{"conversationCode":"268-004","tapeNumber":268,"conversationNumber":4,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-268-004","startDateTime":"1971-08-02T18:53:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-08-02T19:00:00.000Z","startDate":"2-Aug-1971","startTime":"2:53 PM","endDate":"2-Aug-1971","endTime":"3:00 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On August 2, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:53 pm to 3:00 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 268-004 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 268-004\nDate: August 2, 1971\nTime: 2:53 pm - 3:00 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\nPresident's schedule\n-Call to secretaries\nRepublic of China, Taiwan\n-President’s personnel representative [Ronald W. Reagan]\n-Henry A. Kissinger’s staff\n-Governor’s meeting\n-California\n-Reagan\n-National Diet ceremonies\n-Airplane\nButterfield left at 3:00 pm.","filename":["268-004.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:38:35","tapeEnd":"00:42:56","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"268-003","nextCode":"268-005","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":2.83,"text":"They're going to get a couple of signatures before."},{"start":33.33,"end":51.84,"text":"Now, every step's a little fuzzy, but we've got to be a little transparent, and that's what we've done in the meeting on the California building here."},{"start":51.86,"end":53.6,"text":"We've regarded it as a good job to represent the National Red Settlement as a top line."},{"start":53.62,"end":56.27,"text":"If he's to be a personal representative, which I assume he is, and we've gotten that to the President's letter, that's the question."},{"start":56.29,"end":56.77,"text":"That way we can take it."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to coordinate the President's upcoming schedule and administrative personnel matters. The discussion focused on the logistics of engaging Ronald Reagan as a personal representative, alongside briefings regarding the Republic of China and various California-based meetings. They further addressed the procedural requirements for formal documentation and the transparency needed for high-level appointments.","topics":["Presidential scheduling","Ronald Reagan","Republic of China","Personnel appointments","Administrative procedure"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T12:29:47.358Z"},"topicSlugs":["presidential-scheduling","ronald-reagan","republic-of-china","personnel-appointments","administrative-procedure"],"audioDurationSec":61,"audioFiles":[{"file":"268-004.mp3","bytes":2443815,"durationSec":60.95,"bitrate":320766,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.007Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/268-004.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/268-004","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/268/conversation-268-004","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}