Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 502 › Conversation 502-005

Nixon & Butterfield on Cabinet meeting and Oval Office logistics

Thursday, May 20, 1971 · 8:32 AM–8:38 AM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation502-005 on Tape 502 (tape position 00:17:30–00:19:47)StartThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:32 AMEndThursday, May 20, 1971 at 8:38 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 502-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to coordinate the logistics and seating arrangements for an upcoming Cabinet meeting. They discussed concerns regarding the meeting's size, specifically addressing the participation of individuals traveling from out of town such as Brown. Additionally, the President briefly addressed administrative matters regarding a letter to Dean G. Acheson.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 65% of it) is represented by only a few words. Listen to the audio rather than relying on the text below; a corrected transcript is queued.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I do not care about the size of the meeting.
It's just a lot of people sit around in our nation.
So we have people on the price.
We did expand.
Yeah, we expanded it because of the expansion.
We've seen 23 people around.
All you can around the table but then have...
We did a lot of expanding the list of other people.
I mean, even on the outside of it, you don't want to see 23.
It's the brain that you choose.
You're friends out of town.
A few of us that are not really there.
You're friends out of town.
Not lower.
Not lower.
Not lower people than that, you know.
Brown comes all the way from out of town.
He comes all the way from out of town.
He's probably not listening.
Friends away.
That's a letter.
Yeah, that's a letter.

NARA Description

On May 20, 1971, 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. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 502-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 502-5

Date: May 20, 1971
Time: 8:32 am - unknown before 8:38 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     President's schedule
           -Cabinet meeting, May 20, 1971
                 -Size
                 -Raymond K. Price, Jr.
           -Table
           -Seating

      [Unintelligible]

     [First name unknown] Brown's attendance

     [Unintelligible]

     President's letter to Dean G. Acheson

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 8:38 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.
  • 502-002 8:05 AM · 35 sec — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:05 am and 8:14 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.
  • 502-006 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 502-005, 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/502-005 (accessed October 12, 2026).