Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 455 › Conversation 455-020

Nixon & Butterfield on Apollo 14 and White House social events

Monday, February 22, 1971 · 2:07 PM–3:02 PM ET · Oval Office ·3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation455-020 onTape 455 (tape position 04:43:26–04:46:44)StartMonday, February 22, 1971 at 2:07 PMEndMonday, February 22, 1971 at 3:02 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 455-020 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield coordinate logistics for an upcoming formal dinner and an associated medal ceremony for the Apollo 14 astronauts. They deliberate on event details, including the seating arrangements, the omission of special entertainment, and the use of round tables to facilitate the presentations. Nixon approves incorporating the astronaut medal ceremony into the dinner program to enhance the evening's proceedings.

Audio

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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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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This is the only thing that's going on.
I don't want to make any response.
No response, sorry.
One other thing, it's just going to be the Apollo 14 astronauts are going to receive the same resurfacing on a Saturday.
Unless you might want to do that at the dinner.
That might be a good time to do that.
I'll do it without Joe today.
I'm sorry, I'm going to go to bed.
Hey, here.
Nothing's going to be wrong.
On that dinner, what did we find?
The first one was a gal.
Yes.
Black-tie dinner without any special entertainment.
We felt we might just go heavy on the army cars and strange drink dinner and not have some special entertainment.
So the people are always looking for something.
in there.
And especially that we have this ceremony.
That's a nice touch.
Well, we were going to have the entertainment at the dinner, just the government entertainment, but the ceremony.
It's a piece of numbers for the dinner, isn't it?
Yeah, I would use round cables.
I'd use round cables and uh...
Yes.
The dinner is to be with parents.
I have round tables.
I have it set up so that I can have a place where I present the medals.
Okay.
Sure.

NARA Description

On February 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:07 pm and 3:02 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 455-020 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 455-20

Date: February 22, 1971
Time: Unknown between 2:07 pm and 3:02 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield

     The President’s schedule
          -Response to unknown inquiry
          -Astronauts
               -Award ceremony
          -Dinner
               -Dress
               -Entertainment
               -Tables
               -Attendance
               -Medal presentation

Butterfield left at 3:02 pm

Also recorded on February 22, 1971

  • 455-013 1:01 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at 1:01 pm.
  • 455-015 1:12 PM · 27 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:12 pm to 1:13 pm.
  • 455-016 1:13 PM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles Whitehouse, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Raymond K. Price, Jr., and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:13 pm to 1:37 pm.
  • 455-017 1:37 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:37 pm and 1:43 pm.
  • 455-018 1:43 PM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:43 pm to 2:07 pm.
  • 455-019 2:07 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at 2:07 pm.
  • 455-021 3:02 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:02 pm to 3:09 pm.
  • 455-022 3:09 PM · 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:09 pm to 3:50 pm.

All 25 conversations from February 22, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 455-020, February 22, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/455-020 (accessed September 18, 2026).