Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 685 › Conversation 685-018

Nixon, Bull & Cox on Social visit and White House photography

Tuesday, March 14, 1972 · 3:37 PM–3:49 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Bull, Stephen B.;  Cox, Tricia Nixon;  Nugent, Luci Johnson;  Nugent, Patrick L.;  White House photographerConversation685-018 onTape 685 (tape position 05:41:38–05:55:27)StartTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 3:37 PMEndTuesday, March 14, 1972 at 3:49 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 685-018 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his daughter Tricia Nixon Cox, Luci Johnson Nugent, Patrick L. Nugent, and Stephen B. Bull in the Oval Office for a social visit and an official photo session. The conversation centered on casual family pleasantries, the history and legacy of the presidency, and the exchange of gifts, including a telescope. The participants also coordinated posing for the White House photographers to capture images of the group during their time in the office.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 167.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 161.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 4) · 40.1 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 05:41:38 into the tape and ends around 05:55:27.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

5:41:38And you might have to tell the others.
5:41:42I will.
5:41:43That's it.
5:41:43You're going to Europe, too?
5:41:45Okay.
5:41:46Okay.
5:41:47Gee, isn't that wonderful?
5:41:49Hold it here.
5:41:50From December 30th to September 30th.
5:41:53I'll take everybody to work.
5:41:55Thank you.
5:41:55Bye.
5:41:56Bye.
5:41:56Bye.
5:41:57Bye.
5:41:57Bye.
5:41:57Bye.
5:41:57Bye.
5:42:07Thank you very much.
5:42:28I guess if you wanted to know it, the little boy's footprints are very... Oh, boy, I see.
5:42:35I guess they're...
5:42:37I guess they're...
5:44:04Well, I think what you should do is if you're giving something to John, you should give him to the boy and give her one of those little boxes.
5:44:20When you're about to send her to your bar or something else, if you've got any less, make it less expensive.
5:44:26We have an awful lot of those scrolls.
5:44:28I think we ordered 700 of those.
5:44:28What is it?
5:44:29What is it?
5:44:29We have one of those prints.
5:44:31One of those cloth prints.
5:44:32It's fine.
5:44:33It's not like that.
5:45:40Yeah.
5:45:42Here we are.
5:45:44Hi.
5:45:44Well, how are you?
5:45:45Nice to see you again.
5:45:47The natural Lord.
5:45:49Hi.
5:45:50How are you?
5:45:51Well, hi.
5:45:52Look at that.
5:45:55Yes, sir.
5:45:56He's, uh, how do you call him?
5:45:59Oh, yeah.
5:46:00Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it.
5:46:04Yeah, yeah, how are you?
5:46:08You're important.
5:46:12Well, Stephen, he's been in the Jerome before, hasn't he?
5:46:15Yes, do you remember?
5:46:17He used to work here, didn't he?
5:46:20Yes.
5:46:21And what did he do?
5:46:22Oh, what did he do?
5:46:23I don't know.
5:46:25But we remember a lot from that time.
5:46:28It's amazing.
5:46:29Yes, yes.
5:46:30And you look at President Nixon.
5:46:32Yes.
5:46:34Isn't that rough?
5:46:36What's that?
5:46:37That's right.
5:46:39Isn't that something?
5:46:41Isn't that something?
5:46:45They remember that's always been rough.
5:46:51It's a different road, but they always have the seal there.
5:46:56They can get a better picture.
5:46:59I'll be sure to set it back for you.
5:47:04That's right.
5:47:06You sit right there.
5:47:19That's all right.
5:47:43Right over here.
5:47:45We're going to take a couple of little trannies out there and I've got most of these things.
5:48:01He was the president of the Senate too, once, and I was.
5:48:07He liked that.
5:48:10That's the way he gets it.
5:48:27That's right.
5:48:28Now you preside.
5:48:32That's right.
5:48:33That's a tree.
5:48:36A little tree.
5:48:39Okay.
5:48:41Let's see if we can show you something else.
5:48:50Why don't you come over here.
5:48:54Tell me about the victim who was on the border.
5:49:00He was on the border in Washington.
5:49:02Who did you tell?
5:49:04Mrs. Cox and I didn't know that.
5:49:06Who did you say that you saw earlier that was on the 10 out of 10?
5:49:12President who?
5:49:15Roosevelt, right.
5:49:17And who was on the Hill?
5:49:19Nichols.
5:49:20Who was on the Hill?
5:49:22Comrade Terrence Lee.
5:49:24Comrade Terrence Lee, you know him?
5:49:27No, I don't know him.
5:49:29Let me show you something, see if you recognize him.
5:49:33He was in the box.
5:49:34Yes, he was in the box.
5:49:40You know out there at the children's garden?
5:49:43You know your feet's there?
5:49:44Footprints that seem to have been... No, I don't know if he would remember that.
5:49:48Do you know what it is?
5:49:50Your footprint is out there on children's gardens.
5:49:53So it's there for history to see, right?
5:49:55Now, some years from now, they'll see you with new shoes.
5:49:59Footprints.
5:50:00There, and back, throw it back.
5:50:02You can see the cement, see?
5:50:04And the cement before it got hard.
5:50:06And then now you've got to put it on your baby.
5:50:13Well, you're very welcome.
5:50:20You're very welcome.
5:50:42You know one thing about him, he's an old boy, he likes to have fun, get around, do things.
5:50:52He should have really done a film with Marius Rudd on Santa Claus.
5:50:59I mean, he should have done a film with Marius Rudd on Santa Claus.
5:51:07Oh, my God.
5:51:21Okay.
5:51:22Now when they come in, give them a hand.
5:51:26We'll do a chair.
5:51:28Do you like that?
5:51:29Chairs?
5:51:30Okay.
5:51:30You just have to pick her up when they come in.
5:51:34You pop up in there in that chair.
5:51:36Now I'll put you in a chair like this.
5:51:40Now wait a minute.
5:51:41Now wait a minute.
5:51:43And I'll give you a hand.
5:51:45Now you sit.
5:51:46When they get in here, I'll sit back.
5:51:48You can lie down.
5:51:53They aren't.
5:51:53They're in the press briefing now.
5:51:56So you can submit it to them as we arrive at 9 a.m. That's their return.
5:52:00They're on their way.
5:52:01So they can get to the meeting.
5:52:04On their way to the meeting, they come in and they have a little work to do.
5:52:09So I'm going to go now.
5:52:11I'm going to pick this up.
5:52:13I did it before.
5:52:19Right.
5:52:20Okay.
5:52:21All right.
5:52:48Always, always keep a little distance from your grandpa.
5:52:55Always, always keep a little distance from your grandpa.
5:53:21Oh, well.
5:53:49Thank you very much.
5:54:31Very impressive.
5:54:32Very impressive.
5:54:33Well, we've got a little present for you.
5:54:34And here's our, that's the beautiful one.
5:54:35That's what she has here.
5:54:36Thank you.
5:54:36All right.
5:54:37Put your ears and breathe together.
5:54:38Breathe together.
5:54:56And you're afraid of us.
5:54:58And how can you tell how afraid of us?
5:55:02How can you tell how afraid of us?
5:55:07How can you tell how afraid of us?
5:55:15How can you tell how afraid of us?
5:55:23How can you tell how afraid of us?
5:55:25Now, I think you better take it with you that way, because an airplane would be hard to carry otherwise.

