Watergate vs. Scandalgate: why didn’t Nixon destroy the tapes?
Scandalgate (a name that, for want of a better term, has been given to the current spate of brouhahas simultaneously hitting the Obama administration) is raising the specter of Watergate, which celebrated its 40th anniversary about a year ago.
I’m old enough to remember Watergate well; we were riveted to our TV screens (no TiVo-ing back then) watching revelation after revelation. But the biggest revelation, and the one that made all the difference in the world to Nixon’s fate—without it, I’m almost certain he would have served his full second term as president—was the news that he had taped all of his conversations. Until then, turncoat John Dean was the main witness Nixon had to fear, but it was the tapes that provided the smoking gun. Without them, Nixon’s denials might very well have held.
I have long wondered about those tapes. Why record conversations that Nixon obviously would have wanted to be off the record? And why, if those conversations had somehow been inadvertently recorded, did Nixon not make sure they were destroyed before they saw the light of day? It’s a puzzlement, but here’s an explanation.
Now you may or may not believe the story told at that site. I agree that it seems implausible. But I can’t come up with a more logical one that explains the facts as they emerged. Apparently the tapes were automatically voice-activated, and Nixon was unaware of that feature. He also apparently gave Haldeman an order to destroy the tapes, or at least some of them, and Haldeman did not comply (by that time, he may have thought they constituted his only defense against being set up to be the Watergate fall guy).
However, how could those in charge have been so stupid as to install voice-activated tapes and not tell Nixon about it in advance? But strange as it may seem, this may be the only credible explanation for the tapes’ existence, because if Nixon had known in advance, it makes sense that he would have found a way to turn them off before having the incriminating conversations, or at the very least have held those conversations in a place safe from prying recordings.
You may come up with more Byzantine explanations (the world doesn’t lack for conspiracy theories, and Nixon was a convoluted guy). But one thing of which we can be fairly sure: Obama does not have a similar device in place. I cannot imagine Obama having his conversations automatically recorded, or that his underlings would do so without his knowledge. Obama makes Tricky Dick look transparent. And without the tapes or their equivalent—or at the very least, a John Dean figure willing to spill the beans in return for a reduced sentence—I predict that Obama’s m.o. will be constant denial of any involvement (as Nixon’s was, by the way), blaming others, and posturings of outrage at the pettiness and politicization of those who would continue to even discuss the issue any more.
One possibility:
Nixon was a terrible liar. When he was lying, you could see it in his face. In other words, he had a shred of honesty left in him; he still believed it was bad to lie.
This is in contrast to Clinton and Obama, who are able to lie without giving away any sign of doing so. They do not believe it is bad to lie if it seems to them to be in their best interests.
Perhaps Nixon was not able take action because he was in conflict about that action.
Jim Nicholas: well, at the site, in an interview, Nixon says he knew if he destroyed the tapes, even that action would implicate him. So he was torn for that reason, if no other.
According to my memory, Nixon was a bit of an egomaniac who had the tape recording set up so that historians could see how brilliant his decision making process were. A few people knew about the tapes and when things started to fall apart it was determined that the tapes were government property and not Nixon’s personal tapes and as such they had to be made public.
It appears there was some editing by a secretary and there was a famous missing 15 min segment that appeared. When the tapes were made available to the public a paperback book came out within days with the expletives deleted which became a big stand up joke.
Nixon and his crew got in a slight bind over the Watergate break in that was totally unnecessary since he was so far ahead in the race and then one mistake after another just compounded the coverup malfeasance.
Nixon also had a problem because he was such a jerk that as his second term got underway most of Washington really could not stand him. Sound familiar?
OldTexan: it’s almost certain that the 18-minute gap was created fairly late in the game, and it was clearly inadequate. I’m wondering why Nixon made recordings of the implicating sessions in the first place, or why he didn’t destroy many of them wholesale before Watergate heated up, or why a famously secretive and somewhat paranoid president such as Nixon would have an automatically voice-activated system installed.
The answer, according to the info at the link, is that the latter was done without his knowledge (the voice-activation part).
Like you I am of an age that lived through Watergate, devouring every minute. And I recall like yesterday that innocent question asked almost as a throw away of Alexander Butterfield if he knew of any recording system. What a stop the presses moment that was! Since this all started I have been kept busy wondering who will provide the Butterfield moment this go round.
By all accounts, Obama isn’t in his office long enough to tape anything anyway.
But I’m betting there is an unprecedented number of pictures of him — Deep in thought, brow furrowed, thoughtfully pondering ….which slacks to wear at the golf course.
That makes more sense about the unknown voice activation so thank you for the information.
Dustoffmom:
Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll have a Butterfield moment, and that’s because I think that Obama has been incredibly careful to cover his tracks as much as possible. This is not a new phenomenon, either. His entire life has been lived that way. I doubt he slipped up on that score, although one can hope.
I’ve also been wondering whether a John Dean figure will emerge. I don’t think so, somehow, although it’s possible. Someone would have to feel threatened that they would be the ones blamed, rather than being willing to fall on their own swords. Obama has been very careful to surround himself with loyalists such as Jarret, who would never talk.
I seem to remember when Alexander Butterfield testified and revealed the existence of the tapes, it came as a shock to everyone, and along the way it was explained that the Oval Office taping system had been installed during LBJ’s administration, and was already in place when Nixon got there. Or am I misremembering?
