Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 746 › Conversation 746-005
Nixon, Haldeman & Bull on John N. Mitchell
Saturday, July 1, 1972 · 9:45 AM–10:04 AM ET · Oval Office · 8 min
AI Summary
President Nixon met with H. R. Haldeman and Stephen B. Bull to coordinate the strategic response to John N. Mitchell's resignation as chairman of the Committee to Re-elect the President, specifically discussing the timing of press releases and public statements. The group also addressed administrative scheduling, including the President's attendance at Dabney Hibbert's wedding and coordination with NSC staff regarding anecdotes from his recent trip to the Soviet Union. Additionally, the President discussed budget meetings with Caspar Weinberger and communicated a preference for a saltwater swimming pool over a tennis court in response to a gift offer from Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg.
- John N. Mitchell
- Committee to Re-elect the President
- Soviet Union trip
- Caspar Weinberger
- Walter H. Annenberg
- White House administration
Audio
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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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
· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.
Good.
Eat with a lot of that at the end.
That's good money.
You've got to think the last two billion.
That makes a lot of sense.
It makes a lot of good news.
Do you think that you really can sell?
I think maybe you're right.
That text won't be running or anything.
It wasn't.
I wouldn't think so.
We'll release it.
But I don't think that what they'll run is that they'll say it is.
It's technically run.
I don't know.
The second paragraph will run.
Yeah, that one.
I don't know.
I just have to be sure the damn thing's still on.
I think that's all.
I'm going to make sure we all know.
I don't know.
There's no need for you to join.
I asked you to call.
Okay, we're going to confirm.
We're just going to confirm.
We're not going to do it until 6 or 12 30 because Gregor has a press conference this morning wrapping up the congressional session which had been set up for us to read.
Oh, yeah.
I'm sure.
Especially if you're a candidate.
be sure to make a note.
I felt we've got to cover most of the people.
I haven't covered the others, but I just wanted to know.
Would you be sure that Abby's wedding is the wedding that I want, not the job?
I'm going to attend.
We'll be here in Washington.
I just want to be sure I'm not awful at
I got an interview with Bob, and said, hey, Julie, take care of it.
He called Steve and said that he wanted to put on his schedule.
Would you follow through with the MSC staff?
I asked them to read through all the records of my conversations around here.
My conversations.
They picked the, they picked the anecdotes out.
I mean, we had it on every single one of them.
I've got the filing.
The other thing you asked for, which was the impressions of the evening and the adoption.
Did that talk about who drank?
Well, this is the case.
You know, who drank what, not the cigarettes they smoked.
That's what I said.
Good.
So, the only purpose of this is to find out.
I don't need it.
Okay.
I don't need it.
I just want to
Another thing, I'm going to have Weinberger come out sometime next week and talk to him about the questions he has.
He's always like, come with me, but I want Weinberger to come.
Maybe I should come with both of these.
Yeah, I'll cover both of these.
Ken Berg, one last thing.
I made a decision on it.
There's no problem now about the tennis court.
I don't want you to mention this to the tennis players around here.
But at appropriate time, whenever you're talking to Walter Hamburg, say the president would not mention this to you, but he found that you could give the tennis court a chance.
I mean, that pool, he feels it would be a wonderful thing.
He would like it.
I want to work a tennis court.
And that's not that tennis court.
And the reason I'm going to say this is because you're going to find that you play the rest of the time.
But I asked, I said, Walter, how many presidents have played tennis in Japan?
You know, about this century.
And he goes, he goes, what else?
Teddy didn't fight much.
Teddy was more a hiker.
And Wilson was a golfer.
Wilson was an out-golfer.
You seldom, seldom hear of Wilson ever in a tennis court.
Not in a tennis court.
It's not for folks.
I mean, it isn't for older people.
You know what I mean?
Very new play.
So I think pool is all right.
What do you think?
And there's no problem with it.
It's a delightful play.
So you can get included.
This is good enough, but I think it can't be.
I think it can be, you know, it can be what it is.
Hold up, because the other hand can be done, which you might want to do.
If we start from scratch, just make it a saltwater pool.
I didn't know that.
It would have cost a fortune to ship this old saltwater.
I think you can do that.
I may not be able to keep a saltwater pool.
Anyway, go up.
Okay.
NARA Description
On July 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:45 am and 10:04 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 746-005 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 746-5
Date: July 1, 1972
Time: Unknown between 9:45 am and 10:04 am
Location: Oval Office
The President met with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.
John N. Mitchell’s resignation [as chairman of the Committee to Re-elect the President]
-The President’s forthcoming statement
-Martha (Beall) Mitchell
-Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
-Richard A. Moore
-Martha Mitchell
-Text
-Press coverage
-Charles W. Colson
-Release
-Timing
-Clark MacGregor
-Press conference
-Congressional responsibilities
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 2m 42s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
*****************************************************************
Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:45 am.
List
-Telephone calls
Bull left at an unknown time before 10:04 am.
Press conference
-Telephone calls to Cabinet
-George W. Romney
The President’s schedule
-Dabney Hibbert's wedding
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Bull
The President's conversations in Soviet Union
-Anecdotes
-National Security Council [NSC] staff
-Henry A. Kissinger
-Evening at Dacha impressions
-Winston Lord
-John Negroponte
-The President’s file
Budget
-The President’s forthcoming meeting with Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
-George P. Shultz
The President’s schedule
-Airplane
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 26s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 3
*****************************************************************
Walter H. Annenberg
-Gift of pool
-Chequers
-Tennis court
*****************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
[Personal returnable]
[Duration: 16s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 4
*****************************************************************
-Tennis court
-The President’s conversation with Gen. Walter R. Tkach
-Theodore Roosevelt
-[Thomas] Woodrow Wilson
-Privacy
-Salt water
Haldeman left at 10:04 am.Also recorded on July 1, 1972
- 746-003 8:50 AM · 36 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Stephen B. Bull, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:50 am and 9:45 am.
- 746-004 9:45 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:45 am to 10:04 am.
- 746-006 10:04 AM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:04 am and 10:53 am.
- 746-007 10:04 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:04 am and 10:53 am.
- 746-008 10:04 AM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, Tim Burke, Larry Allen, James Hester, Tillie Barela, Jo Ann Cullen, Marsha Bowen, James H. Falk, William F. Rhatican, Neal Ball, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:04 am and 11:05 am.
- 103-011 10:05 AM · 30 min — President Richard M. Nixon and representatives of the maritime industry and labor unions, including Jesse M. Calhoon, Leo V. Berger, Edwin A. Johnson, Joseph Kahn, Chung C. Wei, John R. Gilbride, James F. Goodrich, Samuel D. Timmons, Walter F. William, Charles W. Colson, Peter G. Peterson, Helen B. Bentley, Walter Oates, James T. Lynn, Andrew E. Gibson, and Robert J. Blackwell, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 10:05 am and 10:40 am.
- 104-001 10:40 AM · 2 min — Unknown person(s) met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
- 104-002 10:40 AM · 1 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 10:40 am on July 1, 1972 and 10:16 am on July 21, 1972.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 746-005, July 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/746-005 (accessed September 30, 2026).