NARA Description

On March 14, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Tricia Nixon Cox, Luci Johnson Nugent, Patrick L. Nugent, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:37 pm to 3:49 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 685-018 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 685-18

Date: March 14, 1972
Time: 3:37 pm - 3:49 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull, Tricia Nixon Cox, Luci (Johnson) Nugent and Patrick
L. Nugent; the White House photographers were present at the beginning of the meeting.

        Greetings

Bull left at an unknown time before 3:49 pm.

       Patrick L. Nugent
             -Age
             -Lyndon B. Johnson
             -Captain Kangaroo

       Oval Office rug
       [Photograph session]
            -Positions

       The People's Republic of China [PRC]
            -Tree
            -Pandas

       Johnson
            -President of the Senate

       Patrick Nugent
             -George Washington
             -Abraham Lincoln
             -Tricia Nixon Cox
             -Franklin D. Roosevelt
             -Thomas Jefferson
             -Childrens garden
                   -Footprints

       Thank yous

       Photographers
            -Chair
                  -Patrick Nugent
            -Press briefing
                  -Ronald L. Ziegler
            -Johnson
                  -Patrick Nugent
                         -Gavel

Press photographers entered and left at an unknown time after 3:37 pm.

       Thank yous

       Gifts
                -Telescope
                      -Astronauts

       White House

       Johnson
            -Television station

       Patrick Nugent
             -Political career

Bull entered at an unknown time after 3:37 pm.

       Photographs
            -Copies
                 -Families
                 -Johnson

Tricia Nixon Cox, et al. left at 3:49 pm.

Also recorded on March 14, 1972

  • 685-014 3:24 PM · 55 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:24 pm to 3:25 pm.
  • 685-015 3:25 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Debbie Wright, George H. Mahon, Raymond L. Schafer, Macon T. Edwards, James T. Hazelwood, John E. Nidecker, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:25 pm to 3:31 pm.
  • 685-016 3:31 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:31 pm and 3:37 pm.
  • 685-017 3:31 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:31 pm and 3:37 pm.
  • 685-019 3:49 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at 3:49 pm.
  • 685-020 3:49 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:49 pm to 3:52 pm.
  • 322-055 3:52 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:52 pm and 4:18 pm.
  • 685-022 3:52 PM · 47 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield, United States Secret Service agents, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:52 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 41 conversations from March 14, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 685-018, March 14, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/685-018 (accessed September 18, 2026).