Alexander Butterfield
Alexander Porter Butterfield is a retired United States Air Force officer, public official, and businessman.
From 1969 to 1973 he served as deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon. On July 13, 1973, during the Watergate investigation, he revealed the existence of Nixon's White House taping system.
From 1973 to 1975 he was administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Early life and Air Force career
Butterfield was born April 6, 1926, in Pensacola, Florida, to Susan Armistead Alexander Butterfield and United States Navy pilot Horace B. Butterfield. He grew up in Coronado, California, and left home in 1943. Butterfield enrolled in college at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he became a friend of H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. He left the university to join the United States Air Force in 1948.Initially, Butterfield was stationed at Las Vegas Air Force Base as a fighter-gunnery instructor before being transferred to the 86th Fighter Wing in Munich, West Germany, in November 1951, where he was a member of the jet fighter acrobatic team. He later served as the operations officer of a fighter-interceptor squadron in Knoxville, Tennessee, before being promoted to commander of a fighter squadron at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.
During the Vietnam War, Butterfield commanded a squadron of low and medium-level combat tactical air reconnaissance aircraft. He flew 98 combat missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1965 and 1966, Butterfield served as the military assistant to the special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, where he became a friend of Alexander Haig. He also gained extensive experience working at the White House, where he spent half his time. He advanced to the rank of colonel and, beginning in 1967, was serving in Australia as the F-111 project officer; representative for the commander-in-chief of the Pacific forces; and senior U.S. military representative.
During his military career, he attended the National War College, and earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maryland and a master of science degree from George Washington University.
White House assistant
Obtaining a position
In late 1968, Butterfield learned that he would be stationed in Australia for another two years, delaying any potential promotion and potentially harming his military career. The ambitious Butterfield wanted to be in "the smoke", and wanted to leave Australia. After coming across a newspaper article which mentioned the appointment of H. R. Haldeman as Nixon's White House Chief of Staff, Butterfield wrote to Haldeman asking for a job.The two met in New York City about December 19, 1968, to discuss a role as a military aide, but when nothing suitable came up, Butterfield asked to take any job in the White House. General Andrew Goodpaster, former White House staff secretary in the Eisenhower administration, suggested that Haldeman have a deputy, and Haldeman offered the position to Butterfield about January 13. Butterfield retired from the Air Force a few days later, and his appointment as deputy assistant to the president was announced on January 23, 1969.
Role as deputy assistant
As deputy assistant to the president, Butterfield was Haldeman's chief assistant. His first few days in the White House were difficult. Butterfield did not meet the president for 13 days. When Haldeman finally introduced Butterfield to Nixon, their meeting was short and awkward. Haldeman then left for California, leaving Butterfield in charge of the White House staff for four days.During the second meeting with Butterfield, Nixon was rude and condescending, and Butterfield nearly resigned. The following day, however, Nixon was cordial and witty, and Butterfield resolved to stay at the White House. Butterfield, who came to like Nixon immensely, nevertheless felt the president was an "ignorant boor, a bumpkin". Initially, when meeting with Nixon, Butterfield had to mimic Haldeman's mannerisms and to duplicate his managerial style. Everything Haldeman and Butterfield did was designed to make Nixon feel comfortable and relaxed, never surprised or "spooked". Haldeman told him, "If you don't do things exactly as I do, it could upset ."
Next to Haldeman, Butterfield was the most powerful aide in the White House. He met with Nixon and Haldeman every day at 2 p.m. to plan the following day's activities. He "completely controlled" what paperwork Nixon saw and logged memos. He accompanied Haldeman on all domestic trips, co-supervised traveling White House staff with Haldeman, and ran the White House when Haldeman and Nixon went on foreign trips.
Every meeting the president attended required "talking points" for Nixon written by an appropriate staff person as well as an after-meeting summary by that person, and Butterfield oversaw the process by which both documents were completed and filed. Butterfield also oversaw all FBI investigations requested by the White House, which included routine background checks of potential employees as well as politically motivated investigations. Other than Haldeman, no one had a more intimate knowledge of Nixon's working style, the daily operations of the White House, what Nixon may have read, or whom Nixon may have met.
