Alexander Butterfield
Alexander Porter Butterfield (born April 6, 1926) is a retired United States Air Force officer, public servant, and businessman. He served as the deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973. He revealed the White House taping system's existence on July 13, 1973, during the Watergate investigation but had no other involvement in the scandal. From 1973 to 1975, he served as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Alexander Butterfield
1948–1969
Early life and Air Force career[edit]
Butterfield was born April 6, 1926, in Pensacola, Florida,[1] to Susan Armistead Alexander Butterfield and United States Navy pilot (later rear admiral) Horace B. Butterfield.[2] He grew up in Coronado, California, and left home in 1943.[3] Butterfield enrolled in college at the University of California, Los Angeles,[1] where he became a friend of H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman.[4] He left the university to join the United States Air Force in 1948.[1][2][a]
Initially, Butterfield was stationed at Las Vegas Air Force Base (now Nellis 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 Skyblazers jet fighter acrobatic team.[2][3] 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.[2] During the Vietnam War, Butterfield commanded a squadron of low and medium-level[5] combat tactical air reconnaissance aircraft.[2] He flew 98 combat missions[6] and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[1] In 1965 and 1966, Butterfield served as the military assistant to the special assistant to the Secretary of Defense,[7] where he became a friend of Alexander Haig.[8] He also gained extensive experience working at the White House, where he spent half his time.[8] 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.[2][1][7]
During his military career, he attended the National War College,[2] and earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maryland (1956) and a master of science degree from George Washington University (1967).[7]
Revelation of the taping system[edit]
Speculation on its existence[edit]
John Dean testified in June 1973 that Nixon was deeply involved in the Watergate cover-up, and mentioned that he suspected White House conversations were taped.[28] 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.[17] Senate Watergate Committee staff then asked the White House for a list of dates on which the President had met with Dean.[29] About June 20 or 21,[30] Special White House Counsel for Watergate J. Fred Buzhardt provided the committee's Chief Minority (Republican) 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.[29][d] 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.[32]
Personal life[edit]
Butterfield married Charlotte Maguire in 1949.[1] They divorced in 1985.[2]
Butterfield moved to La Jolla, California, in 1992, where he was a close friend of (and sometimes dated)[11] Audrey Geisel, the widow of Theodor Geisel (the author of children's books, known as "Dr. Seuss").[10] He returned to school, obtaining a master's degree in history from the University of California, San Diego. As of November 2015, he was working on a Ph.D. in history, with a focus on the presidential power to pardon. He remains active on the boards of directors of several corporations.[10]