Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 494 › Conversation 494-007
Nixon & Butterfield on Oval Office and Administrative logistics
Saturday, May 8, 1971 · 1:50 PM–1:55 PM ET · Oval Office
AI Summary
President Nixon met with Alexander P. Butterfield and an unidentified individual in the Oval Office to address administrative or logistical matters. The brief interaction included a seven-second segment of personal conversation that was subsequently withdrawn from public record. No major policy developments occurred during this short meeting, which concluded in under five minutes.
Audio
Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 106.9 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 03:00:20 into the tape and ends around 03:00:56.
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 8, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 1:55 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 494-007 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 494-7
Date: May 8, 1971
Time: 1:50 pm - unknown before 1:55 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.
H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman
An unknown man entered at an unknown time after 1:50 pm.
**********************************************************************
BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 7s ]
END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
**********************************************************************
Butterfield and the unknown man left at an unknown time before 1:55 pm.Also recorded on May 8, 1971
- 494-004 10:33 AM · 2 hr 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, Ronald L. Ziegler, John D. Ehrlichman, White House operator, and John N. Mitchell met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:33 am to 1:12 pm.
- 002-124 11:45 AM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:45 am and 11:49 am.
- 002-125 11:49 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 11:49 am to 11:51 am.
- 494-005 1:12 PM · 32 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:12 pm and 1:35 pm.
- 494-006 1:35 PM · 4 min — 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.
- 494-008 1:55 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:55 pm and 2:40 pm.
- 494-009 1:55 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:55 pm and 2:40 pm.
- 002-126 2:40 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:40 pm and 6:50 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 494-007, May 8, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/494-007 (accessed October 3, 2026).