{"conversationCode":"776-003","tapeNumber":776,"conversationNumber":3,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-776-003","startDateTime":"1972-09-14T12:57:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-09-14T13:02:00.000Z","startDate":"14-Sep-1972","startTime":"8:57 AM","endDate":"14-Sep-1972","endTime":"9:02 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.;","description":"On September 14, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 8:57 am to 9:02 am. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 776-003 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"OVAL","recordingDevice":"Oval Office","latitudeEstimated":38.8974,"longitudeEstimated":-77.0374,"chronCode":4,"chronRelease":"Fourth Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"10-Dec-2003","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 776-3\n\nDate: September 14, 1972\nTime: 8:57 am - 9:02 am\nLocation: Oval Office\n\nThe President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.\n\n             The President's schedule\n                 -Ray Charles\n                     -Possible invitation to White House\n                          -Dwight L. Chapin's view\n                          -Charles W. Colson’s view\n                     -North Carolina\n                     -The President’s view\n                     -Merits of a meeting\n                          -Oliver F. (“Ollie”) Atkins's pictures\n\n                                        (rev. Oct-06)\n\n                  -Alexander M. Haig, Jr. meeting\n                  -Nelson A. Rockefeller\n\nButterfield left at 9:02 am.","filename":["776-003.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Butterfield, Alexander P."],"prevCode":"776-002","nextCode":"776-004","transcript":[{"start":1.29,"end":1.67,"text":"uh... uh..."},{"start":17.7,"end":19,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":19.28,"end":19.86,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":19.9,"end":21.38,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":21.7,"end":23.06,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":46.11,"end":47.57,"text":"Do you want to know if he's going to come in?"},{"start":47.59,"end":49.15,"text":"Does he have to come in?"},{"start":49.33,"end":49.89,"text":"No, he's not."},{"start":49.93,"end":51.89,"text":"Oh, well, I don't think so."},{"start":51.93,"end":55.07,"text":"It's just our group will wear these here."},{"start":55.55,"end":56.19,"text":"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."},{"start":56.21,"end":60.77,"text":"I think that once we get to him, once we know he wants to come in, I don't think we should do it."},{"start":60.8,"end":64.76,"text":"Uh, I mean, it's got to be done in a way that that's seriously weird for him."},{"start":64.78,"end":65.12,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":65.14,"end":65.58,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":65.62,"end":66.04,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":66.06,"end":66.54,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":66.56,"end":68.08,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":68.1,"end":68.62,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":68.64,"end":69.16,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":69.18,"end":69.48,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":69.5,"end":71.92,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":71.96,"end":74.54,"text":"I don't know."},{"start":75.88,"end":76.56,"text":"I know he's alive."},{"start":77.44,"end":79.28,"text":"That's good."},{"start":79.32,"end":82.38,"text":"But, uh, if they could do it in a different way, I don't mind."},{"start":82.72,"end":88.8,"text":"They don't need to have any, I guess, I guess have any, uh, polyacid pictures."},{"start":88.84,"end":89.36,"text":"That's good."},{"start":90.22,"end":93.37,"text":"But I don't know if the way that we're asking him is hyper-explanatory."},{"start":93.41,"end":94.77,"text":"We can do it that way without any pictures."},{"start":94.83,"end":95.59,"text":"No pictures, okay."},{"start":95.61,"end":97.95,"text":"I don't care about that."},{"start":97.97,"end":102.09,"text":"The hearing would like to be for about 8 to 10 minutes, sometimes before, another hour."},{"start":102.11,"end":103.61,"text":"That would be great right now."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield discussed the logistical and political merits of potentially hosting musician Ray Charles at the White House. The conversation addressed concerns raised by staff members Dwight Chapin and Charles Colson regarding the optics of the invitation. Nixon ultimately decided to proceed with a brief meeting while explicitly mandating that no official photographs be taken during the event.","topics":["Ray Charles","White House protocol","Public relations","Scheduling","Photography policy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-07T23:23:16.287Z"},"topicSlugs":["ray-charles","white-house-protocol","public-relations","scheduling","photography-policy"],"audioDurationSec":107,"audioFiles":[{"file":"776-003.mp3","bytes":2567940,"durationSec":106.93,"bitrate":192115,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:57.945Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/776-003.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/776-003","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/776/conversation-776-003","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}