{"conversationCode":"503-004","tapeNumber":503,"conversationNumber":4,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-503-004","startDateTime":"1971-05-21T13:40:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-05-21T13:46:00.000Z","startDate":"21-May-1971","startTime":"9:40 AM","endDate":"21-May-1971","endTime":"9:46 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On May 21, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:40 am to 9:46 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 503-004 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. 503-4\n\nDate: May 21, 1971\nTime: 9:40 am - 9:46 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     National Medals of Science\n          -Awards\n          -Strategy for making ceremony go smoothly\n          -Medal of honor\n\nButterfield left at 9:46 am.","filename":["503-004.mp3"],"tapeStart":"01:07:38","tapeEnd":"01:08:37","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"503-003","nextCode":"503-005","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":24.95,"text":"Now I was just looking at these, uh, metals."},{"start":24.98,"end":25.94,"text":"I don't know if there's really no different way."},{"start":25.96,"end":26.06,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.08,"end":26.18,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.2,"end":26.3,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.32,"end":26.42,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.44,"end":26.54,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.56,"end":26.66,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.68,"end":26.78,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.8,"end":26.9,"text":"Okay."},{"start":26.92,"end":27.02,"text":"Okay."},{"start":27.4,"end":44.12,"text":"It's the only way to get a visual picture."},{"start":44.14,"end":45.4,"text":"And people feel very, you know, it feels like eating something."},{"start":45.42,"end":45.76,"text":"And it's awesome."},{"start":46.94,"end":48.64,"text":"You put it around and you clip it and you just... What are you going to do?"},{"start":48.66,"end":50.33,"text":"What are you going to do versus, you know, the big metal and have a sword?"},{"start":52.63,"end":53.75,"text":"You're not going to make, you're going to make it where?"},{"start":53.77,"end":54.97,"text":"You don't want to, you don't want to power something around."},{"start":54.99,"end":56.21,"text":"It's like, I don't know, I don't know what to do with this."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to coordinate the logistics and presentation strategy for the National Medals of Science awards ceremony. They discussed the physical handling of the medals, specifically debating the most effective way to present the awards to recipients without creating awkward or cumbersome visual moments. The discussion focused on streamlining the protocol to ensure the ceremony proceeded smoothly and with proper decorum.","topics":["National Medals of Science","Awards ceremony","Protocol","Presidential scheduling","Ceremonial logistics"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T22:26:49.971Z"},"topicSlugs":["national-medals-of-science","awards-ceremony","protocol","presidential-scheduling","ceremonial-logistics"],"audioDurationSec":60,"audioFiles":[{"file":"503-004.mp3","bytes":2423954,"durationSec":60.45,"bitrate":320768,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:49.683Z","transcriptGapSeconds":42,"transcriptGapShare":0.69,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/503-004.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/503-004","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/503/conversation-503-004","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}