The Presidential Historical Materials of Stephen B. Bull, Special Assistant to the President and Appointments Secretary, are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration under the provisions of Title I of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-526, 88 Stat. 1695) and implementing regulations. In accordance with the act and regulations, personal and private materials have been returned to former President Nixon as the individual having primary proprietary interest in these items.
Materials covered by the act have been archivally processed and are described in this register. Items which are security classified or otherwise restricted under the act and regulations have been removed and placed in a closed file. A Document Withdrawal Record (GSA Form 7279 or NA Form 14021) with a description of each restricted document has been inserted at the beginning of each folder from which materials have been inserted at the beginning of each folder from which materials have been removed. A Document Control Record marks the original position of the withdrawn item.
Employees of the National Archives will review periodically the unclassified portions of materials for the purpose of opening those which no longer require restriction. Certain classified documents may be declassified under authority of Executive Order 13526 in response to a Mandatory Review Request (NA Form 14020) submitted by the researcher.
- Linear feet of materials: 2 linear feet, 7 linear inches
- Approximate number of pages: 4,000
Preservation Note
Holdings maintenance was performed on the collection in October 2011 in order to ensure the longevity of the documents. In some instances, the previous number of folders and/or boxes in a collection may have been increased. This finding aid has been updated to reflect any changes. The previous version of the finding aid is available upon request.
Stephen Beekman Bull was born on November 12, 1941 in New York City. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University in 1963. After graduating, he served in the United States Marine Corps from 1963 to 1966. He also married Ann Townsend during that time.
After leaving the military in 1966, Bull worked as a Special Projects Manager and then as Assistant to the President of the Canada Dry Corporation in New York City. He left Canada Dry in 1968. During July through November of the same year, Bull worked as an Advance Man on Richard Nixon's presidential campaign and then, from November to January 1969, as a member of Nixon's transition staff in New York.
After Nixon's 1969 Inauguration, Bull worked as a Staff Assistant to the President from 1969 to 1973. In 1972, Stephen Bull was named one of the Outstanding Young Men of America. From 1973 until President Nixon resigned in August 1974, Bull was Special Assistant to the President and Appointments Secretary. He continued to work with Nixon for a period of time after the President left office in August 1974.
By October 1976, Bull had become a researcher and public relations person for the Commission for Review of the National Policy toward Gambling, which was a congressionally-financed study group. He married Jeanne Quinlan, a staffer to both Presidents Nixon and Ford, in August 1976.
In subsequent years, Mr. Bull went on to work for the Philip Morris Company, the United States Olympic Committee, and to be a member of the Salvation Army's Board of Advisors.
The papers of Stephen B. Bull, Special Assistant to the President and Appointments Secretary, reflect the scheduling and appointments procedures, public relations efforts, and off-year election campaign strategy of the Nixon White House during the 1969-73 period. The greater part of the papers are memoranda regarding the Presidential telephone and contact program, appointments office procedures, and memoranda and reports concerning scheduling objectives. A major portion of the memoranda prior to February 1973, concerning Presidential activities, scheduling and telephone contact procedures, and image promoting events and techniques were exchanged between Bull and Dwight L. Chapin, the President's Appointments Secretary, or Bull and H.R. Haldeman, routed through Chapin.
Recurring throughout the files are materials relating to enhancement of the President's image through use of his routine activities, such as greeting visitors and making telephone calls. Related and intermingled with the materials concerning Nixon's public image are the 1972 Presidential campaign strategies, which consisted of scheduling Presidential events and trips in a manner that would enhance the President's visibility without making it appear that he was actively campaigning.
The files were received in random order and were subsequently rearranged in six series reflecting the major functions of Stephen Bull's position. Two portraits of President Nixon and a photograph of a plague given to Nelson Rockefeller have been removed to the audiovisual collection and replaced with photocopies.
The materials are arranged into six series:
- Telephone and Contact Program
- Appointment Office Procedures
- Public Relations
- Presidential Travel
- Scheduling Objectives, Including 1972 Campaign
- Presidential Image
Boxes: 1-2
Series: Telephone and Contact Program
Spans: 1969 - 1973
Description: Memoranda, including an occasional newspaper or magazine clipping, schedule of events or diagram. Arranged in reverse chronological order.
Boxes: 3
Series: Appointment Office Procedures
Spans: 1970 - 1973
Description: Memoranda, also an occasional diagram and newspaper clipping, concerning White House Appointments Office procedures, matters pertaining to the Secret Service, the President's EOB office, and staff tours of the West Wing and residential areas of the White House. Arranged in reverse chronological order.
Boxes: 4
Series: Public Relations
Spans: 1970 - 1973
Description: Copies and carbons of the Anecdotalist (Color Reporter) File - Internal public relations writeups of the Presidential events for possible distribution to media. Arranged in reverse chronological order.
Memoranda relating to the filming of the NBC special, "A Day in the Life of the President," on December 6, 1971, including the "Log of Presidential Activities" for Monday, December 6.
Boxes: 4
Series: Presidential Travel
Spans: 1969 - 1971
Description: Multiple copies, preliminary and final version, of a report listing all countries visited by Nixon since 1947 along with estimated total air mileage; copies of summaries of the travel patterns of former Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt through Lyndon Johnson and Nixon's trips from 1969 through 1971; off-year political activities of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson; and memoranda and a projected schedule of possible Presidential visits and trips, Summer 1971.
Boxes: 5
Series: Scheduling Objectives, Including 1972 Campaign
Spans: 1971 - 1973
Description: Memoranda, monthly calendars, 20 month scheduling objectives, tabulation of scheduling objectives by category, schedule formats, and 1972 campaign plans and budget. Filed by subject, some in reverse chronological order.
