Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 702 › Conversation 702-001

Nixon & Bull on H. R. Haldeman and Italian politics

Tuesday, April 4, 1972 · 2:47 PM–2:55 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.Conversation702-001 on Tape 702 (tape position 00:02:42–00:05:32)StartTuesday, April 4, 1972 at 2:47 PMEndTuesday, April 4, 1972 at 2:55 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 702-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his aide Stephen B. Bull to coordinate logistical arrangements for an upcoming lunch with H. R. Haldeman. The discussion transitioned into informal geopolitical observations, with Nixon critiquing the Italian political system and government stability. Nixon expressed a preference for stronger constitutional structures, such as those found in France, to address the perceived shortcomings in Italian governance.

Audio

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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 00:02:42 into the tape and ends around 00:05:32.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
2:49Yes, he's operating in the United States.
2:53It's been 21 years in your country.
2:5921 years.
3:00He's old enough to vote.
3:03Yeah.
3:04Three times.
3:06Yes.
3:06First time, 35 to 42.
3:07Yeah.
3:08Second time, 53 to 59.
3:10Yeah.
3:10Privileged to know you.
3:18He said, I've been on a several seasons in the house.
3:23And he said, now I am going to closer to home.
3:29A complicated situation there, actually.
3:35Well, it'll be a very interesting potion.
3:39And an enormous amount of activity, of course.
3:44You'll have a very difficult time keeping and seeing all the people because there are too many parties.
3:54And I'll never forget when I took that trip to Rome.
4:03It took me about four hours, I mean, ten minutes each to get there.
4:16We have the same problem in my country.
4:19You see, the Italians, I always have said, need a constitution like France's.
4:26They need to go to France and get a constitution.
4:29They cannot run it the way they have.
4:31They need a strong president.
4:34And they cannot run it without wins.
4:38And incidentally, they need it more than the French.
4:40The French are much more, you know,
4:44have a longer, a longer history as a country.
4:47So, therefore, I have much more stability than the Italians.
4:52Yes, but only once, I'm sure.
4:55And the poor Italians, oh, they are just, I mean, they're wonderful people, but they just, government is not something that they're very good at.
5:06I don't know who is, but they're not very good at it.
5:10You know, one of the men, frankly, who would have made a great prime minister
5:15in my view, was, uh, Rosio.

NARA Description

On April 4, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 2:55 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 702-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 702-1

Date: April 4, 1972
Time: Unknown between 2:47 pm and 2:55 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

     The President's meeting with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
          -Lunch

Bull left at an unknown time before 2:55 pm.

Also recorded on April 4, 1972

  • 701-015 1:15 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:15 pm and 1:17 pm.
  • 701-017 1:17 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:17 pm to 1:32 pm.
  • 702-002 2:47 PM · 28 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:47 pm and 3:11 pm.
  • 702-003 3:11 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:11 pm to 3:12 pm.
  • 702-004 3:12 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John K. Andrews, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:12 pm and 3:45 pm.
  • 702-005 3:12 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:12 pm and 3:45 pm.
  • 702-006 3:12 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:12 pm and 3:45 pm.
  • 702-007 3:45 PM · 1 hr 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Alexander P. Butterfield, John N. Mitchell, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Manolo Sanchez, Charles Lucet, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:45 pm to 5:06 pm.

All 35 conversations from April 4, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 702-001, April 4, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/702-001 (accessed October 12, 2026).