Saturday, September 18, 2010

They Didn't Trust Rebozo With His Money

The topics covered in Richard Nixon's 1975 deposition, according to the Washington Post:
Nixon answered questions about the 18.5-minute gap in the tape recording of his June 20, 1972, conversation with H.R. Haldeman three days after the Watergate break-in; the alteration of White House tape transcripts turned over to the House Judiciary Committee; his use of the IRS to harass political enemies; and a $100,000 contribution from Howard Hughes to Nixon friend Charles G. "Bebe" Rebozo.
Remind me to tell you my 18.5-minute gap story sometime.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will you tell me your 18.5 minute gap stroy?

Fr. John said...

It has to do with the negotiations after Nixon died over the original White House tapes, from which the government had been ordered by SCOTUS to remove all personal segments. An expensive and time-consuming process, it seems to all concerned, so I argued that -- since the tapes' content had been digitized -- it made sense to destroy all the originals, since no one ever listened to them anymore (they're way too fragile). The Justice department seemed to like the idea, but the National Archives said no. It would have meant destroying the 18.5-minute gap, from which NARA someday hopes to rescue the erased content.