Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 471 › Conversation 471-021

Nixon, Ford & Butterfield on Casual conversation and Oval Office meeting

Wednesday, March 24, 1971 · 11:54 AM–11:58 AM ET · Oval Office · 14 sec

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.; Ford, Gerald R.Conversation471-021 on Tape 471 (tape position 02:43:31–02:44:20)StartWednesday, March 24, 1971 at 11:54 AMEndWednesday, March 24, 1971 at 11:58 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 471-021 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Gerald R. Ford and Alexander P. Butterfield in the Oval Office for a brief, informal encounter. The discussion was limited to pleasantries and casual observations regarding the weather. No substantive policy matters or official administrative decisions were recorded during this four-minute interaction.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hi, Gary, how are you?
Hi, how are you this morning?

NARA Description

On March 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Gerald R. Ford met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 11:58 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 471-021 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 471-21

Date: March 24, 1971
Time: Unknown between 11:54 am and 11:58 am
Location: Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield met with Gerald R. Ford

     [Unintelligible]

The President entered at an unknown time after 11:54 am

     Weather

The President and Ford left at 11:58 am

Also recorded on March 24, 1971

  • 471-015 11:38 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Aldo Massarini, Paul Moniez, Jacques Bullet, Kenneth G. Wickham, Earl E. Anderson, Maocyr Paiva, Willi Rieke, Jae Chul Lee, William G. McNamara, Raoul Mollet, James D. ("Don") Hughes, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:38 am to 11:43 am.
  • 471-016 11:44 AM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Harvey Firestone, Emmett O'Donnell, George T. Bell, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:44 am to 11:50 am.
  • 471-017 11:50 AM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:50 am to 11:51 am.
  • 471-018 11:51 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Craig S. Campbell, Charles R. Larson, James D. ("Don") Hughes, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:51 am to 11:54 am.
  • 471-019 11:54 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 11:58 am.
  • 471-020 11:54 AM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:54 am and 11:58 am.
  • 471-022 11:58 AM · 8 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:58 am and 12:10 pm.
  • 471-023 12:10 PM · 26 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:10 pm to 12:12 pm.

All 22 conversations from March 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 471-021, March 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/471-021 (accessed October 12, 2026).