Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 539 › Conversation 539-002

Nixon, Haldeman & Butterfield on White House and Interior design

Monday, July 19, 1971 · 10:11 AM–10:13 AM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob"); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation539-002 on Tape 539 (tape position 00:09:20–00:10:49)StartMonday, July 19, 1971 at 10:11 AMEndMonday, July 19, 1971 at 10:13 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 539-002 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon, H. R. Haldeman, and Alexander P. Butterfield convened in the Oval Office to address administrative details regarding White House interior maintenance. The participants briefly discussed the specific logistical task of refurbishing and reupholstering chairs within the executive office. The discussion concluded with a directive to proceed with the requested furniture maintenance.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.4 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 70.0 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 00:09:20 into the tape and ends around 00:10:49.

Transcript (AI-generated)

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

10:18Recover the chairs, please, ma'am.
10:19Uh, well, that would be a good question, whether you follow up, and if you don't understand, though, I felt contacted at the time, so I suppose I would recommend we not.
10:32First of all, you have a lot of sub-captain here, and secondly, I'm a theater one-by-one citizen.
10:37I mean, where they can play a double-digit total.

NARA Description

On July 19, 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 10:11 am and 10:13 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 539-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 539-2

Date: July 19, 1971
Time: Unknown between 10:11 am and 10:13 am
Location: Oval Office

H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman [?] met with Alexander P. Butterfield [?]

     [Unintelligible]

The President entered at an unknown time after 10:11 am

     White House furnishings

The President, et al. left at an unknown time before 10:13 am

Also recorded on July 19, 1971

  • 064-005 8:36 AM · 1 hr 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, William P. Rogers, and bipartisan Congressional leaders, including Michael J. ("Mike") Mansfield, Hugh Scott, John C. Stennis, Margaret Chase Smith, J. William Fulbright, George D. Aiken, Allen J. Ellender, Milton R. Young, Carl B. Albert, [Thomas] Hale Boggs, Gerald R. Ford, Edward Hébert, Leslie C. Arends, Dr. Thomas E. ("Doc") Morgan, William S. Mailliard, George H. Mahon, Frank T. Bow, Henry A. Kissinger, Clark MacGregor, William E. Timmons, Kenneth E. BeLieu, Ronald L. Ziegler, and John A. Scali, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 8:36 am and 10:11 am.
  • 064-006 10:00 AM · 59 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Cabinet officers, including William P. Rogers, Paul A. Volcker, Melvin R. Laird, Richard G. Kleindienst, Rogers C. B. Morton, Clifford M. Hardin, Maurice H. Stans, Laurence H. Silberman, John G. Veneman, Richard C. Van Dusen, James M. Beggs, David M. Kennedy, George P. Shultz, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George H. W. Bush, Herbert G. Klein, Raymond K. Price, Jr., Alexander P. Butterfield, Ronald L. Ziegler, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Robert J. Dole, met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 10:00 am and 11:12 am.
  • 539-001 10:00 AM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John C. Stennis, F. Edward Hébert, William P. Rogers, William E. Timmons, Clark MacGregor, Kenneth E. BeLieu, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:00 am to 10:11 am.
  • 539-003 10:14 AM · 49 min — United States Secret Service agents and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 10:14 am and 11:12 am.
  • 539-004 11:12 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:12 am and 11:18 am.
  • 539-005 11:12 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:12 am and 11:18 am.
  • 539-006 11:18 AM · 20 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:18 am to 11:37 am.
  • 539-007 11:58 AM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:58 am to 12:08 pm.

All 26 conversations from July 19, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 539-002, July 19, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/539-002 (accessed October 13, 2026).