White House tapes

E7329

The White House tapes are secretly recorded conversations from President Richard Nixon’s Oval Office that became crucial evidence in the Watergate scandal and led to his resignation.

Aliases (1)

Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf audio recordings
historical document
primary source
accessPolicy gradually declassified and released to the public
archiveLocation U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
associatedWith Nixon White House
Richard Nixon
United States presidency
contains conversations with Cabinet officials
conversations with political allies and opponents
conversations with senior White House aides
contributedTo resignation of Richard Nixon
controversy extent of erasures and missing recordings
privacy and civil liberties concerns
country United States
discovered during Senate Watergate hearings
documented Nixon’s involvement in Watergate cover-up
endTime 1973
evidenceIn United States v. Nixon
evidenceType self-incriminating statements
genre political history source material
hasLanguage English
historicalImportance key source for historians of the Nixon presidency
impact increased public distrust of government
reforms in campaign finance and government ethics
installedBy United States Secret Service technicians
legalImpact strengthened doctrine of judicial review over executive privilege
legalIssue executive privilege
mediaType analog magnetic tape
notableFeature 18½-minute gap in one recording
orderedBy Richard Nixon
recordedAt Oval Office
White House
recordedBy Richard Nixon administration
recordingMethod secret taping system
relatedTo Saturday Night Massacre
Senate Watergate Committee
impeachment process against Richard Nixon
relatedWork Nixon White House tapes transcripts
significance crucial evidence in Watergate scandal
startTime 1971
subclassOf presidential recordings
subject United States politics
Watergate scandal
executive power
presidential conversations
timePeriod early 1970s
usedIn Watergate scandal investigation

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
H. R. Haldeman ("Nixon White House tapes")
appearsIn
Watergate scandal
hasEvidence

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