Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 42 › Conversation 042-017

Nixon phone call with Butterfield on State dinner and Diplomatic Corps

Tuesday, April 6, 1971 · 11:19 AM–11:21 AM ET · White House Telephone · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation042-017 on Tape 42 (tape position 00:20:20–00:21:35)StartTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 11:19 AMEndTuesday, April 6, 1971 at 11:21 AMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 042-017 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417187789 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield reviewed final preparations for an upcoming formal white-tie dinner. They coordinated the protocol for the evening, specifically confirming that the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps would be first in the receiving line and would offer brief remarks in response to the President. The event, supported by the State Department and William B. Macomber, Jr., was structured to follow the precedent set by a previous dinner for African diplomats.

Audio

Download MP3 · 0.9 MB

NARA Description

On April 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield talked on the telephone from 11:19 am to 11:21 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 042-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 42-17

Date: April 6, 1971
Time: 11:19 am - 11:21 am
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with Alexander P. Butterfield.

[See Conversation No. 245-14]

     Arrangement for evening dinner
          -Patterned after African dinner
          -Dean of Diplomatic Corps
          -State Department
                -William B. Macomber, Jr.
          -Protocol
          -White tie

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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).

Hello.
Alex, a quick check on the dinner tonight.
My understanding is that we come down alone.
We don't bring the dean down with us or anything like that.
That's correct.
You said no yellow overall group.
We were going to pattern it after the African dinner.
Fine.
All right.
We'll do that.
You come down alone.
He's first in the line.
Who's that?
The dean?
Yes, the dean.
He's the first in line.
And you do make some remarks, and he will respond very briefly.
And he responds?
Yes, sir.
Good.
You see, the Africans did respond.
I wanted to be sure that he had the right to respond.
Yeah, the Liberian responded before, and he knows he's to respond in brief.
And then after that, we just go in and mingle with the crowd for a half hour, and that's it.
That's right.
And we've got the State Department guys and Macomber here to do their thing.
Great.
Yes, sir.
And there's music and so forth during the dinner.
Yes, sir.
White tie.
Yes, sir.
White tie.
Good.
Good.
Good.
All right.
Fine.
I think we're in good shape.
I've got that put together right now.
Great.
Great.
That's fine.
I just wanted to be sure that he was going to respond.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
All right, sir.

Also recorded on April 6, 1971

  • 042-014 11:11 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:11 am and 11:13 am.
  • 042-015 11:13 AM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Marjorie P. Acker talked on the telephone from 11:13 am to 11:14 am.
  • 245-012 11:13 AM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Marjorie P. Acker met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:13 am to 11:14 am.
  • 042-016 11:14 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:14 am and 11:19 am.
  • 245-013 11:14 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:14 am and 11:19 am.
  • 245-014 11:19 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 11:19 am to 11:21 am.
  • 042-018 11:21 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:21 am and 11:35 am.
  • 245-015 11:21 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 11:21 am and 11:35 am.

All 65 conversations from April 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 042-017, April 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417187789). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/042-017 (accessed October 31, 2026).