Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 646 › Conversation 646-001

Nixon, Woods & Butterfield on White House administration and Speechwriting

Wednesday, January 12, 1972 · 4:02 PM–4:04 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Woods, Rose Mary;  Butterfield, Alexander P.;  Bull, Stephen B.Conversation646-001 onTape 646 (tape position 00:01:23–00:02:31)StartWednesday, January 12, 1972 at 4:02 PMEndWednesday, January 12, 1972 at 4:04 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 646-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Rose Mary Woods and Alexander P. Butterfield to discuss administrative matters, including the handling of a specific letter and a speech draft. Following Butterfield’s departure, Stephen B. Bull joined the President to review scheduling arrangements regarding meetings with Vice President Spiro Agnew, a Joint Chiefs of Staff representative, and George Romney. The brief session focused on managing the President's immediate office workflows and upcoming appointments.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 169.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 41.9 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 00:01:23 into the tape and ends around 00:02:31.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

1:39Say, Rose, I wondered if you would pick up.
1:44There was a big speech at your office.
1:46It was a job.
1:47Go back tomorrow.

NARA Description

On January 12, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:02 pm and 4:04 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 646-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 646-1

Date: January 12, 1972
Time: 4:02 pm - unknown before 4:04 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Rose Mary Woods and Alexander P. Butterfield.

     Letter

     Speech draft
          -West Wing

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 4:03 pm.

*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[Personal Returnable]
[Duration: 32s ]

END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************

Stephen B. Bull entered and Woods left at 4:03 pm.

     The President’s schedule
          -Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
          -Unknown general
               -Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
          -George W. Romney

Bull left at an unknown time before 4:04 pm.

Also recorded on January 12, 1972

  • 646-002 4:04 PM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:04 pm to 4:30 pm.
  • 646-003 4:30 PM · 50 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Stephen B. Bull, unknown person(s), and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:30 pm.
  • 646-004 4:30 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and Rosemary Manarin met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:30 pm to 4:34 pm.
  • 646-005 4:34 PM · 1 hr 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, George W. Romney, John D. Ehrlichman, John C. Whitaker, Manolo Sanchez, Stephen B. Bull, John N. Mitchell, Rose Mary Woods, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:34 pm to 6:21 pm.
  • 646-006 6:21 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:21 pm and 6:23 pm.
  • 646-007 6:23 PM · 2 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:23 pm and 10:59 pm.

Cite this conversation

Conversation 646-001, January 12, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/646-001 (accessed September 18, 2026).