Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 697 › Conversation 697-030

Nixon & Butterfield on Political strategy and Electoral planning

Thursday, March 30, 1972 · 2:32 PM–2:36 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation697-030 on Tape 697 (tape position 05:01:53–05:36:38)StartThursday, March 30, 1972 at 2:32 PMEndThursday, March 30, 1972 at 2:36 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 697-030 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Butterfield review political strategy regarding the timing of upcoming electoral challenges and the potential fallout within Congress. They assess the risks of specific political narratives and discuss the status of an individual named Mr. Allen, including his recent hospitalization and the lack of a medical diagnosis. The discussion concludes with a focus on preparing for an upcoming meeting with a Mr. Lewis.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.9 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 167.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 141.2 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 05:01:53 into the tape and ends around 05:36:38.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
5:01:59You get the point?
5:02:00This is where the, this is where, and this can go beyond this room, this is where the eventual theory and the initial theory completely falls apart.
5:02:13Where will it just leave Tom?
5:02:15Why did he stand his act until the election?
5:02:19That will not work.
5:02:20Don't you agree?
5:02:21That's it.
5:02:22That's the big negative to that.
5:02:24Well, the negative is what they're going to do to the Congress.
5:02:27Not the Prince are.
5:02:28Unless we can say, well, it's all politics.
5:02:34That's not a good thing.
5:02:35Having an argument is a very undesirable option.
5:02:38It may not be the worst option, but it is.
5:02:43Well, okay.
5:02:44We've got to get ready for Mr. Lewis.
5:02:47Oh, yes.
5:02:48The Regs are asserting that Mr. Allen has a piece of jail that has not been, will not have been, that's insupported.
5:02:57It doesn't.
5:02:58Did you know that Mr. Allen was hospitalized?
5:03:01You know, a lot of people had an examination that was requested.
5:03:05He would bring that up to get it to the district and... Oh, yeah.
5:03:08I'm sorry.
5:03:10He has no disease.
5:03:12It's all right.
5:03:13It's all right.
5:03:14It's all right.
5:03:16It's all right.
5:03:19It's all right.
5:03:21It's all right.
5:04:45Thank you.

NARA Description

On March 30, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:32 pm and 2:36 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 697-030 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 697-30

Date: March 30, 1972
Time: 2:32 pm - unknown before 2:36 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     Schedule [?]

The President and Butterfield left at an unknown time before 2:36 pm.

Also recorded on March 30, 1972

  • 697-024 12:39 PM · 21 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:39 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 697-025 12:39 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:39 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 697-026 12:39 PM · 37 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:39 pm and 12:45 pm.
  • 022-053 12:45 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 12:45 pm to 12:47 pm.
  • 697-028 12:45 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:45 pm to 12:47 pm.
  • 697-029 12:47 PM · 1 hr 47 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Charles W. Colson, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:47 pm to 2:32 pm.
  • 698-001 2:32 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:32 pm and 3:13 pm.
  • 698-002 3:13 PM · 1 hr 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, Stephen B. Bull, Henry A. Kissinger, Frank E. Fitzsimmons, Charles W. Colson, George P. Shultz, Henry A. Kissinger, Oliver F. ("Ollie") Atkins, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:13 pm to 4:40 pm.

All 48 conversations from March 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 697-030, March 30, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/697-030 (accessed October 12, 2026).