Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 842 › Conversation 842-012

Nixon & Bull on State Dinner and Eisuku Sato

Thursday, January 25, 1973 · 4:55 PM–5:00 PM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.Conversation842-012 on Tape 842StartThursday, January 25, 1973 at 4:55 PMEndThursday, January 25, 1973 at 5:00 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 842-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Stephen B. Bull reviewed the guest list for an upcoming state dinner honoring former Japanese Prime Minister Eisuku Sato. Nixon exercised strict control over the invitations, explicitly excluding various cabinet members, senators, and White House staff to focus on specific Japanese-American relations. Additionally, the pair briefly discussed logistics for a dinner honoring Georgia O'Keeffe and reviewed speech drafts for upcoming policy announcements.

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.9 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).
Sir, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions about some social movements next week.
Asado is in there, what does he have, do you want to inform him he's in there?
You indicated that you wanted Mr. Mrs. Kendall to be there.
Yeah, that's there.
And you also noted that you know the number of NSC and know about state departments.
I have the names of some people there which you might wish to consider.
Mr. and Mrs. John Rockefeller declared?
No.
Senator and Mrs. Scott?
No.
Would you want to even consider Secretary and Mrs. Rogers?
No.
All right.
Others who've had involvement in any of your Japanese affairs, would you include?
Peter Flanagan?
No.
Would you consider?
I don't think they've got to.
I don't want to include any people from the White House who have been to Menard's before.
We're going to literally get through.
What was suggested in the head of Mitsui in New York, you know?
Uh, no.
No.
No.
I knew you wanted the ambassador there.
Yeah.
Where should I... Oh, sure.
He's not here.
The other man who was brought up was right in the tent.
The secretary of town.
No.
He's not here.
Whereas the only outsider we have is, uh, is, uh, not in the handle.
Not in the handle.
Are you taking any terms of the press there?
Well, just leave me the list and I'll let you know.
This is for next.
These are the questions we've got.
I'll figure out.
With regard to the Keith dinner, this will be fairly much a standing dinner with the regular press, including North Portico and one of the grand staircase.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This is going to be a policy that's going to be stated in the next meeting.
The policy of giving this speech is compelling to me.
The changes that I made in the draft that they, that actually, that they give out to the press, of course, and, uh...

NARA Description

On January 25, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:55 pm and 5:00 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 842-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 842-12

Date: January 25, 1973
Time: Unknown between 4:55 and 5:00 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

       The President's schedule
            -State Dinner, 1/31/73
                  -Eisuku Sato
                  -Donald M. Kendall
                  -John D. Rockefeller III
                  -Hugh Scott
                  -William P. Rogers
                  -Peter M. Flanigan
                  -Head of Mitsui in New York
                  -Nobuhiko Ushiba, Ambassador from Japan to the US
                  -Frederick B. Dent
                  -Kendall
                  -Frank Zarb

       Georgia O'Keefe dinner
            -Press
            -Entertainment

       Howard Stevens
           -Speech copy
           -Press

Bull left at an unknown time before 5:00 pm.

Also recorded on January 25, 1973

  • 405-012 2:16 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:16 pm and 3:31 pm.
  • 405-016 3:31 PM · 57 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:31 pm to 4:33 pm.
  • 842-010 4:55 PM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Manolo Sanchez, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:55 pm and 5:00 pm.
  • 842-011 4:55 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:55 pm and 5:00 pm.
  • 842-013 5:00 PM · 1 hr 57 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), Henry A. Kissinger, Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, and Richard M. Helms met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:00 pm to 6:58 pm.
  • 036-112 5:34 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:34 pm and 6:18 pm.
  • 036-113 6:18 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Richard M. Helms talked on the telephone from 6:18 pm to 6:22 pm.
  • 036-114 6:22 PM · 30 sec — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and the White House operator talked on the telephone on an unknown date, sometime between 6:22 pm on January 25, 1973 and 1:18 pm on January 30, 1973.

All 40 conversations from January 25, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 842-012, January 25, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/842-012 (accessed October 6, 2026).