Friday, May 7, 1971 · 12:19 PM–12:20 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; Howard, W. Rick; Howard, Marcis; Northrup, Mr.Conversation495-016 on Tape 495 (tape position 01:20:07–01:23:54)StartFriday, May 7, 1971 at 12:19 PMEndFriday, May 7, 1971 at 12:20 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 495-016 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Stephen Bull, W. Richard Howard, Marcia Howard, and Mr. Northrup for a brief courtesy call, during which White House photographer Northrup utilized an experimental camera to document the meeting. The participants exchanged pleasantries and discussed the distribution of presidential gifts, including cufflinks and the presidential seal. The conversation also briefly touched upon the personality and White House performances of entertainer Pearl Bailey.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 52% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Okay, get covered.
How are you?
Hi, how are you?
Nice to see you.
My wife, Marcia.
Nice to see you.
We're happy to have you.
We're happy to have you.
We're happy to have you.
We're happy to have you.
We're happy to have you.
We're happy to have you.
We're happy to have you.
I've got a bigger camera.
It's an experimental camera, sir.
It's a huge camera.
I want to try it out.
This is the first time I've used it.
It's a large camera.
It's a little bigger.
I have a picture of it.
It's a large camera, sir.
And you've been good enough already, I think, up there.
Yeah.
I was giving a little person a few comments, and he just went, oh, it's so loud.
I know.
It's so loud.
If you see this needle, it's going to see what I'm going to do here.
And you can just stare at it.
It's, it's a, it's a little tricky.
It's the same thing as a cobbler.
Yeah, sure.
She carries a chair around and everything else.
We can't afford to have too many of those chairs go.
We can get her a chair, you know, that she sat in at the White House and she carries it on the plane and buys an extra seat or something.
She puts it in the chair of her husband.
He's quite a gal.
She's a great personality, a show business personality.
A fine person.
A fine person.
She's a girl, isn't she?
A girl, yes.
Yeah, I'd love to see her in Dolly.
She did do what you can't do in the White House.
She did the, you know, the lead song in it, but I didn't get to hear it.
She's really quite a remarkable woman.
Quite a remarkable woman.
Well, he's not pretty.
She puts down these kids whenever they, uh, they behave badly.
She helps them.
That's right.
Well, most of them are alright.
It's just a few.
Well, that's all right.
Thank you.
Thank you for your work.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Well, I've got to go now.
I'm going to go out and see the garden.
I'm going to go see the garden.
So hurry now.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, W. Richard Howard, Marcis Howard, and Mr. Northrup met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:19 pm to 12:20 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 495-016 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 495-16

Date: May 7, 1971
Time: 12:19 pm - 12:20 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull, W. Richard (“Dick”) Howard, Marcia
                                                                    Conv. No.
                                                                           Howard,
                                                                              495-28
                                                                                   and
                                                                                     (cont.)
                                                                                       Mr.
Northrup [Forename unknown]: the White House photographer was present at the beginning of
the meeting.

     Photo arrangements

     Gifts
             -Presidential seal
             -Cufflinks

     Pearl Bailey
           -An item of apparel
           -A chair
           -Performance in "Hello Dolly"
                 -White House appearance

     Youth

     Farewells

Bull, Howard, et al., left at 12:20 pm.

Also recorded on May 7, 1971

  • 056-003 11:48 AM · 2 min — during the signing of the Telephone Bank Bill [S. 70], President Richard M. Nixon, Robert J. Dole, Jack R. Miller, Herman E. Talmadge, Ancher Nelsen, Alvin E. O'Konski, William R. Poage, Robert D. Price, Garner Shriver, Vernon W. Thomson, Clifford M. Hardin, J. Philip Campbell, Thomas K. Cowden, William E. Galbraith, David A. Hamil, Everett C. Weitzell, James R. Wright, Harold C. Ebaugh, Warren B. French, Jr., Adm. William C. Mott, David C. Fullarton, Ross Heller, Eldon M. Snowden, Harold G. Payne, A. Harold Peterson, Hyde Murray, John C. Whitaker, Richard K. Cook, Max L. Friedersdorf, and press photographers met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 11:48 am and 11:56 am.
  • 495-011 11:48 AM · 1 min — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:48 am and 11:56 am.
  • 495-012 11:48 AM · 26 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:48 am and 11:56 am.
  • 495-013 11:56 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:56 am and 11:58 am.
  • 495-014 11:58 AM · 19 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Stephen B. Bull, Herbert G. Klein, Bob Murphy, Robert Rosenthal, and Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:58 am to 12:17 pm.
  • 495-015 12:17 PM · 25 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:17 pm and 12:19 pm.
  • 495-017 12:20 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:20 pm and 12:26 pm.
  • 495-018 12:26 PM · 31 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:26 pm to 1:02 pm.

All 48 conversations from May 7, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 495-016, May 7, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/495-016 (accessed October 3, 2026).