Conversation 450-001

TapeTape 450StartTuesday, February 16, 1971 at 7:56 AMEndTuesday, February 16, 1971 at 8:58 AMTape start time00:01:18Tape end time00:05:18ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Butterfield, Alexander P.Recording deviceOval Office

On February 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:56 am and 8:58 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 450-001 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 450-1

Date: February 16, 1971
Time: Unknown between 7:56 am and 8:58 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield

     White House taping system
          -Operation
          -Purpose
          -Cabinet Room
               -Butterfield
          -Operation
               -Monitoring
          -Knowledge of system
               -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
               -The President
               -Secret Service

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 8:58 am

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

Oh, it's working now.
Oh, I hear it.
It's not working.
It's not working now.
Uh, something's pissed off.
It's working.
It's not working.
Oh, my God.
See, the purpose of this is to get some hand-off and then the file changes, or eventually...
Right, but if it were way back in the day, we can't remember so much that kept going on in there all the time.
We'd be using up a lot of stuff, and we'd be using it for a bunch of other jobs, where we'd have to turn it off and make it look like, I can't tell if it's my mom or if it's only my mom's.
There's no way to tell you what's going on.
But it is what I want you to say.
You know, it was what you were trying to say.
All right.
You know, you did it.
It seems like I was doing the same thing.
All right.
Fine.
Uh, I'm at work, uh, Alex is at work.
Are you here?
Uh, no, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.