Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 585 › Conversation 585-005

Nixon, Butterfield & Bull on Presidential gifts and White House logistics

Tuesday, October 5, 1971 · 3:49 PM–3:55 PM ET · Oval Office · 4 min

ParticipantsButterfield, Alexander P.; Bull, Stephen B.; Nixon, Richard M. (President)Conversation585-005 on Tape 585 (tape position 00:49:10–00:53:14)StartTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 3:49 PMEndTuesday, October 5, 1971 at 3:55 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 585-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Alexander P. Butterfield and Stephen B. Bull to coordinate the distribution of presidential gifts, including silver dollar coins, money clips, and Camp David jackets. The participants discussed inventory management and the logistics of providing these items to congressmen and attendees at upcoming campaign events. Nixon directed his staff to ensure efficient distribution of the gifts and touched upon his scheduling needs regarding upcoming meetings.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 2 minutes of this recording (about 46% 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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

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Keep trying to what?
Keep trying to what?
Keep saying it.
Keep trying to do something.
All right.
They've got that already, you see.
The congressmen do.
The others do not.
We're down.
You want these to go to the people Friday night at our Friday night campaign.
We don't have enough to give these tonight.
We have enough to give these tonight and Saturday or Friday night, sir.
But then we're going to start getting run over again at 35.
They'll leave that in here.
Get me together.
Are those going to give up?
We're going to give them out more than starting tonight, though, than this.
Captain David Jackson needs to go to the president to see how we're going to save the church.
And also, get them out.
Get them out, please.
Captain David Jackson, that man is okay to die.
Well, tonight, for this bunch, I don't know what the hell we're going to give them.
We have enough of those small muscle clips and everything.
That's better.
Give that money to us.
The money comes from these people.
Fine.
Give this stuff to these people.
That's better.
If you want to take it, take it and save your records.
That's better.
That's better.

NARA Description

On October 5, 1971, Alexander P. Butterfield, Stephen B. Bull, and President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:49 pm and 3:55 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 585-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 585-5

Date: October 5, 1971
Time: Unknown between 3:49 pm and 3:55 pm
Location: Oval Office

Alexander P. Butterfield met with Stephen B. Bull.

      The President's schedule
           -Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak

      [Unintelligible]

The President entered at 3:52 pm.

      Gifts
              -Proof silver dollar coins
              -Recipients
                   -Congress
                   -Camp David jackets
              -Money clips

      The President's schedule
           -Presidential gifts
           -Charles W. Colson

Butterfield, et al. left at 3:55 pm.

Also recorded on October 5, 1971

  • 585-002 3:26 PM · 29 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:26 pm and 3:27 pm.
  • 585-003 3:26 PM · 35 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:26 pm and 3:27 pm.
  • 585-004 3:27 PM · 22 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Joseph L. Vicites, Cooper T. Holt, Charles W. Colson, and White House photographer met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:27 pm to 3:49 pm.
  • 585-006 3:55 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:55 pm and 3:59 pm.
  • 010-042 3:59 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 3:59 pm to 4:02 pm.
  • 585-007 3:59 PM · 32 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John N. Mitchell, Charles W. Colson, Manolo Sanchez, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Henry A. Kissinger, White House operator, and John B. Connally met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:59 pm to 4:02 pm.
  • 010-043 4:02 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:02 pm and 4:26 pm.
  • 010-044 4:26 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and John B. Connally talked on the telephone from 4:26 pm to 4:30 pm.

All 36 conversations from October 5, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 585-005, October 5, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/585-005 (accessed September 28, 2026).