Boxes: 6
Series: Presidential Image
Spans: 1970 - 1972
Description: Memoranda on Presidential activities correlated with public approval ratings in Gallup polls; memoranda on photo press opportunities; analyses of Presidential meetings and appointments with members of representative of ethnic groups; and memoranda and correspondence regarding Presidential portraits sittings. Arranged by subject and by reverse chronological order thereunder.
TELEPHONE AND CONTACT PROGRAM, 1969-73
Box 1
Telephone and Contact Program [1 of 2]
Telephone and Contact Program [2 of 2]
Phone Calls Submitted to President [1969] [1 of 2]
Phone Calls Submitted to President [1969] [2 of 2]
Phone Calls Submitted to President [1970-73] [1 of 3]
Phone Calls Submitted to President [1970-73] [2 of 3]
Phone Calls Submitted to President [1970-73] [3 of 3]
Phone Calls Submitted to President — ’73 [1 of 2]
Phone Calls Submitted to President — ’73 [2 of 2]
Memoranda to the President [1969-73] [1 of 2]
Memoranda to the President [1969-73] [2 of 2]
Box 2
Memoranda for D.L.C. [Dwight L. Chapin] Sept. 1969-May 1970 [1 of 3]
Memoranda for D.L.C. [Dwight L. Chapin] Sept. 1969-May 1970 [2 of 3]
Memoranda for D.L.C. [Dwight L. Chapin] Sept. 1969-May 1970 [3 of 3]
Memoranda for D.L.C. [Dwight L. Chapin] June 1970-Dec. 1970
APPOINTMENTS OFFICE PROCEDURES, 1970-73
Box 3
Appointments Office Procedures [I] [1 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [I] [2 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [II] [1 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [II] [2 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [III] [1 of 3]
Appointments Office Procedures [III] [2 of 3]
Appointments Office Procedures [III] [3 of 3]
Appointments Office Procedures [IV] [1 of 3]
Appointments Office Procedures [IV] [2 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [V] [1 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [V] [2 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [VI] [1 of 2]
Appointments Office Procedures [VI] [2 of 2]
Secret Service
President’s E.O.B. Office [and Staff Tours of West Wing and Residence]
PUBLIC RELATIONS, 1970-73
Box 4
Anecdotalist (Color Reporter) File [1 of 3]
Anecdotalist (Color Reporter) File [2 of 3]
Anecdotalist (Color Reporter) File [3 of 3]
“A Day in the Life of the President,” 12/6/71 [1 of 3]
“A Day in the Life of the President,” 12/6/71 [2 of 3]
“A Day in the Life of the President,” 12/6/71 [3 of 3]
Memo to Ron Ziegler RE: Presidential Activities
PRESIDENTIAL TRAVEL, 1969-71
List of Countries Visited by President Since ’47 [1 of 3]
List of Countries Visited by President Since ’47 [2 of 3]
List of Countries Visited by President Since ’47 [3 of 3]
Patterns of Presidential Travel [1 of 5]
Patterns of Presidential Travel [2 of 5]
Patterns of Presidential Travel [3 of 5]
Patterns of Presidential Travel [4 of 5]
Patterns of Presidential Travel [5 of 5]
Off Year Political Activity by Previous Presidents
Possible Presidential Visits and Trips [Summer 1971]
SCHEDULING OBJECTIVES, INCLUDING 1972 CAMPAIGN, 1971-73
Box 5
Scheduling Planning [Feb. 1971 for 20 months period]
Scheduling Objectives-Quarterly Reports: Presidential Scheduling [1971-72] [1 of 3]
Scheduling Objectives-Quarterly Reports: Presidential Scheduling [1971-72] [2 of 3]
Scheduling Objectives-Quarterly Reports: Presidential Scheduling [1971-72] [3 of 3]
[Scheduling Objectives, 1971] [Removed from binder] [I] [1 of 2]
[Scheduling Objectives, 1971] [Removed from binder] [I] [2 of 2]
[Scheduling Objectives, 1971] [Removed from binder] [II] [1 of 2]
[Scheduling Objectives, 1971] [Removed from binder] [II] [2 of 2]
Schedule--General--Formats, Forms Samples--1972 Campaign
1972 Plan
Presidential Scheduling Objectives--1972
Political Budget for 1972
Republican National Convention--1972
Presidential Schedule Suggestions [1973] [1 of 3]
Presidential Schedule Suggestions [1973] [2 of 3]
Presidential Schedule Suggestions [1973] [3 of 3]
Presidential Schedule (Monthly) [1973]
PRESIDENTIAL IMAGE, 1970-72
Box 6
Presidential Activities and Public Approval: POLLS [1 of 2]
Relationship between Presidential Activities and Public Approval [1 of 2]
Relationship between Presidential Activities and Public Approval [1 of 2]
Pres.: Photo Press Opportunities--Jan. 1, 1970 - March 31, 1970
Analysis of Pres. Appmts. [sic] on an Ethnic Basis
Presidential Activities and Public Approval: POLLS [2 of 2]
[Presidential Activities and Principle New Events] [1 of 3]
[Presidential Activities and Principle New Events] [2 of 3]
[Presidential Activities and Principle New Events] [3 of 3]
Portrait Sittings [1 of 2]
Portrait Sittings [2 of 2]
[Portraits of RMN - B & W Photo, Color Photo]
[Color photo of plaque given to Nelson Rockefeller]