Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 500 › Conversation 500-028

Bull & Butterfield on Oval Office and White House Taping System

Tuesday, May 18, 1971 · 4:06 PM–4:41 PM ET · Oval Office · 1 min

ParticipantsBull, Stephen B.; [Unknown person(s)]; Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation500-028 on Tape 500 (tape position 04:15:51–04:17:17)StartTuesday, May 18, 1971 at 4:06 PMEndTuesday, May 18, 1971 at 4:41 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 500-028 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417177291 ↗

AI Summary

Stephen B. Bull and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office to address a technical issue involving a malfunctioning device that produced a sound described as rushing water. After identifying the source of the noise, the participants discussed the President’s upcoming schedule. The meeting concluded with plans for the group to reconvene in approximately 20 minutes.

Audio

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NARA Description

On May 18, 1971, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:06 pm and 4:41 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 500-028 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 500-28

Date: May 18, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:06 pm and 4:41 pm
Location: Oval Office

Stephen B. Bull and unknown people met.

     President's schedule

Alexander P. Butterfield entered and the unknown people left at an unknown time after 4:06 pm.

     Unknown sound[?]

     President’s schedule

Bull and Butterfield left at an unknown time before 4:45 pm.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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).

Nå sker det merre ennå, ennå er det merre ennå.
Nå sker det merre ennå, ennå er det merre ennå.
Yeah, it sounds like a...
It sounds like a water rushing device.
Yeah, I think that's it.
Well, here it is.
It's that one.
That's it.
All right.
That's it.
What the hell was that?
See you in a minute, okay?
Huh?
Alright, yes.
We'll be back here in about 20 minutes.

Also recorded on May 18, 1971

  • 500-023 3:04 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:04 pm and 3:06 pm.
  • 500-024 3:04 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:04 pm and 3:06 pm.
  • 500-025 3:06 PM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:06 pm to 3:40 pm.
  • 500-026 3:42 PM · 25 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Charles W. Colson, Stephen B. Bull, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:42 pm to 4:05 pm.
  • 500-027 4:05 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:05 pm and 4:06 pm.
  • 500-036 4:41 PM · 20 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:41 pm and 4:42 pm.
  • 500-029 4:42 PM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John A. Scali, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, John D. Ehrlichman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:42 pm to 5:05 pm.
  • 500-030 5:05 PM · 1 hr 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, Herbert G. Klein, Robert Lubar, James W. Michaels, Lewis H. Young, Robert M. Bleiberg, Joseph E. Evans, [Pawhatan] Jack Wooldridge, Jr., Raymond J. Brady, Thomas Mulloney, Howard W. Fleiger, Marshall Loeb, Lester Bernstein, Henry Gemmill, White House photographer, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:05 pm to 6:34 pm.

All 43 conversations from May 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 500-028, May 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417177291). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/500-028 (accessed November 12, 2026).