{"conversationCode":"495-008","tapeNumber":495,"conversationNumber":8,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-495-008","startDateTime":"1971-05-07T14:55:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-07T15:00:00.000Z","startDate":"7-May-1971","startTime":"10:55 AM","endDate":"7-May-1971","endTime":"11:00 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On May 7, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:55 am to 11:00 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 495-008 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. 495-8\n\nDate: May 7, 1971\nTime: 10:55 am - 11:00 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     President's schedule\n           -Dinner, May 7, 1971\n                 -Receiving line in East Room\n                       -Considerations\n                            -Agricultural interests\n                 -President and Mrs. Nixon's greeting\n\nButterfield left at 11:00 am.","filename":["495-008.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:11:05","tapeEnd":"00:12:09","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"495-007","nextCode":"495-009","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":11.85,"text":"Mr. President, I have a thought for you tonight."},{"start":11.87,"end":19.84,"text":"The Santa Claus bridge is considerably different from all the Santa Claus bridges around the center."},{"start":19.86,"end":20.42,"text":"Yeah, let's get out of here."},{"start":20.44,"end":24.45,"text":"Now, if you really want to get out of here, either have me sign up a little earlier, or even not shake hands, or we want to go ahead and have a separate receiving line."},{"start":24.47,"end":25.45,"text":"Do not leave until we arrive here tonight."},{"start":25.47,"end":25.73,"text":"Oh, no."},{"start":25.75,"end":26.31,"text":"I don't want to shake hands."},{"start":26.33,"end":29.03,"text":"I don't like it when you shake hands with me."},{"start":29.05,"end":29.32,"text":"There we go."},{"start":29.34,"end":29.52,"text":"Next one."},{"start":30.12,"end":38.99,"text":"I don't want to have the conversations with these agriculture people in the legacy."},{"start":39.01,"end":44.58,"text":"There's a lot of people around here, but I'm going to do what I need to do."},{"start":44.6,"end":46.68,"text":"I guess that's as good as I can have them come."},{"start":46.7,"end":55.55,"text":"While the agriculture people, we go in there, have a coffee, we'll stay for five minutes and go out, just the two of us on that boat, and greet them as they come in."},{"start":55.95,"end":58.05,"text":"And then they go ahead and sit down."},{"start":58.07,"end":59.81,"text":"But we greet them as they come in."},{"start":59.84,"end":60.08,"text":"Turn it off."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to finalize logistical arrangements for a dinner event involving agricultural representatives. Nixon expressed a strong desire to streamline the reception process by minimizing physical contact and restricting time spent in formal conversation with attendees. Consequently, the President decided on a truncated greeting strategy where he and the First Lady would greet guests briefly upon entry before promptly departing.","topics":["Presidential scheduling","White House social events","Protocol","Agricultural interests","Public relations"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T22:09:48.098Z"},"topicSlugs":["presidential-scheduling","white-house-social-events","protocol","agricultural-interests","public-relations"],"audioDurationSec":60,"audioFiles":[{"file":"495-008.mp3","bytes":2407236,"durationSec":60.05,"bitrate":320694,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:49.346Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/495-008.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/495-008","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/495/conversation-495-008","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}