Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 336 › Conversation 336-049

Nixon & Butterfield on Vietnam War and Presidential speeches

Monday, May 8, 1972 · 6:09 PM–6:14 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation336-049 on Tape 336 (tape position 02:29:50–02:31:13)StartMonday, May 8, 1972 at 6:09 PMEndMonday, May 8, 1972 at 6:14 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 336-049 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Alexander P. Butterfield to coordinate logistical arrangements following his impending public address regarding the war in Vietnam. The discussion focused on scheduling a briefing with Congressional leaders and finalizing necessary revisions to the speech in consultation with Henry Kissinger. Nixon also reviewed internal administrative preparations, including potential outreach to the Cabinet to ensure a unified response to the updated policy.

Audio

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Position in tape: 02:29:50 – 02:31:13

part B, 26:29

336a.mp3

336b.mp3

336c.mp3

NARA Description

On May 8, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:09 pm to 6:14 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 336-049 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 336-49

Date: May 8, 1972
Time: 6:09 - 6:14 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     Vietnam
          -President’s speech
                -Change
                     -Henry A. Kissinger
                -Meeting with Congressional leaders
                -A copy
          -President’s meeting with Congressional leaders
                -Time and place
          -Cabinet

Butterfield left at 6:14 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).

There's one thing on my rating page that I have written out.

You may not have written it out here, but it was right for us to write that one out.

I'm sure I will deliver it.

No, not until after it's over.

I didn't have the ability to do that.

That was our responsibility as a break-taking nation, to make sure that America evolved in these five continents.

However, when a nation abandoned all its friends, drove its forearms into battle with their afraid savior, and refused to go shoot, we had to make a new mission.

And these were the chances that the 60,000 American men and women that they would have decided to do the greatest job in this country could possibly achieve.

I was there both to prove and analyze the denial of the weapons supplied by the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Localization was public and not.

I wanted to follow the majors to be independent.

I wanted to follow the majors, particularly the men and women of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Also recorded on May 8, 1972

336-041 5:55 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:55 pm and 6:09 pm.
336-050 6:14 PM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:14 pm and 6:22 pm.
336-051 6:14 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:14 pm and 6:22 pm.
336-052 6:14 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:14 pm and 6:22 pm.
336-053 6:14 PM · 1 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 6:14 pm and 6:22 pm.
336-054 6:14 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:14 pm and 6:22 pm.
336-055 6:14 PM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:14 pm and 6:22 pm.
336-056 6:22 PM · 10 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 6:22 pm to 6:34 pm.

All 118 conversations from May 8, 1972 →

Nixon, Haldeman & Kissinger on Foreign Policy and Congressional Relations March 13, 1972 · 1 hr 45 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Butterfield on Revenue sharing and Welfare reform June 14, 1972
Nixon, Rogers & Cole on Watergate and White House Counsel May 2, 1973 · 19 min
Nixon & Kissinger on Public Relations and Cabinet Management March 6, 1972 · 3 min
Nixon & Bull on Henry Kissinger and Congressional relations June 2, 1972 · 2 min
Nixon, Haig & Price on Vietnam Peace Settlement and Presidential Speeches January 23, 1973 · 1 hr 22 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 336-049, May 8, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/336-049 (accessed November 2, 2026).