Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 678 › Conversation 678-005

Nixon & Butterfield on reunions and World War II

Monday, March 6, 1972 · 5:05 PM–5:10 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation678-005 on Tape 678 (tape position 02:07:00–02:15:13)StartMonday, March 6, 1972 at 5:05 PMEndMonday, March 6, 1972 at 5:10 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 678-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to coordinate the scheduling and logistics of upcoming personal reunions. The conversation focused on organizing gatherings for the President's World War II service associates and his Duke Law School classmates. Nixon decided to prioritize the law school class reunion for June at the request of an associate, effectively pushing back other planned events.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 164.9 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 02:07:00 into the tape and ends around 02:15:13.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
2:09:24Let's go.
2:10:10On that old, uh, baby thing, I want you to please, uh, you just mentioned, uh, two of us.
2:10:19I really can't stand it.
2:10:27people who were in the Badger up here in New York, you know.
2:10:32You know who that was?
2:10:33You know who he had his name on there?
2:10:36Paul Williams.
2:10:37Paul Williams.
2:10:37He's got a dozen of those characters.
2:10:42And then some of them were Catt and Peter Boyle, who were simply there to play the best.
2:10:54Now, we were gonna, we were really just trying to get...
2:11:23What, what would you, do you particularly want the scatling in first on the law school class students in June?
2:11:32I told you, I told you.
2:11:34Because Fletcher would like a little more time.
2:11:37He said, couldn't we have the law school finish first?
2:11:40Sure, sure.
2:11:40Yeah, the law school, the scatling.

NARA Description

On March 6, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:05 pm to 5:10 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 678-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 678-5

Date: March 6, 1972
Time: 5:05 pm - 5:10 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     Signing documents

     Reunions
         -World War II
               -SEAT and Quonset
                     -New York
                          -Paul Williams
                     -Captain Peter Boyle
                     -Ottumwa
               -Duke Law School
         -Carl Fleps

Butterfield left at 5:10 pm.

Also recorded on March 6, 1972

  • 678-002 3:58 PM · 52 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:58 pm and 4:00 pm.
  • 021-001 4:00 PM · 19 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 4:00 pm.
  • 678-003 4:00 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at 4:00 pm.
  • 678-004 4:00 PM · 1 hr 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Rose Mary Woods, Jayne Brumley, Stephen B. Bull, Ronald L. Ziegler, Henry A. Kissinger, and James C. H. Shen met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:00 pm to 5:04 pm.
  • 021-002 4:12 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Jayne Brumley talked on the telephone from 4:12 pm to 4:13 pm.
  • 021-003 4:13 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:13 pm and 7:14 pm.
  • 678-006 5:10 PM · 52 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:10 pm and 5:15 pm.
  • 678-007 5:15 PM · 1 hr 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, Stephen B. Bull, and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:15 pm to 6:59 pm.

All 32 conversations from March 6, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 678-005, March 6, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/678-005 (accessed October 12, 2026).