{"conversationCode":"494-006","tapeNumber":494,"conversationNumber":6,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-494-006","startDateTime":"1971-05-08T17:35:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-08T17:40:00.000Z","startDate":"8-May-1971","startTime":"1:35 PM","endDate":"8-May-1971","endTime":"1:40 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On May 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:35 pm and 1:40 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 494-006 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 494-6\n\nDate: May 8, 1971\nTime: 1:35 pm - unknown before 1:40 pm\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     Papers for signature\n\n     Rose Mary Woods\n\n     [Unintelligible]\n\nButterfield left at an unknown time before 1:40 pm.","filename":["494a.mp3","494b.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:56:22","tapeEnd":"03:00:20","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"494-005","nextCode":"494-007","tapeTranscriptFile":"494a.mp3,494b.mp3","transcript":[{"start":10582,"end":10585.34,"text":"It's a little better before the press spread."},{"start":10585.46,"end":10587.6,"text":"It's the three points left."},{"start":10588.61,"end":10589.71,"text":"Both the support end on end."},{"start":10589.89,"end":10591.81,"text":"All right."},{"start":10592.05,"end":10592.55,"text":"Disapproved."},{"start":10595.7,"end":10600.59,"text":"I am inclined to think that, in the same approval of the war, it was 48-41 after the press conference, which was a seven-point spread."},{"start":10600.61,"end":10603.03,"text":"Now it's 46-38, which is an eight-point spread now."},{"start":10603.17,"end":10604.19,"text":"And once that you've gained them."},{"start":10604.23,"end":10609.15,"text":"But that's because the war demonstrators haven't gone."},{"start":10609.19,"end":10614.11,"text":"Yeah, let me say that I think the, I think the little thing proved the disapproval of that."},{"start":10614.13,"end":10622.28,"text":"That high number of undecided, you would not have that high of an undecided in a commercial poll, do you think so?"},{"start":10625.7,"end":10628.4,"text":"Yeah, I've stopped that once in a while, you know, too."},{"start":10628.42,"end":10630.62,"text":"Very often."},{"start":10630.72,"end":10638.73,"text":"And we don't usually, we usually go, you know, there's about 14, you know, just as long as I've decided to move in our direction."},{"start":10638.77,"end":10639.13,"text":"I think so."},{"start":10639.17,"end":10642.65,"text":"Now that he, he's been deposited."},{"start":10642.67,"end":10654.2,"text":"And when I met, yeah, they're all, so he said, even if I had decided to be pushed, they would move more in our direction than the other direction."},{"start":10660.29,"end":10661.23,"text":"See how much weight he had gained."},{"start":10717.25,"end":10717.87,"text":"There I am."},{"start":10765.22,"end":10766.48,"text":"Well, it says Dr. Lee or something."}],"transcriptBoundary":{"start":10582,"end":10868.25,"startMethod":"tape_time","endMethod":"silence"},"transcriptConfidence":"low","transcriptSource":"bigtape","aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to review routine administrative paperwork and discuss recent public opinion polling regarding the Vietnam War. They analyzed shifts in approval ratings and the significance of undecided voters in the context of recent war demonstrations. The discussion concluded with a brief review of documents requiring the President’s signature.","topics":["Public opinion polls","Vietnam War","Administrative procedures","White House operations","Presidential approval ratings"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T22:08:48.277Z"},"topicSlugs":["public-opinion-polls","vietnam-war","administrative-procedures","white-house-operations","presidential-approval-ratings"],"audioDurationSec":238,"audioFiles":[{"file":"494a.mp3","bytes":175806170,"durationSec":7325.19,"bitrate":192001,"missing":false},{"file":"494b.mp3","bytes":112048377,"durationSec":4668.63,"bitrate":192002,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":true,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:48.989Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/494a.mp3","https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/494b.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/494-006","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/494/conversation-494-006","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}