Nixon White House Tapes ›Tape 794 › Conversation 794-017

Nixon & Butterfield on 1972 election and White House administration

Monday, October 9, 1972 · 5:00 PM–5:10 PM ET · Oval Office ·5 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Butterfield, Alexander P.Conversation794-017 onTape 794StartMonday, October 9, 1972 at 5:00 PMEndMonday, October 9, 1972 at 5:10 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 794-017 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met to review the President’s upcoming schedule and manage various administrative priorities, including trade fair representation and committee engagements. The discussion focused on organizing post-election appearances and refining public relations strategies, with Nixon explicitly instructing Butterfield to restrict certain groups from appearing in his office. These instructions effectively established new limitations on the President's meeting schedule regarding specific minority representatives.

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 Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Yeah, I just kind of report on it.

Yeah, with people, we've done that so often.

And all of them said, yeah, these questions are valuable.

I think I have a series of them.

The other one is Joe Wagner from Romania.

He's going to represent you in the U.S. IA trade fair.

And we have Wagner and our interlocutors back.

Yeah.

I don't want to be members of the table next Friday in the afternoon.

I'll bring it up to date on the table.

We started at 17 in the week.

I'm not sure.

Another one would be to schedule any time the President's Committee on Mental Retardation, you told them you wouldn't do it.

No, no, no, no.

After the election.

Okay.

After the election.

All right.

We all have to have that now.

All right.

The only other one is to get Chief President Hollis to highlight the fact that we didn't have a nuclear reactor.

No, no, no, no.

We don't want to do that.

Thanks, you can serve sometimes.

Yeah, I see that.

About 10 of them.

15 to 20 minutes.

Sure.

But no black anymore.

I don't see none of those now.

I don't.

If we do any black, I don't know.

I don't know.

If he is, though, he must come in by himself, but without, I don't want to get into that, but no more blacks in my office, don't bring me in.

Okay, we've got to cut the blacks, we've got to cut the blacks, no more, no Jews, no Jews, no Jews, no Jews, no Jews, no Jews, no Jews, no Jews, no Jews.

Oh, that, sure.

Yeah.

NARA Description

On October 9, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 5:00 pm to 5:10 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 794-017 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 794-17

Date: October 9, 1972
Time: 5:00 pm - 5:10 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Alexander P. Butterfield.

        The President's schedule
            -Letters
            -Walter E. Washington, Jerry V. Wilson
                 -Crime
                 -Egil G. (“Bud”) Krogh, Jr.
                 -Richard A. Moore
                 -H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
            -Joe D. Waggoner, Jr.
                 -Rumania
                     -US Information Agency [USIA] Trade Fair
                          -Henry A. Kissinger
                          -Richard K. Cook
            -Pay Board
                 -Labor
                 -Donald H. Rumsfeld
            -Cabinet meetings
            -The President's Committee on Mental Retardation
                 -Post-1972 election
            -James E. Cheek
                 -Howard University
                     -Nuclear reactor
                     -Blacks
            -Spanish-speaking surrogates
            -Blacks
                 -[James Brown]
                     -Press
            -Jews
            -The president’s Committee on Mental Retardation
            -“Bread and butter issues”
                 -Pay Board

                                         (rev. Nov-03)

                 -Waggoner
              -Washington

         Washington, DC

         Items for the President’s signature

         The President’s schedule
             -Newsworthy activities
                 -1972 election

Butterfield left at 5:10 pm.

Also recorded on October 9, 1972

794-013 3:34 PM · 31 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 3:34 pm and 3:35 pm.
794-014 3:35 PM · 24 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 3:35 pm to 4:34 pm.
794-015 4:34 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 4:34 pm and 4:37 pm.
794-016 4:37 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Republican candidates for office, including Carveth S. Thompson, Russell W. Peterson, Robert Hirsch, Louie B. Nunn, Dave Towell, Gene Savoie, Harold V. Froehlich, James B. Moseley, Paul W. Cronin, Ellis S. Rubin, Joel Gustafson, Jack Insco, Russ Sloan, Alf Adams, John W. Byrnes, William E. Timmons, John C. Nidecker, Richard K. Cook, and Brad E. Hainsworth, met in the Oval Office of the White House from 4:37 pm to 5:00 pm.
794-018 5:11 PM · 7 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 5:11 pm and 6:08 pm.
031-029 7:08 PM · 46 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 7:08 pm to 7:09 pm.
031-030 7:09 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 7:09 pm and 7:21 pm.
031-031 7:21 PM · 22 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone from 7:21 pm to 7:32 pm.

All 31 conversations from October 9, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 794-017, October 9, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/794-017 (accessed September 18, 2026).