Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 590 › Conversation 590-014

Nixon & Butterfield on Diplomatic protocol and Diplomatic credentials

Wednesday, October 13, 1971 · 1:50 PM–2:57 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation590-014 on Tape 590 (tape position 04:59:22–05:03:31)StartWednesday, October 13, 1971 at 1:50 PMEndWednesday, October 13, 1971 at 2:57 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 590-014 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield coordinate the logistics for the upcoming presentation of diplomatic credentials. They discuss refining the procedure to minimize the President's time commitment by transitioning from private meetings to simple, efficient handshakes. Nixon emphasizes that this adjustment should be handled discreetly to avoid the perception that he is deviating from established protocol or diminishing the importance of the guests.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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present with these credentials in accordance with the way that you found them, it would be necessary to get over until that 10,000th street, sir.
Until a few of them arrive, a few of them just go, are they all?
No, sir.
They know you're very busy today and some things have come up and that's why.
I didn't know.
No, they were told they were going to have meetings with me.
No, sir.
No, I don't care.
They told them they were going to have conversations before.
No, sir.
They work not often.
They don't.
These people are coming to present their credentials, not to have a private meeting.
They'll start running around 3 a.m. to be here by 10 past 3, so we can just flow through quite easily.
The next recession is walking through the green room and move on to the next one.
In the East Coast, the river is still closed up.
We'll leave it right there.
Three weeks later.
Then I'll walk them out and walk them to the door.
You don't even need to walk them to the door, Mr. President.
Just walk them to me.
To the blue room.
To our help.
Go out to the front door and they'll be... No, I mean I'll walk them out to that door and walk back to me.
Sir, just go out of the next room.
That's the way we want to do it.
We don't want to.
That's right, sir.
I believe everyone understands that also.
Don't put it on the basis we're changing anything.
That's the only thing.
Because they've been told they're going to have a conversation with them, I have to help them.
And we'll look at the future and we'll look this way, see.
I don't think it's necessary for you to have conversations with them.
I know it's not necessary, but I mean, if they've been told that I don't have a thing, we're changing it, you see.
And in the future, though, I've told them they're not going to have any more conversations.
I understand.
We just want to walk through and shake hands, you see.
Well, my information is that they don't expect that.
I understand.

NARA Description

On October 13, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 2:57 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 590-014 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 590-14

Date: October 13, 1971
Time: Unknown between 1:50 pm and 2:57 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     The President's schedule
          -Presentation of diplomatic credentials
               -Conversations
               -Emil G. (“Bus”) Mosbacher, Jr.

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 2:57 pm.

Also recorded on October 13, 1971

  • 011-083 12:45 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 12:45 pm and 1:09 pm.
  • 590-011 1:00 PM · 42 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Stephen B. Bull, White House operator, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:00 pm to 1:43 pm.
  • 011-084 1:09 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 1:09 pm.
  • 011-085 1:43 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone from 1:43 pm to 1:50 pm.
  • 590-012 1:43 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Frank E. Fitzsimmons met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:43 pm to 1:50 pm.
  • 590-013 1:50 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:50 pm and 2:57 pm.
  • 011-111 2:24 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:24 pm and 4:56 pm.
  • 590-015 2:57 PM · 14 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:57 pm to 3:12 pm.

All 46 conversations from October 13, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 590-014, October 13, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/590-014 (accessed September 28, 2026).