{"conversationCode":"329-019","tapeNumber":329,"conversationNumber":19,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-329-019","startDateTime":"1972-04-11T18:12:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-04-11T18:14:00.000Z","startDate":"11-Apr-1972","startTime":"1:12 PM","endDate":"11-Apr-1972","endTime":"1:14 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On April 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 1:12 pm to 1:14 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 329-019 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"EOB","recordingDevice":"Old Executive Office Building","latitudeEstimated":38.897567,"longitudeEstimated":-77.039147,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 329-19\n\nDate: April 11, 1972\nTime: 1:12 pm - 1:14 pm\nLocation: Executive Office Building\n\nThe President talked with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n[See Conversation No. 22-107]","filename":["329-019.mp3"],"tapeStart":"01:16:57","tapeEnd":"01:18:42","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"329-018","nextCode":"329-020","transcript":[{"start":5.26,"end":8.74,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":8.77,"end":18.21,"text":"But I don't think I marked Rogers there."},{"start":19.73,"end":20.22,"text":"So you know what I mean."},{"start":20.24,"end":21.6,"text":"I would prefer to frankly leave it not to have Mel."},{"start":21.7,"end":24.84,"text":"You see what I mean?"},{"start":24.86,"end":26.5,"text":"If you have him, you have to have Rogers."},{"start":26.52,"end":27.14,"text":"And I think Henry should do it."},{"start":27.5,"end":28.22,"text":"Let Henry do the breathing."},{"start":28.24,"end":30.04,"text":"That's the purpose of the pep talk."},{"start":30.06,"end":32.79,"text":"Let Henry do the breathing."},{"start":32.81,"end":32.91,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":34.35,"end":43.01,"text":"Fine, fine."},{"start":43.15,"end":43.37,"text":"Fine, fine."},{"start":43.39,"end":49.13,"text":"No, I think the China thing has to be sort of separated from congressional relations."},{"start":49.15,"end":55.16,"text":"Henry will be there, and that means that you'll agree with him on the damn thing."},{"start":55.18,"end":57.98,"text":"I don't look at mine normally, but I think since it's gone to China, they can deal with it."},{"start":58.89,"end":70.81,"text":"We want them to feel it's not a little separate politics."},{"start":70.83,"end":73.14,"text":"There will be pictures, of course."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander Butterfield discuss the tactical orchestration of an upcoming meeting regarding China policy. Nixon explicitly decides to exclude Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to avoid the necessary inclusion of Secretary of State William Rogers, tasking Henry Kissinger with leading the briefing instead. The President emphasizes that China-related matters should remain distinct from standard congressional relations to ensure the initiative is perceived as a significant diplomatic event rather than partisan politics.","topics":["China policy","Henry Kissinger","William Rogers","Melvin Laird","Diplomatic strategy","White House administration"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T15:20:07.635Z"},"topicSlugs":["china-policy","henry-kissinger","william-rogers","melvin-laird","diplomatic-strategy","white-house-administration"],"audioDurationSec":73,"audioFiles":[{"file":"329-019.mp3","bytes":2930730,"durationSec":73.14,"bitrate":320567,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:41.906Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/329-019.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/329-019","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/329/conversation-329-019","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}