Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 661 › Conversation 661-012

Nixon, Woods & Butterfield on Prayer breakfast and Speechwriting

Monday, January 31, 1972 · 5:49 PM–6:00 PM ET · Oval Office ·11 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President);  Woods, Rose Mary;  Butterfield, Alexander P.;  Haldeman, H. R. ("Bob");  [Unknown person(s)]Conversation661-012 onTape 661 (tape position 04:15:53–04:28:17)StartMonday, January 31, 1972 at 5:49 PMEndMonday, January 31, 1972 at 6:00 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 661-012 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Rose Mary Woods, H. R. Haldeman, and Alexander Butterfield to manage his schedule and handle administrative tasks, including a document signature request from John Dean. The group discussed preparations for an upcoming prayer breakfast, specifically expressing frustration over the excessive length of speeches and the need for the President to keep his own remarks brief. Additionally, they reviewed presidential gifts, including sculptures of Winston Churchill and John Foster Dulles, and briefly reflected on the deaths of prominent aging statesmen.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Okay.
This is the thing you got me into.
Oh, no, you didn't.
I thought it had a little .
Oh, isn't that a hand sign?
Good.
John Dean is asking whether you would feel you could sign, you don't have to appear in court now, you don't have to appeal to people.
Of course.
Of course, appeal in court.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
Let's just request the appeal of the answer, John Dean.
Of course.
Okay.
Thank you.
I don't think they even do it that way.
I think, at least they've changed the rules you're gonna have to follow.
I don't believe it.
Where were you when you were 30 years old?
Well, it was a great day for me.
Where else?
Oh, my.
I thought Tom was going to faint when he came in.
He got so light when he saw everybody.
It was a nice day.
Oh, it was great.
All the rest of them.
It really was.
She's so cute, she was over here a while ago.
It's time to look at that bust of mine.
Tom Foster Dawson's over in your other office.
Yeah, I saw it.
It's pretty good, I think, don't you?
Sort of catching the...
Yes.
The way he looked.
That's why I brought it.
Yeah.
Did he do that one too, the Dolphin?
No, the Dolphin was done by David Water, who's still over at the stadium.
He saw that John posted all the drops from Chicago with him.
Oh.
Or something, you know.
I think he had a little test for protocol in the hospital.
And he didn't want it to come through the channels and all that.
But the fellow, the same fellow did the Churchill one that did the, you know, turn.
He's really tricky.
I think that one on Churchill we have over there, don't you think?
Yes.
Yeah.
Do you have any kind of...
I haven't seen the board.
No more than five minutes.
We know.
Hey, Bob, we, the prayer practice people, only expect a very brief remark from them, and they don't have an opportunity for a damn big speech.
Well, last year, Berger... Berger had the bad habit of talking too long.
I went to dinner one night and he was just responding to a toast and it went on for a half hour.
It was just painful.
He's just a darling man, though.
You know, it comes to 25 different endings, and it doesn't stop.
It doesn't stop.
That was what happened.
I remember that.
I remember that, too.
I remember that.
I haven't finished the damn thing.
But I'm just not going to do that no more.
I mean, they are really...
I don't understand that.
Of course, did you read the scripture?
Ah, thank you.
Well, even at the end of the day, they bring people from Europe here.
I don't understand that.
Well, I don't know if they are nice people, but, you know, Rosa, I...
provide people with just keep you alive and just bug you and bug you and bug you and bug you.
I've done the darn breakfast.
I shouldn't have to do it every year.
Well, I know I don't do them every year either.
I don't do them.
I do the cancer one one year and I do the dystrophy the next year.
You know, you just can't
Yeah, I know.
It takes so much time.
Anyway, we have too much of a submissive scene.
Did they tell you that Dudley swam back today?
Oh, yeah.
No, I didn't know, but I'm not surprised.
He's a big man.
Probably had a heart attack.
Heart attack, got me.
It was over 70 roses.
Oh, was it?
I didn't realize that.
I don't understand.
I didn't realize that at all.
You see, we're in a period now where we can expect many people to die.
Oh, yeah.
Ever since we've been in office, there's been an awful lot of people that you probably don't even know.
I remember Tom Dilley, Dean Atchison.
Well, they're old men.
Yeah.
They died.
I don't need much.
I have a lot of children.
It's going to be so brief.
So they know.
It's all completed.
Yeah, but they don't have a.
They're giving a suggestion.
Well, I.
The last year was a horrible look.
He got an invocation.
Statement by Congressman Dave.
Greedy by Congressman Hicks.
Old Testament.
Greedy by Dr. Herman.
Solo with three British students.
His testimony.
Prayer of the next leader of Justice.
Message from Mayor Walter Washington.
Don't you agree?
I do, because there aren't many people who just get up and they read just a few verses or they say something.
It's just to be too long, especially when I do it.
But obviously it's that long a program.
But I know that they can't even be introduced and clapped for in less than two or three minutes.
That's right.
It's time to get people bored to death.
That's right.
And all your speeches are anachronistic.
I don't know why they all want speeches, but they do.
Why don't you come over and have a drink with Julie over there?
Are you free?
Um, yeah.
I have to get a coke.

