Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 650 › Conversation 650-008

Nixon, Ziegler & Bull on State of the Union and Foreign Policy

Tuesday, January 18, 1972 · 11:27 AM–11:31 AM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation650-008 on Tape 650 (tape position 01:50:55–01:55:20)StartTuesday, January 18, 1972 at 11:27 AMEndTuesday, January 18, 1972 at 11:31 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 650-008 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417180431 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Ronald Ziegler and Stephen Bull to coordinate the strategy for his upcoming State of the Union address and related public relations tasks. The discussion focused on separating the content of the address into an oral message primarily covering domestic policy, while reserving foreign policy for the upcoming 'State of the World' report. Additionally, Ziegler prepared for a trip to New York to meet with network executives regarding the President’s visit to the People's Republic of China, and the group briefly addressed the West Coast Dock strike and a loan controversy involving F. Donald Nixon and Howard Hughes.

Audio

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NARA Description

On January 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:27 am to 11:31 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 650-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 650-8

Date: January 18, 1972
Time: 11:27 am - 11:31 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Ronald L. Ziegler.

     State of the Union address
           -Richard A. Moore
           -Clark MacGregor
           -Written statement by the President
                 -Duration of address
                 -[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
           -Foreign policy
                 -State of the World, February 8, 1972
           -Domestic policy
                 -Oral message

     Ziegler's schedule
          -John A. Scali
          -Meeting with network executives in New York
                 -The President’s forthcoming trip to the People’s Republic of China [PRC]
                      -Invitees
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 11:27 am.

     President's schedule
           -Arthur F. Burns meeting

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:31 am.

     West Coast Dock strike
          -Laurence H. Silberman

     Howard R. Hughes
         -Loan to F. Donald Nixon
              -Ziegler's conversation with Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
              -Ziegler’s handling
                    -Age of story
                    -Transfer of property

Ziegler left at 11:31 am.

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

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I talked to you about the state of the union.
I thought it was occurring this year.
If we could say today that you would deliver the personal address, the state union address, would we be supplemented by a written state union address?
You know, the state union itself wouldn't need that with the address.
But that has to be associated with the address being made.
That could possibly be 100% a recon.
You don't know all of a sudden, hey, we're going to have a crash.
We're going to have a crash.
That was the first time this has been done.
I'm happy that they've got a subject.
So if you want to do that again, it's going to be two.
You want to do it.
Right, thank you.
Both are state unions.
It's a composite, so you don't think, you know, well, which is a state union?
They both are state unions.
Because the Constitution says that...
Right.
Right.
Right.
or a letter which will highlight certain subjects.
Right.
Now, I'm saying that it will, although we will touch on foreign policy, likely, it will focus on domestic policy because the foreign policy is foreign policy.
I will talk about foreign policy.
I will talk about foreign policy specifically when we come to the state of the world and put out the date, February 8th.
Right.
This will concentrate this session on my oral message.
that the written message will totally be on domestic policy, and that the oral message will be primarily on domestic policy.
Now, they'll say, when can we have it?
And I'm going to say, sometimes Thursday morning.
I think we can give them that longer version if it's ready, don't you?
The longer?
Okay, fine.
I appreciate it.
Well, I don't need them.
I don't need them.
Okay, that's all I had then for today.
I'm going up to New York this afternoon.
Yes, that's one of the things that I wanted to mention right now.
I said, look, let's make it clear that you requested this.
I'm not going to say it.
I'm not going to say it.
I'm not going to say it.
If this begins to unfold, we're going to make it very clear immediately that what our efforts were, were at your request.
I hope so.
Is that true?
Yes, sir.
They are cut to the bare minimum when they come along.
They've asked for one.
I don't think they're going to give it to them.
Well, okay.
I think that's all.
I'll let you know, Harry.
Do you like to hear what I'm going to say?
Yeah, I'll talk to you.
That's all for today.
It's an old story.
Good.
Okay.

Also recorded on January 18, 1972

  • 018-099 10:23 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:23 am and 10:55 am.
  • 018-100 10:55 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William L. Safire talked on the telephone from 10:55 am to 10:58 am.
  • 018-113 10:58 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:58 am and 12:33 pm.
  • 650-007 11:27 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 11:27 am.
  • 650-009 11:31 AM · 60 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Arthur F. Burns, John B. Connally, Rose Mary Woods, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:31 am to 12:31 pm.
  • 650-010 12:31 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:31 pm and 12:33 pm.
  • 018-101 12:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Hugh Scott, and Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield talked on the telephone from 12:33 pm to 12:34 pm.
  • 650-011 12:33 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Hugh Scott, and Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:33 pm to 12:34 pm.

All 28 conversations from January 18, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 650-008, January 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417180431). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/650-008 (accessed November 13, 2026).