Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 269 › Conversation 269-026

Nixon & Butterfield on Cabinet meeting agenda and Veteran employment

Tuesday, August 3, 1971 · 1:40 PM–1:47 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation269-026 on Tape 269 (tape position 05:24:36–05:31:02)StartTuesday, August 3, 1971 at 1:40 PMEndTuesday, August 3, 1971 at 1:47 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 269-026 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Butterfield met to coordinate the administrative agenda for an upcoming Cabinet meeting and manage various logistical scheduling matters. They deliberated on the inclusion of topics such as veteran employment and departmental reports from figures like the Vice President, while also discussing the strategic optics of a potentially divisive policy issue. The President ultimately declined a request to meet with Jack J. Dreyfuss, Jr. due to scheduling constraints.

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.1 MB

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

Listen to the full tape segment

Position in tape: 05:24:36 – 05:31:02

part C, 1:24:05

269a.mp3
269b.mp3
269c.mp3
269d.mp3

NARA Description

On August 3, 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 1:40 pm and 1:47 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 269-026 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 269-26

Date: August 3, 1971
Time: Unknown after 1:40 pm until 1:47 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     President’s signature

     President's schedule
          -Forthcoming Cabinet meeting, August 5, 1971
                 -Agenda
                       -Blue collar employment
                       -James D. Hodgson
                             -Veteran employment
                       -John D. Ehrlichman
                       -Vice President
                       -Participants
                             -David M. Kennedy
                             -Elliot Richardson
                       -Vice President's trip to Africa
                       -William P. Rogers
                       -Robert H. Finch
                       -George P. Shultz
                             -Civil service grades
          -Jack J. Dreyfuss, Jr.
                 -Gen. Walter R. Tkach
          -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
          -Tkach
                 -Pierre E. Trudeau

Butterfield left at 1:47 pm.

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).

Yeah.
Is there anything I have to do?
No, go on.
Hold everything up.
Yeah, yeah.
I'll get it.
I'll sign it up.
One minute.
Yes, sir.
I don't need it.
I don't have to do this stuff.
I just don't have to bother you.
No, I don't want to bother you.
The thing that I want to resolve, if I can, is this cabinet agenda for Thursday morning, because... Well, there's no chance.
Well, there are only two options.
One is problems with a blue-collar worker behind one senior baron.
We're not sure yet.
No, no, no.
And the other is having Jim Hudson report on what he's doing on veteran employment, which is something we thought about last time, too.
Why don't you have the vice president report this time?
You're going to have old Kevin in these areas and Tangy in there.
Have the vice president report to the security.
Have Roger say we're about to do that thing.
Roger spent five months at the vice president's reports here.
A couple of little things that Rob Finch has been trying to get Everington in to say.
Ten minutes.
Ten minutes.
Those of you who want to pick up, those of you who want to join, we'll call the worker, and I'll just report it to you.
The little ones are Heatherington and Schultz wanted to have about five minutes to talk about a new program that will be exempt from any curbing escalation of grades in civil service.
All right, fine.
That's okay, it's fine.
Okay, so I think that if Jack Dreyfuss is here with Takashi, he wants to know if you want to shake his hand.
He just had lunch with Takashi.
So I'm going to check the...
He's going to be here until about mid-afternoon, until he hears from me.
Yes or no?
Dreyfuss is not aware.
Check it.
I'd like to see him another time, but I can't do it today.
I can't do it today.
But I'll have an opportunity to just make a note to him and tell him how she did it.
And there's nothing else there at all?

Also recorded on August 3, 1971

  • 269-027 1:47 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.
  • 269-028 1:47 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.
  • 269-029 1:47 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.
  • 269-030 1:47 PM · 43 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.
  • 269-031 1:47 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.
  • 269-032 1:47 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.
  • 269-033 1:47 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.
  • 269-034 1:47 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:47 pm and 3:40 pm.

All 45 conversations from August 3, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 269-026, August 3, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/269-026 (accessed November 7, 2026).