Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 574 › Conversation 574-012

Butterfield & United States Secret Service agents on Secret Service

Friday, September 17, 1971 · 12:14 PM–12:34 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsButterfield, Alexander P.; United States Secret Service agentsConversation574-012 on Tape 574 (tape position 03:21:33–03:24:23)StartFriday, September 17, 1971 at 12:14 PMEndFriday, September 17, 1971 at 12:34 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 574-012 ↗

AI Summary

Alexander P. Butterfield met with Secret Service agents to discuss the logistical arrangements for the President's upcoming activities, including the President's use of the White House bowling alley. The participants engaged in light conversation regarding the merits of bowling as a family-friendly sport before briefly addressing the President's scheduled appointment with Ginger Rogers. The meeting concluded as the agents prepared to coordinate the President's movements for the remainder of the day.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.0 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 167.9 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 03:21:33 into the tape and ends around 03:24:23.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
3:21:33But it's a great sport.
3:21:34It's good.
3:21:34It's competitive.
3:21:36It's clean.
3:21:37They brought nice people, good people, good people to the house.
3:21:45And the other thing is it doesn't cost a great deal to participate.
3:21:53It doesn't cost a great deal.
3:21:56So everybody can do it.
3:21:59It doesn't take too much time.
3:22:02What we like about it, too, is the family sports.
3:22:05You know, that's true.
3:22:07And you can...
3:22:09I guess you can handicap them pretty well.
3:22:11You know, you're great at handicapping if you play it poor, but you know, you're just moving the people around, and it's a lot of fun.
3:22:22Well, thank you again for the walk-over.
3:22:24Yes, sir.
3:22:24I'm going to see the officer lead the way here.
3:22:42How you doing?
3:24:08Yeah, yeah.
3:24:09It is Miss Rogers.
3:24:11I don't care who that is.

NARA Description

On September 17, 1971, Alexander P. Butterfield and United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:14 pm and 12:34 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 574-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 574-12

Date: September 17, 1971
Time: Unknown between 12:14 pm and 12:34 pm
Location: Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield [?] met with unknown people [Secret Service agent].

     The President’s location
          -Bowling alley

Butterfield [?] and the unknown people [Secret Service agents] left at an unknown time before
12:34 pm.

Unknown people met.

     Greetings

     [Unintelligible]

     President’s schedule
          -Meeting with Ginger Rogers

     [Unintelligible]

This recording was cut off at an unknown time before 12:34 pm.

Also recorded on September 17, 1971

  • 574-007 11:41 AM · 27 sec — Alexander P. Butterfield and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:41 am and 11:43 am.
  • 574-008 11:41 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), and Kay Gardella met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 11:41 am and 11:43 am.
  • 009-061 11:43 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Kay Gardella talked on the telephone from 11:43 am to 11:45 am.
  • 009-062 11:45 AM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 11:45 am and 4:28 pm.
  • 574-009 11:45 AM · 15 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Jack F. Kemp, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 11:45 am to 12:01 pm.
  • 574-010 12:01 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:01 pm to 12:05 pm.
  • 574-011 12:05 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Aida L. Gonzalez, Edwin R. Luther, Mrs. Edwin R. Luther, Frank K. Baker, Mrs. Albert E. Crowe, Mabel Marrs, Harold Davis, John Meek, Michael Wilson, Henry C. Cashen, II, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:05 pm to 12:14 pm.
  • 574-013 12:34 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ginger Rogers, Alexander P. Butterfield, Manolo Sanchez, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:34 pm to 12:49 pm.

All 48 conversations from September 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 574-012, September 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/574-012 (accessed October 12, 2026).