Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 688 › Conversation 688-002

Nixon & Bull on Presidential briefcase and Administrative tasks

Saturday, March 18, 1972 · 11:00 AM–11:05 AM ET · Oval Office · 13 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.Conversation688-002 on Tape 688 (tape position 00:03:41–00:04:30)StartSaturday, March 18, 1972 at 11:00 AMEndSaturday, March 18, 1972 at 11:05 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 688-002 ↗

President Nixon met with his personal aide, Stephen B. Bull, to discuss the contents and handling of his briefcase. The brief interaction focused on the management of sensitive presidential materials. No further actions or developments were recorded beyond this administrative coordination.

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No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

On March 18, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:00 am and 11:05 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 688-002 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 688-2

Date: March 18, 1972
Time: Unknown between 11:00 am and 11:05 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

     The President’s briefcase

Bull left at an unknown time before 11:06 am.
  • 021-108 10:07 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:07 am and 12:10 pm.
  • 688-001 10:26 AM · 2 min — Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, and President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:26 am and 10:56 am.
  • 688-003 11:00 AM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:00 am and 11:05 am.
  • 688-004 11:05 AM · 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:05 am to 11:52 am.
  • 688-005 11:52 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:52 am to 11:53 am.
  • 688-006 11:53 AM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:53 am to 11:59 am.
  • 688-007 12:00 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:00 pm to 12:01 pm.
  • 688-008 12:01 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:01 pm and 12:10 pm.

Conversation 688-002, March 18, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/688-002 (accessed October 3, 2026).