Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 500 › Conversation 500-007

Butterfield

Tuesday, May 18, 1971 · 8:02 AM–9:33 AM ET · Oval Office · 34 sec

ParticipantsButterfield, Alexander P.; [Unknown person(s)]Conversation500-007 on Tape 500 (tape position 00:13:02–00:13:53)StartTuesday, May 18, 1971 at 8:02 AMEndTuesday, May 18, 1971 at 9:33 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 500-007 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417177249 ↗

AI Summary

Alexander P. Butterfield and unidentified participants engage in a brief, informal exchange characterized by unclear dialogue regarding a document delivery and the installation of an unknown item. The recording, which consists largely of unintelligible remarks and casual banter, appears to be unrelated to substantive White House business or policy-making. The interaction concludes abruptly without any official decisions or actionable developments recorded.

Audio

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NARA Description

On May 18, 1971, Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:02 am and 9:33 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 500-007 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 500-7

Date: May 18, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:02 am and 9:33 am
Location: Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown persons met.

     [Unintelligible]

     Installation of unknown item

     Delivery of paper

The conversation was cut off at an unknown time before 9:33 am.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

How does that happen?
Is the girl's butt not in front of you?
No.
Here she is.
You up on the rocks, baby?
Oh, because I couldn't pay attention to it.
Oh.
Because you're going on and on and on.
That's right.
He's going on and on and on.
I don't know what I'm going to say.

Also recorded on May 18, 1971

  • 500-001 7:26 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:26 am and 7:55 am.
  • 500-002 7:26 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:26 am and 7:55 am.
  • 500-003 7:26 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Landrum Bolling met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:26 am and 7:55 am.
  • 500-004 7:26 AM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:26 am and 7:55 am.
  • 500-005 7:55 AM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:55 am to 7:56 am.
  • 500-006 7:58 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 7:58 am to 8:02 am.
  • 058-001 8:02 AM · 1 hr 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Melvin R. Laird, and Republican Congressional leaders, including U. Alexis Johnson, Robert P. Griffin, Norris Cotton, Peter H. Dominick, Gerald R. Ford, Leslie C. Arends, John B. Anderson, Barber B. Conable, Jr., Richard H. Poff, Robert C. ("Bob") Wilson, John J. Rhodes, Robert T. Stafford, H. Allen Smith, Robert J. Dole, Peter G. Peterson, George P. Shultz, John D. Ehrlichman, Clark MacGregor, William E. Timmons, Harry S. Dent, Ronald L. Ziegler, Bryce N. Harlow, and Kenneth E. BeLieu, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 8:02 am to 9:33 am.
  • 003-058 9:33 AM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 9:33 am and 9:34 am.

All 43 conversations from May 18, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 500-007, May 18, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417177249). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/500-007 (accessed November 12, 2026).