Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 451 › Conversation 451-020

Nixon & Butterfield on Woodrow Wilson Center and Dedication speech

Thursday, February 18, 1971 · 5:10 PM–5:14 PM ET · Oval Office · 34 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation451-020 on Tape 451 (tape position 04:30:56–04:32:22)StartThursday, February 18, 1971 at 5:10 PMEndThursday, February 18, 1971 at 5:14 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 451-020 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417175871 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Butterfield briefly discussed the President's potential attendance at a dedication speech for the Woodrow Wilson Center. Nixon expressed uncertainty about the necessity of his presence, seeking Butterfield's opinion on the matter. The conversation was very short and focused solely on this scheduling question.

Audio

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NARA Description

On February 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:10 pm to 5:14 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 451-020 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 451-20

Date: February 18, 1971
Time: 5:10 pm - 5:14 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield

     Schedule
          -Dedication speech for [Thomas] Woodrow Wilson Center
               -Wilson

Butterfield left at 5:14 pm

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was made by an AI model listening to the recording (gemini-3.8-flash) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Speaker names are the model's inference from the voices and the participant list. Words and names can still be wrong — verify against the audio and the finding aid before citing.

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).

Butterfield[unintelligible]
NixonDo I have to go over there, I guess, what's he mean about that? Maybe I should. What do you think about [unintelligible] Woodrow Wilson [unintelligible]?
ButterfieldYeah, I might not go [unintelligible]

Also recorded on February 18, 1971

  • 451-016 3:40 PM · 23 sec — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 3:52 pm.
  • 451-017 3:40 PM · 40 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:40 pm and 3:52 pm.
  • 451-018 3:52 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Mark I. Goode met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:52 pm to 3:55 pm.
  • 451-019 3:55 PM · 1 hr 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, George P. Shultz, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:55 pm to 4:52 pm.
  • 451-021 5:14 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:14 pm and 5:25 pm.
  • 451-022 5:14 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:14 pm and 5:25 pm.
  • 451-023 6:16 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:16 pm to 6:37 pm.
  • 451-024 6:40 PM · 43 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:40 pm to 7:27 pm.

All 24 conversations from February 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 451-020, February 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417175871). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/451-020 (accessed November 2, 2026).