Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 799 › Conversation 799-034

Nixon & Bull on Call procedures and Pace of calls

Monday, October 16, 1972 · 4:53 PM–5:01 PM ET · Oval Office · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.; White House operatorConversation799-034 on Tape 799StartMonday, October 16, 1972 at 4:53 PMEndMonday, October 16, 1972 at 5:01 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 799-034 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417181865 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon instructed Stephen B. Bull to place telephone calls without waiting for previous ones to finish, emphasizing a desire to "pile them up" and increase the pace of incoming calls. Bull confirmed he had staff working on the calls and reported on the number of calls already handled and remaining.

Telephone calls
Call procedures
Pace of calls
White House operator
Stephen B. Bull
Richard M. Nixon

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.2 MB

This clip of the conversation was cut from the tape by the National Archives (catalog record ↗).

NARA Description

On October 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 5:01 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 799-034 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 799-34

Date: October 16, 1972
Time: Unknown between 4:53 pm and 5:01 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

        Telephone calls
            -Procedure

Bull talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 5:01 pm.

[See Conversation No. 31-73]

        Telephone call procedures

[End of telephone conversation]

        Telephone call procedures
            -Pace of calls

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:01 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.

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).

NixonI think what they're doing is waiting until I finish a call to place the next one, but that's unnecessary. You know, I [unintelligible] just [unintelligible] you know, I told him that he was, so place the call, place them all, let them wait if necessary.

BullYes, sir. Well, I can be over on the phone right near here and get a better response.

NixonYeah. Pile them up. That's what I want.

BullYes, this is Steve Bull. How are you coming with the President's calls?

BullThey've only captured a couple of forces, that Barnes Press [unintelligible] was 40, we've got 15 more to go.

NixonYeah, well mine got 80 tomorrow, so we got to finish that faster or else it's just simply

BullYes, this is Steve Bull.

BullWe can't get her?

BullYes, sir. I have three over there working.

Also recorded on October 16, 1972

031-069 4:45 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:45 pm.
799-031 4:46 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:46 pm and 4:49 pm.
031-071 4:49 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and William M. Fast talked on the telephone from 4:49 pm to 4:51 pm.
799-032 4:49 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William M. Fast met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:49 pm to 4:51 pm.
031-072 4:52 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Joseph Townsley talked on the telephone from 4:52 pm to 4:53 pm.
799-033 4:52 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Joseph Townsley met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:52 pm to 4:53 pm.
031-073 4:53 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 4:59 pm.
799-035 4:53 PM · 28 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:53 pm and 5:01 pm.

All 103 conversations from October 16, 1972 →

Nixon with unidentified visitors in his EOB office on White House Operator November 3, 1972 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on White House operator November 3, 1972 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Woods on Christmas and Television December 24, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon phone call with Bull on Public relations and National Theatre February 23, 1973 · 1 min
Nixon & Bull on Republican National Committee and Spiro T. Agnew January 21, 1973 · 2 min
Nixon & Bull on Cabinet meetings April 10, 1973 · 1 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 799-034, October 16, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417181865). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/799-034 (accessed November 9, 2026).