{"conversationCode":"698-006","tapeNumber":698,"conversationNumber":6,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-698-006","startDateTime":"1972-03-30T22:03:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-03-30T22:07:00.000Z","startDate":"30-Mar-1972","startTime":"5:03 PM","endDate":"30-Mar-1972","endTime":"5:07 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","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.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 698-6\n\nDate: March 30, 1972\nTime: Unknown between 5:03 pm and 5:07 pm\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n     The President's schedule\n          -Signing documents\n               -Executive Order\n\n     Crab apple blossoms\n          -Zoological Gardens\n          -Timing\n          -Weather\n          -Stephen B. Bull\n\nButterfield left at an unknown time before 5:07 pm.","filename":["698a.mp3","698b.mp3"],"tapeStart":"01:54:25","tapeEnd":"01:58:05","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"698-005","nextCode":"698-007","tapeTranscriptFile":"698a.mp3,698b.mp3","transcript":[{"start":6868.37,"end":6869.43,"text":"Uh, Hugh, uh, tie it up."},{"start":6869.69,"end":6870.81,"text":"Uh, he's probably out."},{"start":6872.91,"end":6873.55,"text":"Uh, there's a time."},{"start":6873.71,"end":6876.26,"text":"I just couldn't keep up 10 minutes."},{"start":6876.34,"end":6876.86,"text":"Come on, then."},{"start":6877.92,"end":6878.66,"text":"This is the rush."},{"start":6878.68,"end":6879.09,"text":"You take it."},{"start":6879.31,"end":6879.73,"text":"We're about ready."},{"start":6899.09,"end":6907.28,"text":"You know, is it true that the bossoms don't come out on those trees when there's trouble?"},{"start":6907.36,"end":6909.82,"text":"Well, they only crab out the trees."},{"start":6909.84,"end":6912.68,"text":"See, remember last year, they crab out the trees, the most beautiful thing."},{"start":6912.7,"end":6914.48,"text":"Absolutely, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."},{"start":6914.5,"end":6914.96,"text":"They are."},{"start":6915.08,"end":6919.69,"text":"They've been out this year, and they say that something's happened."},{"start":6919.89,"end":6923.57,"text":"Check to see if it's a zoological garden or something."},{"start":6923.99,"end":6924.69,"text":"Now, I understand that."},{"start":6930.24,"end":6945.87,"text":"Maybe 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."},{"start":6945.89,"end":6950.53,"text":"I think actually the blossoms come before the leaves."},{"start":6953.93,"end":6954.8,"text":"Did Steve mention that?"},{"start":6956.73,"end":6960.92,"text":"One of these girls out here told me that they were out there."},{"start":6961,"end":6962.95,"text":"It's not all that big, but I'm curious."},{"start":6963.21,"end":6963.83,"text":"I'm just curious."}],"transcriptBoundary":{"start":6859.125,"end":7098.625,"startMethod":"silence","endMethod":"silence"},"transcriptConfidence":"high","transcriptSource":"bigtape","aiSummary":{"text":"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.","topics":["Presidential scheduling","Executive Order","White House grounds","Crab apple blossoms","Horticulture"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-07T02:50:14.009Z"},"topicSlugs":["presidential-scheduling","executive-order","white-house-grounds","crab-apple-blossoms","horticulture"],"audioDurationSec":220,"audioFiles":[{"file":"698a.mp3","bytes":176263835,"durationSec":7344.27,"bitrate":192001,"missing":false},{"file":"698b.mp3","bytes":76957987,"durationSec":3206.51,"bitrate":192004,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":true,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:54.978Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/698a.mp3","https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/698b.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/698-006","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/698/conversation-698-006","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}