Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 720 › Conversation 720-001

Nixon & Butterfield on Peter G. Peterson and Domestic Policy

Friday, May 5, 1972 · 8:45 AM–8:48 AM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation720-001 on Tape 720 (tape position 00:00:30–00:06:04)StartFriday, May 5, 1972 at 8:45 AMEndFriday, May 5, 1972 at 8:48 AMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 720-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield discussed the status of a potential meeting with Secretary of Commerce Peter G. Peterson. Nixon determined that he lacked sufficient time for a formal session, opting to forgo a scheduled meeting in favor of addressing domestic matters separately. Consequently, Butterfield received direction to inform the Secretary that the request was declined.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 168.2 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 145.3 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 00:00:30 into the tape and ends around 00:06:04.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.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

0:49The Secretary of Commerce on this call, he wanted to know if this meeting with you yesterday took the place of the next period of our meeting today.
0:58Yeah.
0:59So do you want him to submit that?
1:04No, yeah.
1:06Thank you.
1:06I don't have enough time.
1:08It's all right.
1:09We'll talk about some domestic matters, but I don't know.

NARA Description

On May 5, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:45 am to 8:48 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 720-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 720-1

Date: May 5, 1972
Time: 8:45 am - 8:48 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

     John B. Connally
          -Meetings with the President
               -Time
               -Subjects for discussion
               -Time

Butterfield left at 8:48 am.

Also recorded on May 5, 1972

  • 023-163 8:44 AM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 8:44 am and 8:55 am.
  • 720-002 8:50 AM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:50 am to 8:51 am.
  • 720-003 8:51 AM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 8:51 am and 8:55 am.
  • 023-164 8:55 AM · 3 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Peter J. Brennan talked on the telephone from 8:55 am to 8:58 am.
  • 720-004 8:55 AM · 1 hr 16 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Peter J. Brennan, Rose Mary Woods, Stephen B. Bull, Henry A. Kissinger, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:55 am to 10:09 am.
  • 100-002 11:37 AM · 3 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 11:37 am on May 5, 1972 and 9:10 am on May 8, 1972.
  • 100-003 11:37 AM · 2 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 11:37 am on May 5, 1972 and 9:10 am on May 8, 1972.
  • 100-004 11:37 AM · 16 sec — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House on an unknown date, sometime between 11:37 am on May 5, 1972 and 9:10 am on May 8, 1972.

All 54 conversations from May 5, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 720-001, May 5, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/720-001 (accessed October 9, 2026).