{"conversationCode":"500-015","tapeNumber":500,"conversationNumber":15,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-500-015","startDateTime":"1971-05-18T15:28:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-18T15:30:00.000Z","startDate":"18-May-1971","startTime":"11:28 AM","endDate":"18-May-1971","endTime":"11:30 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On May 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:28 am and 11:30 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 500-015 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. 500-15\n\nDate: May 18, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 11:28 am and 11:30 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     Correspondence\n          -Charles C. Diggs, Jr.\n          -Black Caucus\n\n[Signing documents]\n\nButterfield left at an unknown time before 11:30 am.","filename":["500-015.mp3"],"tapeStart":"01:21:42","tapeEnd":"01:22:53","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"500-014","nextCode":"500-016","transcript":[{"start":0.54,"end":25.13,"text":"This is a letter that comes from Diggs."},{"start":25.15,"end":26.16,"text":"Should this man be the Black Caucus I said?"},{"start":26.18,"end":26.27,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":38.03,"end":48.11,"text":"That's it."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to review and process official correspondence, specifically focusing on a letter from Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr. The President sought clarification regarding Diggs's role as a representative of the Black Caucus. Following this brief administrative consultation, Nixon proceeded to sign the documents.","topics":["Charles C. Diggs Jr.","Black Caucus","White House correspondence","Administrative procedures"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T22:19:37.726Z"},"topicSlugs":["charles-c-diggs-jr","black-caucus","white-house-correspondence","administrative-procedures"],"audioDurationSec":48,"audioFiles":[{"file":"500-015.mp3","bytes":1928673,"durationSec":48.09,"bitrate":320873,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:49.346Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/500-015.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/500-015","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/500/conversation-500-015","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}