{"conversationCode":"024-018","tapeNumber":24,"conversationNumber":18,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-024-018","startDateTime":"1972-05-09T01:45:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-05-09T01:57:00.000Z","startDate":"8-May-1972","startTime":"9:45 PM","endDate":"8-May-1972","endTime":"9:57 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.; Haldeman, H. R. (\"Bob\");","description":"On May 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and H. R. (\"Bob\") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:45 pm and 9:57 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 024-018 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 24-18\n\nDate: May 8, 1972\nTime: Unknown between 9:45 pm and 9:57 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nAlexander P. Butterfield talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman.\n\n[See also Conversation No. 336-69B]\n\n     Request for a call to the President\n         -Call from Melvin R. Laird\n                -Purpose\n\nHaldeman conferred with the President at an unknown time.\n\n[See Conversation No. 336-69]\n\n[End of conferral]\n\n     Laird's call\n          -Completion","filename":["024-018.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:17:12","tapeEnd":"00:17:40","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P.","Haldeman, H. R. (\"Bob\")"],"prevCode":"024-017","nextCode":"024-019","transcript":[{"start":1.35,"end":2.95,"text":"Who's this?"},{"start":2.97,"end":4.15,"text":"This is Bob Haldeman."},{"start":4.17,"end":4.59,"text":"Who's calling?"},{"start":4.73,"end":5.49,"text":"Oh, Bob Haldeman."},{"start":5.51,"end":6.29,"text":"Alex, hi."},{"start":6.31,"end":6.79,"text":"It's me."},{"start":6.82,"end":7.22,"text":"What do you want?"},{"start":7.78,"end":8.42,"text":"I don't want anything."},{"start":8.54,"end":9.54,"text":"I've got you by mistake."},{"start":9.82,"end":10.98,"text":"Oh, you just rang the president."},{"start":11,"end":11.76,"text":"Are you with the president?"},{"start":11.78,"end":12.06,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":12.08,"end":15.41,"text":"Well, Mel Laird is calling in, and I thought the president might want to talk to him."},{"start":15.43,"end":18.25,"text":"I think he was called to the Pentagon and wants to explain to the president."},{"start":18.75,"end":19.37,"text":"Just a second."},{"start":19.39,"end":21.18,"text":"Laird's calling in to explain why he wasn't there."},{"start":21.2,"end":23.3,"text":"You don't need to talk to him, do you?"},{"start":23.32,"end":23.56,"text":"No, I won't."},{"start":23.58,"end":25.12,"text":"You want to talk to him?"},{"start":25.26,"end":25.36,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":25.38,"end":26.06,"text":"Okay, ring him through."},{"start":26.24,"end":27.09,"text":"Okay, I can do that."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"Alexander Butterfield contacted H. R. Haldeman to facilitate a phone call from Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to President Nixon. Haldeman consulted with the President, who initially declined to speak with Laird before reversing his decision and requesting that the call be patched through. The exchange functioned as a brief coordination effort to connect the Secretary of Defense with the President regarding his recent absence from the Pentagon.","topics":["Melvin Laird","H. R. Haldeman","Alexander Butterfield","Communication coordination","Pentagon","Presidential scheduling"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T02:48:46.787Z"},"topicSlugs":["melvin-laird","h-r-haldeman","alexander-butterfield","communication-coordination","pentagon","presidential-scheduling"],"audioDurationSec":28,"audioFiles":[{"file":"024-018.mp3","bytes":674585,"durationSec":28.05,"bitrate":192422,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:27.840Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/024-018.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/024-018","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/24/conversation-024-018","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}