Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 434 › Conversation 434-032

Nixon, Butz & Mead on Agriculture and Bill signing

Friday, May 11, 1973 · 3:22 PM–3:40 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); [Unknown person(s)]; Butz, Earl L.; Mead, Dana G.; Erwin, William W.; Hamil, David A.; Bull, Stephen B.; Hart, Thomas; White House photographerConversation434-032 on Tape 434StartFriday, May 11, 1973 at 3:22 PMEndFriday, May 11, 1973 at 3:40 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 434-032 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Secretary of Agriculture Earl L. Butz and several Department of Agriculture staff members to preside over a bill signing ceremony. The participants, including Dana G. Mead and William W. Erwin, gathered for a photo opportunity with the President to commemorate the new legislation. Brief discussions during the event touched upon the cattle industry in Colorado and concerns regarding consumer food prices.

Audio

Download MP3 · 4.7 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 54% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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).

Red, we have this team here.

All right, so I'm still signing.

Perhaps we can do it right here, just with the airport just standing behind us.

There are more people.

Oh, there are two of them.

This is a pretty good one here.

Two kids, perhaps.

I don't know if the Secretary is listening.

Well, all right.

I expect you to be here from the back of it.

All right.

I expect you to be here from the back of it.

All right.

I expect you to be here from the back of it.

My house is right over here.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Too good, too good.

Well, for us consumers, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll get it done.

Good.

Let's go ahead and get it done.

Thank you.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Do the job.

Okay.

NARA Description

On May 11, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), Earl L. Butz, Dana G. Mead, William W. Erwin, David A. Hamil, Stephen B. Bull, Thomas Hart, and White House photographer met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 3:40 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 434-032 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 434-32

Date: May 11, 1973
Time: Unknown between 3:22 pm and 3:40 pm
Location: Old Executive Office Building

The President met with an unknown man.

       Bill signing ceremony
                                              -36-

                     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                                                              Conversation No. 434-9 (cont’d)

              -Location
              -Earl L. Butz

Butz, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Dana Mead, William W. Erwin, David Hamil, Stephen B. Bull, and
Thomas Hart entered at 3:39 pm. The White House photographer was present at the start of the
meeting.

       Bill signing
               -Photograph of attendees
               -Greetings
               -Introductions
               -Praise for legislation
               -Staff members from Agriculture Department
               -Cole

       Colorado
              -Cattle business

       Food prices

The unknown man, Butz, et al. left at an unknown time before 3:40 pm.

Also recorded on May 11, 1973

046-015 3:07 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 3:07 pm to 3:08 pm.
434-028 3:07 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:07 pm to 3:08 pm.
046-016 3:08 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:08 pm and 3:15 pm.
434-029 3:08 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:08 pm and 3:21 pm.
046-017 3:21 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 3:21 pm to 3:22 pm.
434-030 3:21 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:21 pm to 3:22 pm.
434-031 3:22 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:22 pm and 3:35 pm.
046-018 3:40 PM · 44 sec — Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and President Richard M. Nixon talked on the telephone from 3:40 pm to 3:41 pm.

All 78 conversations from May 11, 1973 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 434-032, May 11, 1973. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/434-032 (accessed October 1, 2026).