Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 647 › Conversation 647-021

Nixon, Ziegler & Butterfield on White House staff and Internal communications

Thursday, January 13, 1972 · 2:22 PM–2:34 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.; Bull, Stephen B.; Ziegler, Ronald L.; United States Secret Service agentsConversation647-021 on Tape 647 (tape position 04:01:16–04:09:46)StartThursday, January 13, 1972 at 2:22 PMEndThursday, January 13, 1972 at 2:34 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 647-021 ↗

President Nixon met briefly with Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Secret Service personnel to offer brief words of encouragement to the group. Following the departure of most participants, Nixon held a short, private discussion with Bull regarding the President's schedule and a request for a specific report. The interaction concluded shortly thereafter with Bull exiting the Oval Office.

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 168.5 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 33.4 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 04:01:16 into the tape and ends around 04:09:46.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
4:02:23And we'll never get discouraged.
4:02:25That's the thing.
4:02:26Keep trying to do your best, right?
4:02:28And so, everyone, here's your part of the program.
4:02:34Keep trying.
4:02:35Goodbye.
4:02:35Goodbye.
4:02:35Goodbye.
4:02:36Goodbye.
4:02:36Goodbye.
4:02:37Goodbye.
4:02:38Goodbye.
4:02:41Goodbye.
4:02:46Goodbye.
4:02:48Goodbye.
4:08:19Just by

On January 13, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, Ronald L. Ziegler, and United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:22 pm and 2:34 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 647-021 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 647-21

Date: January 13, 1972
Time: Unknown between 2:22 pm and 2:34 pm
Location: Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, Ronald L. Ziegler [?] and unknown people [Secret
Service agents] entered.

     [Unintelligible]

The President entered and Butterfield et al., except Bull, left at 2:26 pm.

     The President’s schedule
          -Request for report

Bull left at an unknown time before 2:34 pm.
  • 647-018 2:14 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:14 pm and 2:16 pm.
  • 647-019 2:16 PM · 6 min — Jon M. Huntsman, Mrs. Jon M. Huntsman, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Paul Huntsman, Kathleen Huntsman, Kristina Huntsman, James Huntsman, Paul Huntsman, David Huntsman, Alexander P. Butterfield, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:16 pm to 2:21 pm.
  • 647-020 2:22 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 2:22 pm.
  • 647-022 2:22 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:22 pm and 2:34 pm.
  • 018-077 2:34 PM · 1 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:34 pm and 2:45 pm.
  • 314-001 2:34 PM · 1 hr 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, James D. ("Don") Hughes, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:34 pm to 3:41 pm.
  • 018-078 2:45 PM · 46 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and James D. ("Don") Hughes talked on the telephone at 2:45 pm.
  • 018-079 2:45 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:45 pm.

Conversation 647-021, January 13, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/647-021 (accessed September 30, 2026).