Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 506 › Conversation 506-011

Nixon, Ehrlichman & Butterfield on Presidential speech

Friday, May 28, 1971 · 5:05 PM–5:08 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Ehrlichman, John D.; Butterfield, Alexander P.; Bull, Stephen B.Conversation506-011 on Tape 506 (tape position 01:06:03–01:10:00)StartFriday, May 28, 1971 at 5:05 PMEndFriday, May 28, 1971 at 5:08 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 506-011 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and John Ehrlichman met to discuss the administrative handling of a forthcoming presidential speech and the vetting of potential political appointees. They reviewed the distribution of speech drafts to key staff members, including Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig, while incorporating revisions based on Kissinger's recommendations. Additionally, Nixon expressed strong reservations about appointing individuals like Charles Schultze or John Gardner due to their perceived ties to Democratic candidates, ultimately deciding against their inclusion.

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 44% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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 can't think of any discussing on it.
I think that the, uh, I think that Peter's just done a long, very, you know, you know, talk experiment, as opposed to, you know, this is your country, you can't do this.
Well, then bring a copy of the speech tomorrow, and, uh, get Vincent exactly going to be accepted, and what we have to do is to get it.
And you're going to deal with coding that flow.
That's right.
That's what we're going to do.
I'm not going to be talking about that.
I have five.
I have not, too.
Maybe you want to go over his name.
Well, I did.
And I tried to tally along with her.
And the only thing I don't know about Charlie Schultz is I think he would...
I don't think you can have people that are going to go right in with Democratic candidates.
And that's the problem with Garner's initials.
I don't know if you could check that out.
All right.
But I'll see if I can get it off of those.
I think that's the real problem.
I'll tell you what, there are many other candidates.
We can't do it.
All right?
We can't do it with candidates.
But there must be some other people.
That said, it may be new things out there.
I'm not sure.
But I don't think so.
All right.
All right.
All right.
You do have things coming?
Can I tell them you're bringing it in?
All right, okay.
I mean, that's all.
No, no, no.

NARA Description

On May 28, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:05 pm to 5:08 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 506-011 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 506-11

Date: May 28, 1971
Time: 5:04 pm - 5:08 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John D. Ehrlichman and Alexander P. Butterfield; the recording begins
while the conversation is in progress when.

     Peter G. Peterson

     Henry A. Kissinger
          -Meeting with the President
               -Speech

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 5:07 pm.

     Possible appointments
          -John W. Gardner [?]
          -Charles L. Schultze
          -Gardner

                 -Democrat candidates
                 -Schultze

The President left at an unknown time before 5:07 pm

Butterfield and Stephen B. Bull entered at an unknown time after 5:04 pm.

     Copies of speech
          -The President
          -Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
          -Kissinger
          -Time
          -Kissinger
          -The President
                -Delivery of copies
                     -Ehrlichman

Ehrlichman left at 5:07 pm.

The President entered at an unknown time after 5:07 pm.

     Speech
          -Changes
               -Kissinger's recommendations

Butterfield and Bull left at 5:08 pm.

Also recorded on May 28, 1971

  • 003-181 3:48 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and unknown person(s) talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:48 pm and 4:51 pm.
  • 003-182 4:51 PM · 44 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield talked on the telephone from 4:51 pm to 4:52 pm.
  • 506-012 5:10 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:10 pm to 5:12 pm.
  • 506-013 5:27 PM · 1 hr 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), Rose Mary Woods, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John N. Mitchell, White House operator, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:27 pm to 6:50 pm.
  • 003-183 5:45 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:45 pm and 5:51 pm.
  • 003-184 5:51 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman talked on the telephone from 5:51 pm to 5:52 pm.
  • 003-185 6:50 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 8:11 pm.
  • 506-014 6:50 PM · 2 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:50 pm and 11:59 pm.

All 63 conversations from May 28, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 506-011, May 28, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/506-011 (accessed September 26, 2026).