{"conversationCode":"279-001","tapeNumber":279,"conversationNumber":1,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-279-001","startDateTime":"1971-09-22T13:50:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-09-22T13:55:00.000Z","startDate":"22-Sep-1971","startTime":"9:50 AM","endDate":"22-Sep-1971","endTime":"9:55 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On September 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 9:50 am to 9:55 am. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 279-001 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. 279-1\n\nDate: September 22, 1971\nTime: 9:50 am - 9:55 am\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     Items for the President's signature\n\n[Signing documents]\n\n     Presidential appointments\n           -Security clearances\n                -Irving Brown\n                       -Jay Lovestone\n                -Background\n                -Presidential appointment\n                -Support for administration\n           -Memorandum\n                -The President's desk\n                       -Oval Office\n                       -William P. Rogers\n           -Brown\n\n     Butterfield\n          -Briefing book of questions and answers\n                 -The President's desk\n                      -Oval Office\n\nButterfield left at 9:55 am.","filename":["279-001.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:11:00","tapeEnd":"00:14:20","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"278-073","nextCode":"279-002","transcript":[{"start":2.89,"end":9.55,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":31.53,"end":32.58,"text":"Oh, dear."},{"start":77.53,"end":89.24,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":90.16,"end":91.98,"text":"Okay."},{"start":97.22,"end":107.75,"text":"Well, I want to know how you feel about the guy, a fellow named Irving Brown, who's just like Jay Huston."},{"start":107.81,"end":110.05,"text":"He used to be a communist."},{"start":110.17,"end":112.05,"text":"He had a big break."},{"start":112.13,"end":114.09,"text":"He hasn't been around."},{"start":115.11,"end":116.31,"text":"He's all right."},{"start":117.14,"end":117.5,"text":"I know him."},{"start":119.48,"end":121.12,"text":"He's just like him."},{"start":121.16,"end":121.82,"text":"Since 1930, he's been..."},{"start":123.94,"end":126.55,"text":"I think it's just something ."},{"start":151.45,"end":152.03,"text":"It's on the back."},{"start":152.31,"end":153.75,"text":"Just don't ask for it."},{"start":153.81,"end":156.19,"text":"It's on my desk."},{"start":156.23,"end":163.7,"text":"Yeah, it was over there."},{"start":163.72,"end":164.02,"text":"I saw it."},{"start":164.14,"end":169.99,"text":"I just didn't have to bring it over this morning."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon met with Alexander P. Butterfield to handle routine administrative tasks, including the signing of presidential documents and the review of a briefing book. The two discussed the security clearance and political background of Irving Brown, comparing his ideological history to Jay Lovestone. Nixon provided brief instructions regarding the handling of specific memoranda and materials located on his desk in the Oval Office.","topics":["Presidential appointments","Security clearances","Irving Brown","Administrative procedures","Executive Office management"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T13:01:46.763Z"},"topicSlugs":["presidential-appointments","security-clearances","irving-brown","administrative-procedures","executive-office-management"],"audioDurationSec":174,"audioFiles":[{"file":"279-001.mp3","bytes":6964052,"durationSec":173.96,"bitrate":320252,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:38.329Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:43:15.367Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/279-001.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/279-001","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/279/conversation-279-001","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}