Nixon Recordings

At the nation’s founding, official documents and records created by the President of the United States were the property of the president. The preservation of presidential records and their public accessibility changed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who established a library and museum dedicated to preserving the records created during his time in public office. The National Archives was also established by an act of Congress in 1934. The standards associated with presidential records proved to be insufficient for their preservation by the Watergate scandal and President Nixon’s subsequent resignation in 1974. As part of the investigation into the politically motivated break-in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex, audio tapes recorded by President Nixon containing incriminating evidence were found. This is a transcription of these audio recordings, entering the previously private presidential records into the public domain. Following President Nixon’s resignation, Congress passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act to prevent official records from being destroyed or otherwise kept from the public. This was followed by the Presidential Records Act of 1978, further codifying presidential records as being under the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Richard M. (Richard Milhous) Nixon (1913-1994). Submission of Recorded Presidential Conversations to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. [Washington, For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.] 1974.

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/105570

A version of this text has been digitized and is available through Hathitrust.