{"conversationCode":"502-005","tapeNumber":502,"conversationNumber":5,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-502-005","startDateTime":"1971-05-20T12:32:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-20T12:38:00.000Z","startDate":"20-May-1971","startTime":"8:32 AM","endDate":"20-May-1971","endTime":"8:38 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","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.","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. 502-5\n\nDate: May 20, 1971\nTime: 8:32 am - unknown before 8:38 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     President's schedule\n           -Cabinet meeting, May 20, 1971\n                 -Size\n                 -Raymond K. Price, Jr.\n           -Table\n           -Seating\n\n      [Unintelligible]\n\n     [First name unknown] Brown's attendance\n\n     [Unintelligible]\n\n     President's letter to Dean G. Acheson\n\nButterfield left at an unknown time before 8:38 am.","filename":["502-005.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:17:30","tapeEnd":"00:19:47","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"502-004","nextCode":"502-006","transcript":[{"start":0.44,"end":17.57,"text":"I do not care about the size of the meeting."},{"start":17.59,"end":24.44,"text":"It's just a lot of people sit around in our nation."},{"start":24.46,"end":25.08,"text":"So we have people on the price."},{"start":25.1,"end":25.38,"text":"We did expand."},{"start":25.4,"end":26.32,"text":"Yeah, we expanded it because of the expansion."},{"start":26.34,"end":26.91,"text":"We've seen 23 people around."},{"start":26.93,"end":27.83,"text":"All you can around the table but then have..."},{"start":32.94,"end":53.67,"text":"We did a lot of expanding the list of other people."},{"start":53.69,"end":54.89,"text":"I mean, even on the outside of it, you don't want to see 23."},{"start":54.91,"end":57.05,"text":"It's the brain that you choose."},{"start":57.07,"end":57.61,"text":"You're friends out of town."},{"start":57.63,"end":58.39,"text":"A few of us that are not really there."},{"start":58.41,"end":58.95,"text":"You're friends out of town."},{"start":58.98,"end":59.17,"text":"Not lower."},{"start":59.2,"end":59.4,"text":"Not lower."},{"start":59.41,"end":60.16,"text":"Not lower people than that, you know."},{"start":60.18,"end":61,"text":"Brown comes all the way from out of town."},{"start":61.02,"end":61.78,"text":"He comes all the way from out of town."},{"start":61.8,"end":62.36,"text":"He's probably not listening."},{"start":62.38,"end":62.64,"text":"Friends away."},{"start":64.26,"end":88.91,"text":"That's a letter."},{"start":88.93,"end":89.81,"text":"Yeah, that's a letter."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["Cabinet meeting","Oval Office logistics","Dean G. Acheson","Presidential scheduling","Meeting attendance"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T22:24:55.245Z"},"topicSlugs":["cabinet-meeting","oval-office-logistics","dean-g-acheson","presidential-scheduling","meeting-attendance"],"audioDurationSec":96,"audioFiles":[{"file":"502-005.mp3","bytes":3826207,"durationSec":95.51,"bitrate":320501,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:49.685Z","transcriptGapSeconds":63,"transcriptGapShare":0.65,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/502-005.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/502-005","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/502/conversation-502-005","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}