Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 848 › Conversation 848-006

Nixon, Woods & Bull on White House administration and State dinner

Monday, February 5, 1973 · 9:36 AM–9:46 AM ET · Oval Office · 7 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Woods, Rose Mary; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation848-006 on Tape 848StartMonday, February 5, 1973 at 9:36 AMEndMonday, February 5, 1973 at 9:46 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 848-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, and assistant Stephen B. Bull to coordinate administrative tasks and social planning. The discussion focused on managing the President's personal correspondence with celebrity acquaintances like Jane Wyman, delegating the handling of incoming telephone calls, and finalizing the guest list for an upcoming state dinner for King Hussein of Jordan. Nixon emphasized the need for a more structured approach to managing his communications to ensure effective engagement with his contacts.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Good morning.
Rose, I want to ask you a couple of things.
Would you, sometime today...
Would you check to see whether, do you remember Jane?
I'll check with them.
If we didn't really share it, I'll check simply because she's friends.
I don't know if she showed up on Celebrity, but she's written a nice letter.
Is she a friend?
Oh, she's written a nice letter.
I don't know.
See if I have one.
I want to write her about it.
If she's written a nice letter, do check it out and see if we've met any progress.
I know we have.
She wrote me a nice letter for your birthday, and I think she's the one who sent you a wire with...
uh, that Louise, um, one of the doctors used to see in New York with her husband.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Great.
Their birthday was on the same issue.
I saw it.
I saw it on the right.
I saw it on the thing.
Who's the other nice one?
Oh, the lady on, she's so, she's a very nice person.
Well, I don't think either one of them are on our list.
Oh, I know that.
I didn't, I didn't.
They're not the kind to come out.
Oh, I don't care if they're on the list.
I just wanted to know whether they're living.
Jane Wyman has just recently written a beautiful letter.
You'll never hear it again.
I'll ask you to tell her.
I saw it already.
But I saw her that weekend, too old.
I want to be sure that... Well, I know Jane Wyman is, and I'll check with her again.
I haven't seen her.
Would you see whether Eugene Ormond, if you could stop the subject, and at four o'clock, you know, then maybe read, what letter, if anyone, would be here?
So if you know now, it takes, didn't happen anyway.
Thank you.
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
We've got not so much mail, but sometimes it's been 830 and we still sign, but then you don't remember all the names.
I think I may have spoken to you before.
I wrote it down.
I want you to get together with, you know, at some point about that telephone call thing, or I think of those three calls you made.
I'm just thinking that...
That's about 80% or 90% of students fighting amongst themselves.
And the fight has kept me from getting in a conversation with them about their problems.
And, uh, you can make calls, or we can make calls, all of them can make calls.
In other words, I've told all of them to do it, but it must be done on a, what we call a, it has to be done on a... model so that you look for them, you know what I mean?
And, uh...
It would be a big help to me to do it.
Because I'm curious to know after.
Oh, it was quite obvious they were very thrilled to hear.
Well, I'm sure they got a lot of marketing.
I don't know if I can say something about marketing or something.
But I know all of them.
All of them.
Let's see.
Do you know what music they have tomorrow?
Any chance?
And there was somebody I was going to ask you.
Okay.
Very gently.
I said, do you know what I'm going to sing?
Okay.
I've got the list up there.
Um, look, Penn and I used to come and visit, but he used to be over in...
Right.
...Rome for that, uh, special place that's going to make us... Good.
...try to help us out.
Yeah, I thought somebody might just be judging us, and they just don't keep telling us, I remember.
You talked to them?
No, I just thought of somebody, and I can't remember the name right now.
Somebody here in town.
Rudy?
Not yet.
He can come later.
He can come.
Oh, not yet.
I'm talking about Williambury.
No.
But Mama will call him on occasion.
Well, it's all right.
I mean, he's fine.
But because he's done a lot of work.
But I mean, there's no...
He should be the father's head of the American Ambulance.
But he should be.
There's no emergency.
We have some space because we have only 160 moms.
That's right.
We could call Clark McGregor.
That's what I'm saying.
Clark McGregor.
Let's get some of that .
I want to be sure Clark gets in push.

NARA Description

On February 5, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:36 am to 9:46 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 848-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 848-6

Date: February 5, 1973
Time: 9:36 am - 9:43 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Rose Mary Woods.

      The President’s schedule
             -Telephone call
                    -Alice Roosevelt Longworth
                    -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon
                    -Tea
             -Jane Wyman
                    -Visit to White House
                    -Ronald W. Reagan
                    -Letters to the President
                            -The President’s birthday
                            -Telegram
                    -Attitude to administration
                                               -9-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                               Conversation No. 848-6 (cont’d)

                             -Loretta Young
              -Eugene Ormandz
                     -Wreath
                     -Letter
                     -Wreath
                             -Lyndon B. Johnson’s funeral
                             -1973 Inauguration
              -Mail
                     -Amount
              -Telephone calls for the President
                     -Woods’s role
                     -John D. Ehrlichman
                     -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman

       State dinner for Hussein ibn Talal [King Hussein of Jordan]
               -Music
               -Guest list
                      -William J. Baroody, Jr.
                             -Haldeman
                             -William J. Baroody, Sr.
                                     -American Enterprise Institute [AEI]
                      -Clark MacGregor
                      -Bryce N. Harlow
                      -George H. W. Bush

Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 9:36 am.

       Meeting with E. William Timmons

Bull left at an unknown time before 9:43 am.

       State dinner for King Hussein
               -Guest list
                      -MacGregor

Woods left at 9:43 am.
                                            -10-

                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Also recorded on February 5, 1973

  • 848-001 8:20 AM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:20 am and 9:03 am.
  • 848-005 9:33 AM · 34 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:33 am and 9:36 am.
  • 848-007 9:43 AM · 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William E. Timmons, and Thomas C. Korologos met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:43 am to 9:59 am.
  • 848-008 9:59 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:59 am and 10:05 am.
  • 848-009 10:05 AM · 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:05 am to 10:38 am.
  • 848-018 10:38 AM · 12 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:38 am and 11:09 am.
  • 848-019 10:38 AM · 9 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:38 am and 11:09 am.
  • 112-002 10:40 AM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the Pay Board and Price Commission, including Donald Rumsfeld, James W. McLane, George H. Boldt, Robert P. Tiernan, Kermit Gordon, Arnold R. Weber, William G. Caples, Dr. C. Jackson ("Dan") Grayson, Jr., William B. Lewis, William T. Coleman, Jr., Mary T. Hamilton, Robert F. Lanzillotti, John William Queenan, and J. Wilson Newman, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 10:40 am to 11:08 am.

All 38 conversations from February 5, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 848-006, February 5, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/848-006 (accessed October 9, 2026).