Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 716 › Conversation 716-005

Nixon & Butterfield on Henry Kissinger and White House administration

Monday, May 1, 1972 · 6:48 PM–6:49 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation716-005 on Tape 716 (tape position 02:39:59–02:40:29)StartMonday, May 1, 1972 at 6:48 PMEndMonday, May 1, 1972 at 6:49 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 716-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon met with Alexander P. Butterfield to finalize administrative details regarding the President's upcoming schedule. The discussion centered on securing the President’s approval for a specific agenda item, specifically addressing a scheduled appearance by Henry Kissinger. The brief interaction concluded with the confirmation of these logistical arrangements.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 167.1 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 64.5 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 02:39:59 into the tape and ends around 02:40:29.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

2:40:03I think, I mean, I regret to say, it kind of looks like it's pretty bad.
2:40:07I think that Henry is not going to get that.
2:40:16But here, this is 13-9.
2:40:18That's the lucky one.
2:40:19Thank you.

NARA Description

On May 1, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 6:48 pm to 6:49 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 716-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 716-5

Date: May 1, 1972
Time: 6:48-6:49 pm
Location: Oval office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     The President’s schedule
          -President's approval of agenda
                -Henry A. Kissinger's appearance

The President and Butterfield left at 6:49 pm.

Also recorded on May 1, 1972

  • 023-095 6:49 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 6:49 pm and 6:53 pm.
  • 716-006 6:49 PM · 1 min — United States Secret Service agents met in the Oval Office of the White House at 6:49 pm.
  • 023-096 6:53 PM · 12 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Manolo Sanchez talked on the telephone from 6:53 pm to 7:06 pm.
  • 023-097 7:06 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:06 pm and 7:07 pm.
  • 023-098 7:07 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger talked on the telephone from 7:07 pm to 7:08 pm.
  • 023-099 7:09 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:09 pm and 7:11 pm.
  • 023-100 7:11 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 7:11 pm to 7:13 pm.
  • 023-101 7:13 PM · 6 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:13 pm and 7:18 pm.

All 19 conversations from May 1, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 716-005, May 1, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/716-005 (accessed October 9, 2026).