Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 710 › Conversation 710-002

Nixon & Butterfield on document signing and White House operator

Monday, April 17, 1972 · 4:56 PM–4:59 PM ET · Oval Office · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.; White House operatorConversation710-002 on Tape 710 (tape position 00:02:26–00:03:38)StartMonday, April 17, 1972 at 4:56 PMEndMonday, April 17, 1972 at 4:59 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 710-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon briefly met with Alexander Butterfield in the Oval Office to sign documents. The conversation also included a short call to the White House operator, likely related to confirming details for an upcoming event the following morning, specifically a Tuesday event scheduled for 10:00 AM.

Audio

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This clip was extracted from the full tape recording by Easy Nixon.

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 00:02:26 – 00:03:38

2:45

710a.mp3

NARA Description

On April 17, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:56 pm and 4:59 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 710-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 710-2

Date: April 17, 1972
Time: Unknown after 4:56 pm until 4:59 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     [Signing documents]

The President talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 4:56 and 4:59
pm.

[Conversation No. 710-2A]

[See Conversation No. 23-9]

[End of telephone conversation]

     The President's schedule
          -Tuesday event
               -Time

Butterfield left at 4:59 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).

NixonWould you run in with this, the uh, would you please get these?
ButterfieldYes, sir.
Nixon[unintelligible] just thought you might to be reminded of it.
ButterfieldThat's tomorrow. Yes, sir, it's tomorrow, this morning.
Butterfield[unintelligible] that would be 10:00 our time, I believe. 7:00.
NixonOh.

Also recorded on April 17, 1972

  • 331-010 3:55 PM · 29 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Manolo Sanchez, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:55 pm to 4:48 pm.
  • 023-009 4:56 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:56 pm and 4:59 pm.
  • 710-001 4:56 PM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:56 pm and 4:59 pm.
  • 023-010 4:59 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 4:59 pm to 5:02 pm.
  • 710-003 4:59 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:59 pm to 5:02 pm.
  • 710-004 5:02 PM · 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Melvin R. Laird, and Adm. Thomas H. Moorer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:02 pm to 5:50 pm.
  • 710-005 5:50 PM · 56 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:50 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 023-011 5:56 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 8:11 pm.

All 49 conversations from April 17, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 710-002, April 17, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/710-002 (accessed November 8, 2026).