Butterfield was also the person who primarily managed people as they met with Nixon. This included ensuring people arrived on time, and that they did not stay too long. Butterfield also oversaw Nixon's often-distant relationship with his wife, Pat. Late in 1970, the president's aides lost confidence in Constance C. Stuart, Pat Nixon's staff director and press secretary, and Butterfield was assigned responsibility for overseeing the First Lady's events and publicity. The day after the 1972 presidential election, Pat Nixon confronted her husband over what she perceived to be Oval Office interference with her staff. Deputy assistant to the president Dwight Chapin and later Butterfield were appointed to act as liaison between the two staffs.
Installing the taping system
Butterfield also oversaw installation of the taping system which Nixon ordered for the White House. On February 10, 1971, Haldeman's assistant, Lawrence Higby, told Butterfield that Nixon wanted a voice-activated audio taping system installed in the Oval Office and on White House telephones. The goal, Nixon said, was to create a more accurate record of events.Butterfield worked with the Secret Service to install five hidden microphones in Nixon's desk in the Oval Office, two in lamps on the mantel over the fireplace, two in the cabinet room, and on all telephone lines in the Lincoln Sitting Room and Oval Office. According to Butterfield, the system was highly secret, its existence known only to Nixon, Haldeman, Higby, and the three or four Secret Service technical staffers who installed it. In April 1971, Nixon ordered the taping system to be installed in his private office in the Executive Office Building.
Resignation
In March 1973, Butterfield was confirmed as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and resigned from his position at the White House.Revelation of the taping system
Speculation on its existence
testified in June 1973 that Nixon was deeply involved in the Watergate cover-up, and mentioned that he suspected White House conversations were taped. Staff of the United States Senate Watergate Committee, thereafter, began to routinely ask witnesses appearing before the committee if they knew of any taping system. Senate Watergate Committee staff then asked the White House for a list of dates on which the President had met with Dean.About June 20 or 21, Special White House Counsel for Watergate J. Fred Buzhardt provided the committee's Chief Minority Counsel, Fred Thompson, with a document intended to impugn Dean's testimony. Buzhardt's document included almost verbatim quotations from meetings Nixon had with Dean. Thompson initially violated an agreement under which the majority and minority staff would share all information. When committee Majority Investigator Scott Armstrong obtained the document, he realized it indicated the existence of a taping system.
July 13 questioning
Butterfield was questioned by Senate Watergate Committee staff Scott Armstrong, G. Eugene Boyce, Marianne Brazer, and Donald Sanders on Friday, July 13, 1973, in a background interview prior to his public testimony before the full committee. Butterfield was brought before the committee because he was Haldeman's top deputy and was the only person other than Haldeman who knew as much about the president's day-to-day behavior.The critical line of questioning was conducted by Donald Sanders. Armstrong had given a copy of Buzhardt's report to Butterfield; now Sanders asked if the quotations in it might have come from notes. Butterfield said no, that the quotations were too detailed. In addition, Butterfield said that neither staff nor the president kept notes of one-on-one private meetings with Nixon. When asked where the quotations might have come from, Butterfield said he did not know. Then Sanders asked if there was any validity to John Dean's hypothesis that the White House had taped conversations in the Oval Office. Butterfield replied, "I was wondering if someone would ask that. There is tape in the Oval Office." Butterfield then told the investigators that, while he had hoped that no one would ask about the taping system, he had previously decided he would disclose its existence if asked a direct question. Butterfield then testified extensively about when the taping system was installed and how it worked, telling the staff members, "Everything was taped... as long as the President was in attendance. There was not so much as a hint that something should not be taped." Butterfield later said that he assumed the committee knew about the taping system, since they had already interviewed Haldeman and Higby.
All present recognized the significance of this disclosure, and, as former political adviser to President Gerald Ford James M. Cannon put it, "Watergate was transformed". Butterfield's testimony lasted from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The four investigators swore themselves to secrecy and agreed to tell only the Chief Counsel and Chief Minority Counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee. Chief Counsel Samuel Dash says he immediately informed his subordinate, Deputy Chief Counsel Rufus L. Edmisten, and then Democratic Senator Sam Ervin, chairman of the committee. Both Ervin and Dash realized how important it was politically to have had a Republican uncover the taping system. That same night, Ervin asked Dash to have Butterfield testify on Monday, July 16.