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DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

Government Exhibit Number 60: Uher 5000 Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder

ca. 1970

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This item is a tape recorder that was operated by President Richard Nixon's White House secretary Rosemary Wood as part of the Nixon White House taping system. Wood used this recorder to create the tape of June 20, 1970, containing the infamous "18 1/2 minute gap."

Additional details from our exhibits and publications

Claiming executive privilege, President Richard Nixon offered Watergate investigators transcriptions of his taped conversations about the 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party headquarters instead of the actual tapes. Rose Mary Woods, secretary to the President, used this machine to transcribe one of the tapes. When she was finished, 18 minutes of a conversation between the President and Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, probably related to the break-in, were found to be missing.
This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.
National Archives Identifier: 595593
Full Citation: Government Exhibit Number 60: Uher 5000 Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder; ca. 1970; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/government-exhibit-number-60-uher-5000-reeltoreel-tape-recorder, August 16, 2022]
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