{"conversationCode":"253-033","tapeNumber":253,"conversationNumber":33,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-253-033","startDateTime":"1971-05-26T22:50:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-26T22:58:00.000Z","startDate":"26-May-1971","startTime":"6:50 PM","endDate":"26-May-1971","endTime":"6:58 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On May 26, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 6:58 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 253-033 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 253-33\n\nDate: May 26, 1971\nTime: Unknown after 6:50 pm until 6:58 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield\n\n     Items for President’s signature\n\n     Veterans of the Office of Strategic Services [OSS] convention\n          -Dr. David K. E. Bruce\n                -President’s possible attendance\n                -President’s meetings with Bruce\n                -Bill Donovan Medal\n          -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew’s possible attendance\n\n     President’s call to J. Edgar Hoover\n\n     An unknown event\n          -Secor D. Browne\n          -Donald L. Jackson\n\n     President’s call to Hoover\n\nButterfield left at 6:58 pm","filename":["253-033.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:57:39","tapeEnd":"02:59:11","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"253-032","nextCode":"253-034","transcript":[{"start":0.2,"end":2.66,"text":"Do you have something to sign?"},{"start":2.68,"end":2.96,"text":"No, I don't."},{"start":2.98,"end":4.49,"text":"But I thought I'd mention this to you."},{"start":4.53,"end":5.55,"text":"There's another request for you."},{"start":5.59,"end":6.17,"text":"The request is tonight."},{"start":6.19,"end":9.73,"text":"The veterans of the USS are giving an award to your veteran, Bruce, tonight."},{"start":9.75,"end":10.09,"text":"At this time."},{"start":10.11,"end":12.63,"text":"Because you saw him today and you'll see him tomorrow."},{"start":12.71,"end":12.75,"text":"No."},{"start":12.79,"end":15.19,"text":"I can't do that."},{"start":15.21,"end":19.88,"text":"I saw him today and I haven't seen him in a while."},{"start":20.34,"end":20.98,"text":"I shouldn't go off."},{"start":21.45,"end":21.66,"text":"Too often."},{"start":22.28,"end":26.84,"text":"Let's drop by at the end of the day."},{"start":26.86,"end":27.4,"text":"It's time for lunch."},{"start":30.21,"end":32.93,"text":"We better do something else."},{"start":33.27,"end":43.54,"text":"He's getting that Bill Donovan bill, which they do annually against the OSS guys."},{"start":43.56,"end":44.6,"text":"Great thing."},{"start":44.62,"end":45.14,"text":"Give it to all of us."},{"start":45.52,"end":45.86,"text":"Okay, the clerk."},{"start":46.12,"end":47.28,"text":"Well, I know it's a good thing."},{"start":47.3,"end":49,"text":"I just, I think we should."},{"start":49.04,"end":53.25,"text":"We're going to do something else for more important than that waiver."},{"start":53.31,"end":55.49,"text":"So I must do this."},{"start":56.17,"end":56.57,"text":"Right."},{"start":56.63,"end":58.13,"text":"Would you call to see if that would be the right bill?"},{"start":59.49,"end":62.05,"text":"Can I do this?"},{"start":62.37,"end":62.63,"text":"Oh, yes."},{"start":63.45,"end":67.87,"text":"I think it's very important."},{"start":68.07,"end":68.87,"text":"I wish he would."},{"start":68.99,"end":69.65,"text":"All right, sure."},{"start":69.67,"end":69.83,"text":"Okay."},{"start":70.47,"end":73.75,"text":"What about the, you will keep working on these other projects?"},{"start":73.81,"end":74.29,"text":"Yes, we are."},{"start":74.31,"end":78.64,"text":"We're still picking up some regrets because of the way our C4 Brown accepted."},{"start":78.76,"end":79.1,"text":"Yeah, good."},{"start":79.5,"end":82.28,"text":"That's the only exception so far that they've told me about."},{"start":82.44,"end":84.08,"text":"Invite Don Jackson to the ICC."},{"start":84.1,"end":86.18,"text":"All right, a member."},{"start":87.79,"end":90.79,"text":"All right."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander Butterfield met to discuss administrative scheduling, specifically evaluating whether the President should attend an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) convention event honoring David K. E. Bruce. Nixon declined to attend the award ceremony but expressed interest in other potential engagement opportunities. Additionally, the pair coordinated an upcoming phone call to J. Edgar Hoover and discussed personnel appointments, including the invitation of Donald L. Jackson to the Interstate Commerce Commission.","topics":["OSS","David K. E. Bruce","J. Edgar Hoover","Scheduling","Personnel appointments","Donald L. Jackson"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T11:55:53.986Z"},"topicSlugs":["oss","david-k-e-bruce","j-edgar-hoover","scheduling","personnel-appointments","donald-l-jackson"],"audioDurationSec":92,"audioFiles":[{"file":"253-033.mp3","bytes":3673524,"durationSec":91.69,"bitrate":320502,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:36.695Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/253-033.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/253-033","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/253/conversation-253-033","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}