Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 493 › Conversation 493-002

Nixon with unidentified visitors in the Oval Office on White House operator

Thursday, May 6, 1971 · 8:55 AM–9:00 AM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation493-002 on Tape 493 (tape position 00:13:01–00:13:19)StartThursday, May 6, 1971 at 8:55 AMEndThursday, May 6, 1971 at 9:00 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 493-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon held a brief administrative interaction with the White House operator to facilitate an outgoing call. This communication served to establish a connection for the President to conduct official business following the operator's assistance. No substantive policy discussions occurred during this brief exchange.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.6 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 160.2 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 00:13:01 into the tape and ends around 00:13:19.

Transcript (AI-generated)

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

NARA Description

On May 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:55 am and 9:00 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 493-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 493-2

Date: May 6, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:55 am and 9:00 am
Location: Oval Office

The President talked with the White House operator

[See Conversation No. 2-120]

Also recorded on May 6, 1971

  • 002-102 8:37 AM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:37 am and 9:10 am.
  • 002-107 8:37 AM · 2 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:37 am and 8:51 am.
  • 493-001 8:45 AM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:45 am and 8:55 am.
  • 002-108 8:53 AM · 11 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 8:53 am to 9:11 am.
  • 493-003 9:00 AM · 48 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, Manolo Sanchez, Gerald R. Ford, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:00 am to 10:00 am.
  • 002-103 9:10 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 9:10 am.
  • 002-104 9:20 AM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford talked on the telephone from 9:20 am to 9:26 am.
  • 493-004 10:00 AM · 41 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:00 am and 10:08 am.

All 36 conversations from May 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 493-002, May 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/493-002 (accessed October 3, 2026).