Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 502 › Conversation 502-002

Nixon White House recording on White House administration and Oval Office

Thursday, May 20, 1971 · 8:05 AM–8:14 AM ET · Oval Office · 35 sec

Participants[Unknown person(s)]Conversation502-002 on Tape 502 (tape position 00:10:58–00:11:45)StartThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:05 AMEndThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:14 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 502-002 ↗

AI Summary

This brief recording consists primarily of room noise and muffled, unintelligible background conversation between unidentified participants in the Oval Office. Because the audio quality prevents the identification of speakers or specific subject matter, no substantive policy discussions, decisions, or action items can be discerned. The segment serves as a record of administrative activity rather than a documented policy dialogue.

Audio

Download MP3 · 1.3 MB

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

Grazie.

NARA Description

On May 20, 1971, unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:05 am and 8:14 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 502-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 502-2

Date: May 20, 1971
Time: Unknown between 8:05 am and 8:14 am
Location: Oval Office

Unknown persons met

**********************************************************************

[Previous archivists categorized this section as unintelligible. It has been rereviewed and
released 05/30/2019.]
[Unintelligible]
[502-002-w001]
[Duration: 34s]

[This portion of the tape is mostly room noise with some muffled background conversation.]

**********************************************************************

The unknown persons left at an unknown time before 8:14 am.

Also recorded on May 20, 1971

  • 502-001 7:21 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Dean G. Acheson met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 7:21 am and 8:05 am.
  • 003-078 8:16 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George W. Ball talked on the telephone from 8:16 am to 8:19 am.
  • 502-003 8:16 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and George W. Ball met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:16 am to 8:19 am.
  • 003-079 8:19 AM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:19 am and 11:50 am.
  • 502-004 8:19 AM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:19 am and 8:32 am.
  • 502-005 8:32 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:32 am and 8:38 am.
  • 502-006 8:38 AM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, Stephen B. Bull, and Marjorie P. Acker met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:38 am to 9:02 am.
  • 058-004 9:02 AM · 43 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, and the Cabinet members, including William P. Rogers, John B. Connally, Melvin R. Laird, John N. Mitchell, Winton M. ("Red") Blount, Jr., William T. Pecora, Clifford M. Hardin, James T. Lynn, Laurence H. Silberman, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, James M. Beggs, George P. Shultz, Robert H. Finch, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George H. W. Bush, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Henry A. Kissinger, Clark MacGregor, Peter M. Flanigan, Herbert G. Klein, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., Raymond K. Price, Jr., Alexander P. Butterfield, Ronald L. Ziegler, William E. Timmons, Charles W. Colson, John A. Scali, Richard A. Moore, Harry S. Dent, Leonard Garment, John W. Dean, III, Frederic V. Malek, Robert J. Brown, Robert J. Dole, Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, Gerald C. Smith, Arthur J. Sohmer, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, Virginia H. Knauer, and Arnold R. Weber, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 9:02 am to 9:48 am.

All 48 conversations from May 20, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 502-002, May 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/502-002 (accessed October 9, 2026).