NARA Description

On January 31, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Alexander P. Butterfield, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:49 pm to 6:00 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 661-012 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 661-12

Date: January 31, 1972
Time: 5:49 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Rose Mary Woods.
     Review of gifts
          -Congressional medals

     The President’s schedule
          -John W. Dean III request for signature
               -Supreme Court
               -Fred F. Fielding
          -Farewell ceremony for Maj. Gen. James D. (“Don”) Hughes, January 31, 1972
               -Hughes’s family
               -Melvin R. Laird
               -Mrs. Hughes [?]

     Busts
             -John Foster Dulles
                  -David Waters
                  -Executive Office Building [EOB]
             -Winston Churchill
                  -Waters

     Weather

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 5:50 pm.

     Prayer breakfast
          -Length of the President’s remarks

Butterfield left at 5:52 pm.

[The President talked with H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman at an unknown time between 5:52 pm and
5:55 pm.]

[Conversation No. 661-12A]

     Prayer breakfast
          -Length of the President’s remarks

[End of telephone conversation]

     The President’s schedule
          -Prayer breakfast
               -Warren E. Burger speech
                      -Length
                           -Toast
               -Toasts
               -Scripture reading
                      -Mamie G.D. Eisenhower
                           -Augusta, Georgia
               -European guests

An unknown person entered at an unknown time after 5:52 pm.

     Item for the President
The unknown person left at an unknown time before 5:55 pm.

     The President’s schedule
          -Demands on the President’s time
          -Charitable groups

     Death of Dudley Swim
          -Age
          -Aging statesmen
               -Thomas E. Dewey
               -Dean G. Acheson
          -Ann [Surname unknown]

Alexander P. Butterfield entered at 5:55 pm.

     Remarks for prayer breakfast
         -Length
               -The President’s talk with Haldeman

Butterfield left at 5:55 pm.

     Prayer breakfast, 1971
          -Program
                -Length of speeches and readings
                      -Charles M. Teague
                      -Marvin L. Esch
                      -Walter E. Washington
                -Length
                      -Lyndon B. Johnson

     Speeches
          -Anachronistic nature

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

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 08/05/2022.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[661-012-w001]
[Duration: 12s]

     Rose Mary Woods’s schedule
          -Thelma C. (Ryan) (“Pat”) Nixon
          -Julie Nixon Eisenhower

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

Woods left at 6:00 pm.

Also recorded on January 31, 1972

  • 020-009 4:04 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stewart B. McKinney talked on the telephone from 4:04 pm to 4:06 pm.
  • 661-009 4:04 PM · 1 hr 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Stewart B. McKinney, John D. Ehrlichman, and Ronald L. Ziegler met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:04 pm to 5:05 pm.
  • 661-010 5:05 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:05 pm and 5:13 pm.
  • 661-011 5:05 PM · 41 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:05 pm and 5:49 pm.
  • 661-013 6:00 PM · 54 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:00 pm and 6:06 pm.
  • 661-014 6:00 PM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:00 pm and 6:06 pm.
  • 661-015 6:00 PM · 1 min — Alexander P. Butterfield and United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:00 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 020-010 6:06 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:06 pm and 7:26 pm.

All 32 conversations from January 31, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 661-012, January 31, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/661-012 (accessed September 18, 2026).