Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 612 › Conversation 612-002

Nixon & Butterfield on State Dinner and Indira Gandhi

Wednesday, November 3, 1971 · 4:28 PM–4:34 PM ET · Oval Office · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation612-002 on Tape 612 (tape position 00:01:11–00:02:55)StartWednesday, November 3, 1971 at 4:28 PMEndWednesday, November 3, 1971 at 4:34 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 612-002 ↗ · National Archives Catalog, NAID 417179543 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to finalize administrative details for upcoming White House events, including a state dinner for Indira Gandhi. They discussed the guest list for the dinner and reviewed potential speakers for a religious service scheduled for November 14, 1971. The President evaluated recommendations from Charles Colson and Robert Finch regarding the service, ultimately addressing the logistical difficulties of securing guests for the event.

Audio

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NARA Description

On November 3, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:28 pm and 4:34 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 612-002 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 612-002

Date: November 3, 1971
Time: Unknown between 4:28 pm and 4:34 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     The President's schedule
          -State dinner for Indira Gandhi, November 4, 1971
                -Guests
                      -Ambassadors
                      -Secretary of Commerce [Maurice H. Stans]
          -Church service on November 14, 1971
                -Charles W. Colson's views
                      -Roman Catholic
                      -Fred B. Rhodes
                      -Fellowship of Christian Athletes
                -Robert H. Finch's views
                      -Archbishop Humberto S. Madeiros of Boston

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 4:34 pm.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript is incomplete. The transcription skipped stretches of speech — roughly 1 minute of this recording (about 55% 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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Here you go, Mr.

Gay.

Uh-huh.

Uh, they had requested, and I checked on this, they actually did want to request that Popston be accepted for the promise to join us, you know, all over the show, since they may or may not.

Otherwise, I don't know what to say.

And the only other item I asked on the church service coming up on the 14th,

Do you have any particular desires?

Chuck Colson says he thinks Roman Catholic would be good, or Fred Rhodes, who's our deputy administrator over here at the VA, or this Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which we've only had once, and he said he'd like to have one last year.

Well, uh, we had some trouble, frankly, getting some athletes at this time of the year.

Yeah?

And, uh, we might have to tell them...

I think we've done that.

Yes, sir.

We had an attack.

Yeah.

Oh, you had an attack.

No, I don't think we have to do that.

I just recommended this Archbishop Medeiros in Boston, which I think is clearly better than that.

It's Boston.

That's the church.

Yeah.

I won't have to see you.

All right.

We'll be back.

Also recorded on November 3, 1971

013-107 4:28 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:28 pm and 4:34 pm.
612-001 4:28 PM · 3 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:28 pm and 4:34 pm.
612-003 4:28 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:28 pm and 4:34 pm.
013-108 4:34 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Russell B. Long talked on the telephone from 4:34 pm to 4:40 pm.
612-004 4:34 PM · 56 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Russell B. Long met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:34 pm to 5:31 pm.
013-109 4:40 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:40 pm and 4:42 pm.
013-110 4:42 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Robert H. Finch talked on the telephone from 4:42 pm to 4:43 pm.
013-111 4:43 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:43 pm and 4:46 pm.

All 64 conversations from November 3, 1971 →

Nixon & Woods on Indira Gandhi and State dinner November 4, 1971 · 2 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Acker on State dinners and Congressional relations January 26, 1973 · 30 min
Nixon & Bull on Eisaku Sato and King Hussein January 31, 1973 · 2 min
Nixon, Haldeman & Butterfield on State dinners and Rose Mary Woods June 28, 1971 · 14 min
Nixon phone call with Cox on Spiro T. Agnew and Media coverage February 2, 1972 · 3 min
Nixon phone call with Haldeman on George H.W. Bush and Foreign aid October 31, 1971 · 9 min

Cite this conversation

Conversation 612-002, November 3, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives (NAID 417179543). Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/612-002 (accessed November 1, 2026).