Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 698 › Conversation 698-010

Bull & Butterfield on Oval Office and Technical installation

Thursday, March 30, 1972 · 6:11 PM–6:13 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsBull, Stephen B.; Butterfield, Alexander P.; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation698-010 on Tape 698 (tape position 02:52:24–02:53:26)StartThursday, March 30, 1972 at 6:11 PMEndThursday, March 30, 1972 at 6:13 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 698-010 ↗

AI Summary

Stephen B. Bull and Alexander P. Butterfield met with two unidentified individuals in the Oval Office to coordinate the installation of new equipment. The brief discussion focused on technical details regarding the implementation of a foot button and an associated number sequence. George, whose surname remains unrecorded, was identified as the individual responsible for the installation project.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 73.4 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 02:52:24 into the tape and ends around 02:53:26.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

2:53:19It changes a lot.
2:53:20Those little bonsai trees are just beautiful.
2:53:23I didn't know they were real, but they are.

NARA Description

On March 30, 1972, Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:11 pm and 6:13 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 698-010 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 698-10

Date: March 30, 1972
Time: Unknown between 6:11 pm and 6:13 pm
Location: Oval Office

Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, an unknown woman, and an unknown man met.

     Oval Office
          -Installation of equipment
                -George [surname unknown]
                -Foot button
                -Number sequence

Bull, Butterfield, the unknown woman, and the unknown man left at an unknown time before
6:13 pm.

Also recorded on March 30, 1972

  • 698-003 4:40 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:40 pm to 4:41 pm.
  • 698-004 4:42 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Phillip V. Sanchez, George P. Shultz, Alexander P. Butterfield, White House photographer, Rose Mary Woods, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:42 pm to 5:03 pm.
  • 698-005 5:03 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm.
  • 698-006 5:03 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm.
  • 698-007 5:07 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:07 pm to 5:11 pm.
  • 698-008 5:18 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:18 pm to 5:30 pm.
  • 698-009 5:32 PM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Stephen B. Bull, Charles W. Colson, Rose Mary Woods, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:32 pm to 6:11 pm.
  • 022-054 6:13 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:13 pm and 7:16 pm.

All 48 conversations from March 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 698-010, March 30, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/698-010 (accessed October 12, 2026).