Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 735 › Conversation 735-005

Nixon & Butterfield on Cabinet meeting and Soviet Union

Thursday, June 15, 1972 · 12:45 PM–12:49 PM ET · Oval Office ·1 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation735-005 onTape 735 (tape position 02:13:16–02:15:04)StartThursday, June 15, 1972 at 12:45 PMEndThursday, June 15, 1972 at 12:49 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 735-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Butterfield discuss logistics for an upcoming Cabinet meeting and associated photo opportunity. They finalize plans for the President to deliver remarks regarding his recent trip to the Soviet Union following the session. Nixon provides specific instructions on the arrangement of the group and dictates that official photographs be taken without the attendees present.

Audio

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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This cabinet of John Ruthen has proposed, and I think Alderman has gone a long way, to have John Ruthen started by the GOP platform.

So that's just going to be good.

You know what I think?

Very nice.

We'll have the photo before.

We'll have the photo and then have that, and I'll give him a little talk on the Russian.

Yeah, really big thing.

I have to.

I'll do it at the end.

All right.

Good.

And is this session special for those that sit in?

You know, we can try to win them, but those that sit in?

No.

We're going to have to stand in?

Well, essentially, stand in is special.

In this case, you can have a good group of, this could be a very, you know, more, a bigger crowd.

I don't mind having fairly, fairly large.

Except that, except that for the picture, I would have the picture without any people.

All right.

NARA Description

On June 15, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:45 pm and 12:49 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 735-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 735-005

Date: June 15, 1972
Time: Unknown between 12:45 and 12:49 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

      Cabinet meeting
          -John D. Ehrlichman

            -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
            -John J. Rhodes
                  -Republican party platform
                        -Domestic agenda
            -Photographs
            -The President's remarks
                  -Soviet Union [USSR] trip
            -Size of group
            -Maurice H. Stans
            -John N. Mitchell
            -Photographs
                  -Subjects

Butterfield left at an unknown time before 12:49 pm.

Also recorded on June 15, 1972

735-002 12:10 PM · 49 sec — Stephen B. Bull and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:10 pm and 12:14 pm.
735-003 12:14 PM · 53 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:14 pm and 12:16 pm.
735-004 12:16 PM · 27 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Thomas K. Mattingly, III, John W. Young, Charles M. Duke, James C. Fletcher, Alexander P. Butterfield, Ronald L. Ziegler, White House photographer, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:16 pm to 12:42 pm.
735-006 12:45 PM · 5 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 12:45 pm and 12:49 pm.
735-007 12:49 PM · 37 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:49 pm to 1:26 pm.
735-008 1:26 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:26 pm and 1:35 pm.
735-009 1:35 PM · 33 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:35 pm to 1:36 pm.
735-010 1:36 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:36 pm and 2:30 pm.

All 22 conversations from June 15, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 735-005, June 15, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/735-005 (accessed September 18, 2026).