Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 556 › Conversation 556-006

Nixon & Butterfield on Council on Environmental Quality and John C. Whitaker

Friday, August 6, 1971 · 12:02 PM–12:06 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation556-006 onTape 556 (tape position 01:47:30–01:48:38)StartFriday, August 6, 1971 at 12:02 PMEndFriday, August 6, 1971 at 12:06 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 556-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Alexander P. Butterfield to review the logistics of an upcoming signing ceremony for the Council on Environmental Quality report. They discussed the expected attendance, including John C. Whitaker, and the management of press involvement for the event. This discussion served to finalize the President's schedule and administrative preparations for the ceremony.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 29.8 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 01:47:30 into the tape and ends around 01:48:38.

Transcript (AI-generated)

No transcript is available yet for this conversation. The recording may contain no audible speech, or it may not have been processed.

NARA Description

On August 6, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 556-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 556-6

Date: August 6, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     President’s schedule
          -Forthcoming meeting
                -[Signing ceremony of the report of the Council on Environment Quality]
                      -Attendees
                           -Number
                           -John C. Whitaker
                           -Press

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 12:06 pm.

Also recorded on August 6, 1971

  • 556-007 12:02 PM · 53 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:02 pm and 12:06 pm.
  • 007-064 12:06 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:06 pm.
  • 007-065 12:06 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 12:06 pm.
  • 556-008 12:06 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 12:06 pm.
  • 556-009 12:06 PM · 9 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John C. Whitaker, Russell E. Train, Robert Cahn, Gordon J. F. MacDonald, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:06 pm to 12:13 pm.
  • 556-010 12:13 PM · 49 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:15 pm.
  • 556-011 12:13 PM · 47 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:13 pm and 12:15 pm.
  • 556-012 12:15 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:15 pm to 12:16 pm.

All 35 conversations from August 6, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 556-006, August 6, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/556-006 (accessed September 18, 2026).