Hmm…who would feel threatened that they’d be the one blamed — Hillary?
Perhaps she and Bill are right now thinking that if she came clean about Benghazi and in such a way that she was seen to have been simply following Obama’s orders, she’d be able to rehabilitate herself in time for 2016.
And even if that didn’t work, she’d finally have gotten her revenge for 2008.
Ann: the problem for Hillary is that I doubt she was following direct orders from Obama. I doubt she has the smoking gun; I don’t think they were in that much contact that night, if any, and I don’t think he would trust her and give her that ammunition to harm him.
I bet she would if she could. But I don’t think she can. In the chess game that Obama and Hillary have been playing since 2008, so far he’s been winning.
G Jourbet:
Actually, although other presidents taped some calls, Nixon’s system was a different one:
In addition, although Butterfield’s testimony was certainly a surprise to many people, including the American public, it was not a total surprise to everyone:
So members of the committee already knew the answer when the question was asked in the public hearings.
G. Jourbet:
Also of interest is Fred Thompson’s role in the revelation of the tapes’ existence.
Neo: yeah, chess game is exactly right.
And it occurs to me what a terrific story that could have been over the last five years, just sitting there waiting for some enterprising journalists to tackle. But, no, they’ve been in such lock-step with the Democrats that even that hasn’t tempted them.
OldTexan…
When interviewed on this EXACT point RMN said that it was his intent to write his own WH history — with the tapes as source material. He intended to destroy them/ control them the rest of his life.
What I didn’t know for years was that the Nixon tape system started out as a hold over from LBJ. HE had a very slick system, too. LBJ’s stuff was never exposed until very, very, very, much later. It’s false to think that Nixon even dreamed it up. LBJ did.
At this time the LBJ tapes are mostly public. They are even more damning than RMN’s tapes.
BTW. LBJ had a foul mouth that would’ve fit in while filming Full Metal Jacket. RMN would curse only when his emotions ran high; with LBJ it was a torrent.
LBJ famously invented the toilet call: he would deliberately phone politicians while he was on the throne — making sure to flush before hanging up the phone. These calls usually involved browbeating some Senator into rolling over for LBJ.
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Before the tape recorder — a German invention (mostly) — there were stenos.
No different than Buraq, Adolf wanted to record the policy recommendations of his crew — so that he could throw them back in their faces when they went awry.
To this end he had six to eight stenos furiously taking down all the conversation in an around him. The overlapping coverage corrected errors. They’d rotate in and out like tag-teams. Normally never listed as being in attendance — they were rarely NOT in attendance.
They are the source for some of the amazing details from within Adolf’s lair.
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There is a consistent pattern: each executive in turn wanted accurate records solely to pin the blame on others — and to feel good about their own judgment. This tick crosses all political boundaries, apparently.
RMN ultimately admitted to Frost (IIRC) that he wished he’d never used the LBJ system.
blert:
My post contains a link to an article that offers the relevant excerpt from that Frost/Nixon interview.
As far as the tape technology goes, as I said in an earlier comment, Nixon was hardly the first to tape but he was the first to use a voice-activated mechanism, but he himself said he was unaware that such a voice-activated mechanism had been installed.
He did expect to be able to control the tapes, but surely a man as wary as Nixon must have realized that their very existence put him in jeopardy.
Neo…
Of interest…
In the linked article — the writer strongly implies that the recording system started with RMN.
LBJ had tip top gear. It was not swapped out for y e a r s.
RMN did expand the system — after he discovered that this or that phone call (damning the other guy) was not on tape.
RMN really wanted to ‘pin them to the wall’ and show how right he was — better than Ike, even.
I refer to the scandals as Comprehensive Ethics Reform.
But I am experiencing far, far too much schadenfreude.
According to Butterfield, Nixon knew the tapes were voice-activated, both inside the Oval Office and at the EOB where Nixon spent a lot of time. But only a few people knew about the taping system — Ehrlichman and Rosemary Woods didn’t — and I think Nixon was counting on them to keep their mouths shut.
And it almost worked. Butterfield only spilled the beans when he was asked a direct question about a taping system during a routine FBI interview.
What this scandalous White House needs is a John Dean or Hugh Sloan to tell us what the President knew and when he knew it.
buddha hat: do you have a link to something that quotes Butterfield as saying Nixon knew about the voice activation?
I do think it likely that Nixon knew about the voice activation, but he apparently denied it.
neo —
not sure if you’ll see this late, lame response to your question, but it deserves an answer (of sorts).
I worked on the Discovery show All The President’s Men Revisited (the token conservative on the film, though not my official title) and AB was one of the people we interviewed. In talking about the tapes I remembered that he’d said something like “well, Nixon knew he didn’t have to turn the damn thing on,” but going through the transcripts I can’t find it, so maybe he said it as an aside when we weren’t rolling. Drat.
However, having waded through about 70% of the Nixon tapes in transcript form I’d be astonished if he didn’t know everything he said was being taped.
Still, in the interest of accuracy, better put an asterisk on it.
A voice activated taping system. What a novel way to bug the President’s office without it being traced back to the Pentagon, FBI, or anybody else for that matter.