Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 698 › Conversation 698-006

Nixon & Butterfield on Executive Order and White House grounds

Thursday, March 30, 1972 · 5:03 PM–5:07 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation698-006 on Tape 698 (tape position 01:54:25–01:58:05)StartThursday, March 30, 1972 at 5:03 PMEndThursday, March 30, 1972 at 5:07 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 698-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to coordinate the President's schedule and the signing of an executive order. The conversation quickly shifted to a casual inquiry regarding the status of the crab apple blossoms at the White House. Nixon requested that Butterfield investigate whether weather conditions or environmental factors had affected the blooming cycle of these trees.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 73.4 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 01:54:25 into the tape and ends around 01:58:05.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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.
1:54:28Uh, Hugh, uh, tie it up.
1:54:29Uh, he's probably out.
1:54:32Uh, there's a time.
1:54:33I just couldn't keep up 10 minutes.
1:54:36Come on, then.
1:54:37This is the rush.
1:54:38You take it.
1:54:39We're about ready.
1:54:59You know, is it true that the bossoms don't come out on those trees when there's trouble?
1:55:07Well, they only crab out the trees.
1:55:09See, remember last year, they crab out the trees, the most beautiful thing.
1:55:12Absolutely, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
1:55:14They are.
1:55:15They've been out this year, and they say that something's happened.
1:55:19Check to see if it's a zoological garden or something.
1:55:23Now, I understand that.
1:55:30Maybe what happened is the weather this spring was so warm they came out too early and now they're not going to have any blossoms.
1:55:45I think actually the blossoms come before the leaves.
1:55:53Did Steve mention that?
1:55:56One of these girls out here told me that they were out there.
1:56:01It's not all that big, but I'm curious.
1:56:03I'm just curious.

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 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 698-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 698-6

Date: March 30, 1972
Time: Unknown between 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     The President's schedule
          -Signing documents
               -Executive Order

     Crab apple blossoms
          -Zoological Gardens
          -Timing
          -Weather
          -Stephen B. Bull

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 5:07 pm.

Also recorded on March 30, 1972

  • 698-003 4:40 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:40 pm to 4:41 pm.
  • 698-004 4:42 PM · 21 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Phillip V. Sanchez, George P. Shultz, Alexander P. Butterfield, White House photographer, Rose Mary Woods, Stephen B. Bull, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:42 pm to 5:03 pm.
  • 698-005 5:03 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm.
  • 698-007 5:07 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:07 pm to 5:11 pm.
  • 698-008 5:18 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, unknown person(s), and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:18 pm to 5:30 pm.
  • 698-009 5:32 PM · 39 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Stephen B. Bull, Charles W. Colson, Rose Mary Woods, and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:32 pm to 6:11 pm.
  • 698-010 6:11 PM · 1 min — Stephen B. Bull, Alexander P. Butterfield, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 6:11 pm and 6:13 pm.
  • 022-054 6:13 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:13 pm and 7:16 pm.

All 48 conversations from March 30, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 698-006, 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/698-006 (accessed October 12, 2026).