Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 385 › Conversation 385-001

Nixon & Butterfield on Second Term Planning

Monday, December 11, 1972 · 2:30 PM–2:35 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation385-001 on Tape 385StartMonday, December 11, 1972 at 2:30 PMEndMonday, December 11, 1972 at 2:35 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 385-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to review and refine the President's upcoming scheduling commitments and logistical arrangements. The discussion focused on coordinating various high-profile meetings, including appointments with business leaders and media figures, as well as managing the President's personal health checkup at Bethesda. Additionally, they addressed the timing for a meeting with Spanish-speaking administration officials regarding the second-term agenda.

Audio

Download MP3 · 3.8 MB

NARA Description

On December 11, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:30 pm to 2:35 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 385-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 385-1

Date: December 11, 1972
Time: 2:30 pm - 2:35 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

       The President’s schedule
              -Meeting with J. Willard Marriott
                     -1973 Inauguration license plate
              -Meeting with Robert O. Anderson of Atlantic-Richfield
                     -Presentation
                             -Presidential signature notes
              -Meeting with Hobart D. (“Hobe”) Lewis, John H. Kauffmann, and Michael J.
               O’Neill
                     -Lewis’s and Kauffmann’s trip to the Soviet Union
                     -Duration
              -Timing
              -Meeting with Hugh Scott
              -Camp David
              -Meeting with Adm. Lewis L. Strauss
              -December 15, 1972
                     -Bethesda
                             -Physical examination
              -Meeting with Spanish speaking administration officials
                     -Second term
                     -Romana A. Banuelos
                     -Philip V. Sanchez
                     -Timing

Butterfield left at 2:35 pm.
                                             -2-

                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 76% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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).

I want to present to you a series of presidential signature medals which I'm going to go ahead and give to this commission.

That should be fine.

All right.

That's fine.

Then after that, of course, Hope Lewis and this fellow Jack Kaufman and Michael Peel came back from the Soviet Union.

They couldn't find that out.

Figured that's what it is.

I can't divide it.

I don't know if you've ever done that.

Wednesday, 3.

Thursday, we're proposing new scouting.

And at 12 o'clock,

And the straws.

That's it.

Friday, you're free, except, uh...

The only other thing was next week they proposed that the Spanish-speaking

The administration official is coming.

I just looked it up.

I think the picture is out.

I want to hopefully check and see if we're being well represented in your second term.

Oh, I don't mind.

That's all right.

But I'll be gone then.

What does that mean?

It's funny.

It's too late.

I may leave when I am.

Better check policy now.

I'll see you then.

Bye now.

Bye.

Also recorded on December 11, 1972

819-003 2:25 PM · 15 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 2:25 pm on December 11, 1972 and 9:57 am on December 12, 1972.
385-002 2:35 PM · 1 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 2:35 pm and 4:05 pm.
385-003 2:35 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:35 pm and 4:05 pm.
385-004 2:35 PM · 12 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:35 pm and 4:05 pm.
385-005 2:35 PM · 1 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 2:35 pm and 4:05 pm.
385-006 2:35 PM · 19 sec — unknown person(s) and President Richard M. Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:35 pm and 4:05 pm.
385-007 2:35 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 2:35 pm and 4:05 pm.
385-008 4:05 PM · 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:05 pm to 4:55 pm.

All 42 conversations from December 11, 1972 →

Nixon, Haldeman & Ziegler on Vietnam peace negotiations and Henry Kissinger December 13, 1972 · 1 hr 1 min
Nixon & Ehrlichman on Executive reorganization and FBI leadership December 18, 1972 · 1 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Connally on Campaign Strategy and Political Intelligence September 6, 1972 · 21 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Ziegler on 1972 Election and Cabinet Reorganization November 8, 1972 · 38 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 385-001, December 11, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/385-001 (accessed November 13, 2026).