Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 642 › Conversation 642-039

Nixon, Cox & Bull on Hospital Administration and Medical Personnel

Monday, January 3, 1972 · 12:32 PM–12:43 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; White House operator; Butterfield, Alexander P.; Cox, Tricia NixonConversation642-039 on Tape 642 (tape position 05:31:59–05:42:59)StartMonday, January 3, 1972 at 12:32 PMEndMonday, January 3, 1972 at 12:43 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 642-039 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a series of brief meetings and phone calls involving staff members Stephen Bull and Alexander Butterfield, as well as his daughter Tricia Nixon Cox. The discussions primarily addressed administrative tasks, including the routing of official documents to Cabinet members and the CIA, alongside personal messages and scheduling updates. Additionally, the President engaged in a conversation regarding the utilization of medical technicians and nurses to improve efficiency in hospital care, emphasizing the need for expanded roles for non-physician medical staff.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 148.0 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 05:31:59 into the tape and ends around 05:42:59.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
5:31:25Well, the minimum wage in an American hospital, for instance, is $2.50 an hour.
5:31:29Now, that's way above the national minimum wage.
5:31:33Yes, that's true.
5:31:34And they take that at $2.95 an hour.
5:31:36What kind of work is it?
5:31:38This is $2.50 an hour is the lowest level.
5:31:42Yeah, it's three-thirds, four-thirds, four-quarters.
5:31:45They're not that high in all parts of the country, Mr. President.
5:31:48I'm from Arizona, and we're not that high.
5:31:50And I would say some of our employees, compared to similar jobs in other industries, we're under it.
5:31:57And you're proud of that as a whole, isn't it?
5:32:00Right.
5:32:01How about nurses, Mr. President?
5:32:02Oh, they think nursing salaries over throughout the country have gone up relatively enough that every day, are you going to think nurses are going to be able to now reach the right level?
5:32:12You know, last 10 years, you've got nurses now.
5:32:15Well, it varies, but to the most part, it's much better.
5:32:17Well, it is good.
5:32:18We're organizing, for example, most nursing departments are now coming around to utilizing nurses, RNs, at the highest level and putting LPNs or practicals on them.
5:32:29You're certainly going for all this business where the doctor doesn't have to.
5:32:38We're going for the physicians.
5:32:42Oh, yeah.
5:32:44They won't let anybody touch anybody unless he's an MD, which is so silly.
5:32:48I mean, nurses can give shots.
5:32:49They can give, well, physical, well, cut an eye.
5:32:51They can take things.
5:32:52They can do electrocardiograms, the x-rays.
5:32:54You know, you don't have a doctor standing here every day.
5:33:10No.
5:33:11And we in Arizona, we have developed an eight-hospital system, and we are having a lot of this in the rural areas, especially.
5:33:19We run four remote hospitals, and we're finding that the technicians and the assistants can do a lot where there's no physician.
5:33:25You know, you learn a lot about service, don't you?
5:33:28I remember the service in the car.
5:33:28We had a doctor around, I suppose, pilots all the time.
5:33:42With the old hospital pay standards, we didn't get the quality of person, but the quorum were in the service.
5:33:48Now the pay standards are beginning to come up, and we're identifying certain techniques.
5:33:55I do know that they have an enormous amount of experience.
5:34:15Oh, yeah.
5:34:16We're using them in the OR, for instance.
5:34:18We take the room and we make the OR technicians.
5:34:21We have certainly hoped that you could do everything you could there, because, you know, they're a large part of a very significant problem.
5:34:29And I would imagine they could add a lot to – once they've been through this experience and so forth, they'll do the work.
5:34:38And it takes a certain kind of a person to do the work.
5:34:47You've really got to be able to walk through those places and not regurgitate.
5:34:53Some of the federal programs have helped us in retraining the med techs.
5:34:58The so-called Med-X program.
5:35:00We have 40 of them or so in one hospital, and they're making good employees.
5:35:04Well, I wish you the best.
5:35:06We'll try to cooperate with you any way we can.
5:35:13I'm sorry, sir.
5:35:17Hope you have a happy new year.
5:35:19We have high regard for Mr. Richardson and especially Dr. DeMalle.
5:35:23Oh, he's in our office.
5:35:25He's in our office.
5:35:26We also appreciate the way Jim Cavanaugh has communicated with us so that we think we have
5:35:34Thank you, sir.
5:35:34Go ahead.
5:36:04Thank you for your service.
5:36:05You're welcome.
5:36:35Travis is here with the Catholic room.
5:36:36He understands you have a 1 3rd meeting, Mr. Preston.
5:36:37Yeah.
5:36:38I'll take 1 45.
5:36:38He's on the other end of the other room.
5:36:39Yes, sir.
5:37:38Well, I haven't called yet.
5:37:39Just wanted to remind you of a thing.
5:37:41When I saw Tina Friday night, she was very appreciative of your thoughtfulness.
5:37:45She didn't even know she'd get a chance.
5:37:46Good.
5:37:47There it is.
5:37:47OK, yeah.
5:37:48I'll tell her about me, Steve.
5:37:49Thank you.
5:37:49Hey, Tom, I haven't slept with you, Tom.
5:37:52Oh, good.
5:37:52It was over at 8 o'clock.
5:37:53All right.
5:37:54Thank you, guys.
5:40:02Dr. Gisbert.
5:43:15We had a very excellent show this night.
5:43:16Yeah.
5:43:17It's all the usual types.
5:43:20I mean, actually, the Rogers.

NARA Description

On January 3, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 12:43 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 642-039 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 642-39

Date: January 3, 1972
Time: Unknown after 12:32 pm until 12:43 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

     [Unintelligible]

Bull left and reentered at an unknown time after 12:32 pm.

     Tricia Nixon Cox
           -Call to the President
                 -Time
                 -Camp David
                 -Message from the President

     Fina Sanchez
          -Message to the President through Bull
               -Thanks

[The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and

12:36 pm.]

[Conversation No. 642-39A]

[See Conversation No. 18-11]

[End of telephone conversation]

     Sanchez
          -Message to the President
              -Manolo Sanchez

     Misplaced papers
          -Location
               -Manolo Sanchez
               -Executive Office Building [EOB]

Bull left and Alexander P. Butterfield entered at an unknown time before 12:36 pm.

     Items for the President’s signature

[The White House operator talked with Butterfield at an unknown time.]

[Conversation No. 642-39B]

[See Conversation No. 18-12; two items have been withdrawn from the conversation]

Butterfield conferred with the President.

     Documents
         -Distribution
               -William P. Rogers
               -Melvin R. Laird
               -Henry A. Kissinger
               -Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]

[End of conferral]

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 12:36 pm.

[The President talked with Tricia Nixon Cox between 12:36 pm and 12:43 pm.]

Also recorded on January 3, 1972

  • 642-037 12:18 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John W. Kauffman, Stephen M. Morris, Jack A. L. Hahn, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., James H. Cavanaugh, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:18 pm to 12:32 pm.
  • 018-011 12:32 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 12:36 pm.
  • 018-012 12:32 PM · 8 min — the White House operator, Alexander P. Butterfield, President Richard M. Nixon, and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 12:43 pm.
  • 642-038 12:32 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:32 pm and 12:36 pm.
  • 642-040 12:43 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:43 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 642-041 12:43 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:43 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 642-042 12:45 PM · 52 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr., and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:45 pm to 12:46 pm.
  • 642-028 12:46 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:46 pm and 2:07 pm.

All 105 conversations from January 3, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 642-039, January 3, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/642-039 (accessed September 30, 2026).