Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 522 › Conversation 522-008

Nixon, Haldeman & Butterfield on Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Relations

Wednesday, June 16, 1971 · 1:04 PM–1:15 PM ET · Oval Office · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation522-008 on Tape 522 (tape position 03:42:45–03:48:01)StartWednesday, June 16, 1971 at 1:04 PMEndWednesday, June 16, 1971 at 1:15 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 522-008 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with H. R. Haldeman and Alexander Butterfield to finalize details regarding his upcoming meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Swaran Singh, specifically confirming the list of diplomatic participants including Henry Kissinger and Kenneth Keating. The group also coordinated logistics for a visit by the Rural Electrification Youth group, discussing the President’s potential participation in greeting them on the South Lawn. Nixon weighed his scheduling constraints against the public relations value of interacting with the visiting youth group.

Audio

Download MP3 · 7.8 MB

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 45% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
You didn't approve any of the people who were, uh, foreign ministers saying how to participate.
I mean, except for Reagan back then, I was saying, Francisco will be there, Union will be there, and that's when the government will be there.
I didn't.
I'm just wondering sometimes, you know, if this is your place, that's not your spot.
Yes.
Well, you know what the PAR is now?
That's the Rural Electrification Unit.
It's lost.
Where did that go?
Just on the lawn, I think Art's going to greet him somewhere on the side of the lawn.
There's a whole bunch of them up over here.
I didn't pick long enough here, but it's not that good.
It's a question of how much you can do.
You couldn't do that in my day.
I mean, I certainly know a lot of people who are going right, but it's not going to be true receiving ones.
I mean, like the guitars are, they all want to come out and shake hands, I know that.
But I'm just not in it.
It was hard not to do the wedding.
Well, you don't need to do it.
It's just as proud of you to see they do.
What did I say?
I don't know.
Okay.
Enthusiastically.
Are they going to get a word out of the security?
I don't know.
We'll send them out and find out.
I may take a look at it.
I may have to go out and say a word on it.

NARA Description

On June 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:04 pm and 1:15 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 522-008 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 522-008

Date: June 16, 1971
Time: Unknown between 1:04 pm and 1:15 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman and Alexander P. Butterfield.

     President’s upcoming meeting with Foreign Minister Swaran Singh
           -Approval of participants
                -Henry A. Kissinger
                -Joseph J. Sisco
                -Kenneth B. Keating
                -Ambassador Lakshmi Kant Jha
                -Kissinger role

     Rural Electrification Youth group
          -Schedule
          -Clifford M. Hardin

Butterfield left at 1:09 pm.

            -Dispersement on South Lawn
            -President's schedule
                  -Greeting
            -White House tour
            -"Drop by" from President
            -Size of group
            -Schedule
                  -White House tour

       Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, NARA Online Public Access Catalog Identifier: 597542

Haldeman left at unknown time before 1:15 pm.

Also recorded on June 16, 1971

  • 522-003 12:07 PM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:07 pm and 12:26 pm.
  • 522-004 12:26 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ambassador E. Ross Adair, Mrs. E. Ross Adair, and W. Marshall Wright met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:26 pm to 12:37 pm.
  • 522-005 12:38 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Herbert G. Klein, Stanley S. Scott, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:38 pm to 12:46 pm.
  • 522-006 12:46 PM · 13 min — President Richard M. Nixon, unknown person(s), Herbert G. Klein, Ronald L. Ziegler, George Tames, Arnold C. Noel, Norman Driscoll, Byron Rollins, Maurice Johnson, Charles Shutt, Barry Stroup, George Gaylin, William Beall, Carl Kramer, James Raney, Charles Woolsey, John McGee, John Arrowsmith, William Galbraith, Lynne Peterson, Allan Smith, Constance ("Connie") Chung, Paul Sisco, Frank E. Cancellare, Henry Griffin, Thomas ("Tom") Craven, Sr., Hugo Johnson, Robert D. Denton, J. Thomas Baltzell, George Dorsey, Joe Roberts, and Andrew J. May met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:46 pm to 12:59 pm.
  • 522-007 12:59 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:59 pm to 1:04 pm.
  • 522-009 1:09 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:09 pm and 1:15 pm.
  • 522-010 1:15 PM · 1 min — unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:15 pm and 1:27 pm.
  • 522-011 1:27 PM · 46 min — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:27 pm to 2:15 pm.

All 29 conversations from June 16, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 522-008, June 16, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/522-008 (accessed October 5, 2026).