Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 912 › Conversation 912-004

Nixon & Bull on Republican Party and Cabinet meetings

Tuesday, May 8, 1973 · 10:16 AM–10:40 AM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Bull, Stephen B.Conversation912-004 on Tape 912StartTuesday, May 8, 1973 at 10:16 AMEndTuesday, May 8, 1973 at 10:40 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 912-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with his aide Stephen B. Bull to coordinate the scheduling of upcoming meetings, including a Republican fundraising dinner and a Cabinet gathering. The discussion focused on managing sensitive introductions by high-ranking officials and determining the guest list for the President's internal briefings. Ultimately, Nixon decided to cancel his meeting with the GOP leadership and rejected a proposal to receive an emissary from Bangladesh.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
with regard to that program.
I wonder if
He has to put in something else about our race.
Who's talking to him?
What I had to do was talk to him about the presence of men in the concentration center, et cetera, et cetera.
I really explained to him that it was a short book, but I didn't have to do the book.
Now, the idea of answering is what you know, right?
The point is, John Conlon is going to be here Thursday for a meeting that they're going to have at 9 o'clock.
And it occurred to me, as was supposed, that George might want to call him.
And George does it on his own.
And invited him to come to the meeting for him to introduce the president.
Who else did they have in mind?
The Vice President just yesterday requested to introduce you.
The Vice President, it wasn't even Senator Brown.
The Vice President requested it, not the Vice President wanted to introduce you.
Okay.
Well, I think we've got an awkward situation.
All right.
Maybe we've got to not have fun.
Keep them out of it.
I know, but I can't wait to see where we sit in terms of the possibility that he told me yesterday about the bipartisan and the cabinet building.
No, there's no bipartisan.
It's all bipartisan.
We just decided against that, so.
All right, sir.
You can forget the bipartisan this week.
The cabinet will be 9 o'clock Thursday morning.
Definitely.
And we've got to have the GOP leadership tomorrow.
The GOP leadership is tomorrow morning.
We just don't want that to happen, sir.
She said Wednesday or Thursday.
Or we can scrub that all together.
Scrub that.
Scrub the leaders this time.
All right.
There is a recommendation.
I may want to go with that Friday morning, but we'll see.
But just scrub the leaders.
I'm not ready for anything right now.
Recommendation.
All right.
Tomorrow, you receive an emissary from Daniel Adesh.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I will not do that.
Very much so.
That is how I got...
I've been to see secondary people from any of these countries before.
You have no desire to see how we're assembling here this weekend.
This is something you can do in the back.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Don't do any of the things.
There's no reason to do that at all.

NARA Description

On May 8, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:16 am and 10:40 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 912-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 912-4

Date: May 8, 1973
Time: Unknown between 10:16 am and 10:40 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Stephen B. Bull.

      President’s schedule
            -[Republican fundraising dinner]
                  -Arrangement
                                                -17-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                           Conversation No. 912-4 (cont’d)

                       -George H. W. Bush
                       -Bull and William E. Timmons [?]
                       -President’s introduction
                             -John B. Connally
                             -Bush
                             -Spiro T. Agnew
                             -William E. Brock, III
           -Bipartisan Congressional leaders
           -Cabinet
           -Republican Congressional leaders
           -Emissary from Bangladesh
           -Albert E. Sindlinger

Bull left at an unknown time before 10:40 am.

Also recorded on May 8, 1973

  • 912-003 9:23 AM · 50 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:23 am and 10:16 am.
  • 912-005 10:16 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:16 am and 10:40 am.
  • 912-006 10:16 AM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:16 am and 10:40 am.
  • 912-007 10:40 AM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:40 am to 10:46 am.
  • 912-008 10:46 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:46 am and 12:19 pm.
  • 912-009 10:46 AM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:46 am and 12:19 pm.
  • 912-010 10:46 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:46 am and 12:19 pm.
  • 045-165 10:52 AM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone on an unknown date, sometime between 10:52 am on May 8, 1973 and 7:38 am on May 9, 1973.

All 51 conversations from May 8, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 912-004, May 8, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/912-004 (accessed October 12, 2026).