{"conversationCode":"612-002","tapeNumber":612,"conversationNumber":2,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-612-002","startDateTime":"1971-11-03T21:28:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-11-03T21:34:00.000Z","startDate":"3-Nov-1971","startTime":"4:28 PM","endDate":"3-Nov-1971","endTime":"4:34 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","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.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":2,"chronRelease":"Second Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"26-Oct-2000","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 612-002\n\nDate: November 3, 1971\nTime: Unknown between 4:28 pm and 4:34 pm\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     The President's schedule\n          -State dinner for Indira Gandhi, November 4, 1971\n                -Guests\n                      -Ambassadors\n                      -Secretary of Commerce [Maurice H. Stans]\n          -Church service on November 14, 1971\n                -Charles W. Colson's views\n                      -Roman Catholic\n                      -Fred B. Rhodes\n                      -Fellowship of Christian Athletes\n                -Robert H. Finch's views\n                      -Archbishop Humberto S. Madeiros of Boston\n\nButterfield left at an unknown time before 4:34 pm.","filename":["612-002.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:01:11","tapeEnd":"00:02:55","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"612-001","nextCode":"612-003","transcript":[{"start":1.5,"end":11.96,"text":"Here you go, Mr."},{"start":12.12,"end":12.32,"text":"Gay."},{"start":13.3,"end":15.34,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":15.5,"end":16.16,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":16.56,"end":17.64,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":17.8,"end":18.34,"text":"Uh-huh."},{"start":19.91,"end":28.5,"text":"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."},{"start":28.52,"end":33.16,"text":"Otherwise, I don't know what to say."},{"start":33.2,"end":38.29,"text":"And the only other item I asked on the church service coming up on the 14th,"},{"start":40.72,"end":42.74,"text":"Do you have any particular desires?"},{"start":42.82,"end":55.94,"text":"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."},{"start":59.35,"end":63.57,"text":"Well, uh, we had some trouble, frankly, getting some athletes at this time of the year."},{"start":63.59,"end":63.73,"text":"Yeah?"},{"start":63.79,"end":66.09,"text":"And, uh, we might have to tell them..."},{"start":66.13,"end":66.83,"text":"I think we've done that."},{"start":66.85,"end":67.55,"text":"I think we've done that."},{"start":67.57,"end":68.59,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":68.69,"end":69.02,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":69.03,"end":75.26,"text":"We had an attack."},{"start":75.28,"end":75.44,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":75.56,"end":77.72,"text":"Oh, you had an attack."},{"start":78.94,"end":80.36,"text":"No, I don't think we have to do that."},{"start":80.38,"end":84.7,"text":"I just recommended this Archbishop Medeiros in Boston, which I think is clearly better than that."},{"start":84.72,"end":85.18,"text":"It's Boston."},{"start":85.2,"end":85.91,"text":"That's the church."},{"start":85.97,"end":86.27,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":86.33,"end":87.11,"text":"I won't have to see you."},{"start":87.17,"end":87.49,"text":"All right."},{"start":87.51,"end":87.87,"text":"We'll be back."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["State Dinner","Indira Gandhi","Church Services","White House Scheduling","Charles Colson"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-07T00:43:28.821Z"},"topicSlugs":["state-dinner","indira-gandhi","church-services","white-house-scheduling","charles-w-colson"],"audioDurationSec":95,"audioFiles":[{"file":"612-002.mp3","bytes":3788800,"durationSec":94.6,"bitrate":320400,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:51.996Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:44:07.304Z","transcriptGapSeconds":52,"transcriptGapShare":0.55,"transcriptQuality":"incomplete","transcriptPrev":{"segments":23,"words":166,"replacedAt":"2026-10-27T04:11:30.255Z"},"transcriptSource":"retranscribed-2026-09","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/612-002.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/612-002","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/612/conversation-612-002","catalogNaId":417179543,"catalogUrl":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417179543","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}