Happy 44th Anniversary, Alexander Butterfield's revelation of the WH taping system.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Alexander Butterfield

....
Revelation of the taping system

In March 1973, Butterfield was confirmed as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and left the White House.

Speculation about a taping system

John Dean testified in June 1973 that Nixon was deeply involved in the Watergate cover-up, and mentioned that he suspected White House conversations were taped. Staff of the United States Senate Watergate Committee thereafter began to routinely ask witnesses appearing before the committee if they knew of any taping system. Senate Watergate Committee staff then asked the White House for a list of dates on which the President had met with Dean. About June 20 or 21, Special White House Counsel for Watergate J. Fred Buzhardt provided the committee's Chief Minority (Republican) Counsel, Fred Thompson, with a document intended to impugn Dean's testimony. Buzhardt's document included almost verbatim quotations from meetings Nixon had with Dean. Thompson initially violated an agreement under which the majority and minority staff would share all information. When committee Majority Investigator Scott Armstrong obtained the document, he realized the document indicated the existence of a taping system.

July 13 questioning

Butterfield was questioned by Senate Watergate Committee staff Scott Armstrong, G. Eugene Boyce, Marianne Brazer, and Donald Sanders (deputy minority counsel) on Friday, July 13, 1973, in a background interview prior to his public testimony before the full committee. Butterfield was brought before the committee because he was White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman's top deputy and was the only person other than Haldeman who knew as much about the president's day-to-day behavior.

The critical line of questioning was conducted by Donald Sanders. Armstrong had given a copy of Buzhardt's report to Butterfield; now Sanders asked if the quotations in it might have come from notes. Butterfield said no, that the quotations were too detailed. In addition, Butterfield said that neither staff nor the president kept notes of one-on-one private meetings with Nixon. When asked where the quotations might have come from, Butterfield said he did not know. Then Sanders asked if there was any validity to John Dean's hypothesis that the White House had taped conversations in the Oval Office. Butterfield replied, "I was wondering if someone would ask that. There is tape in the Oval Office." Butterfield then told the investigators that, while he had hoped that no one would ask about the taping system, he had previously decided he would disclose its existence if asked a direct question. Butterfield then testified extensively about when the taping system was installed and how it worked, and told the staff members, "Everything was taped ... as long as the President was in attendance. There was not so much as a hint that something should not be taped." Butterfield later said that he assumed the committee knew about the taping system, since they had already interviewed Haldeman and Higby.

All present recognized the significance of this disclosure, and, as former political adviser to President Gerald Ford, James M. Cannon put it, "Watergate was transformed". Butterfield's testimony lasted from 2 PM to 6:30 PM. The four investigators swore themselves to secrecy, and agreed to tell only the Chief Counsel and Chief Minority Counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee. Chief Counsel Samuel Dash says he immediately informed his subordinate, Deputy Chief Counsel Rufus L. Edmisten, and then Democratic Senator Sam Ervin, chairman of the committee. Both Ervin and Dash realized how important it was politically to have had a Republican uncover the taping system. That same night, Ervin asked Dash to have Butterfield testify on Monday, July 16.

[PoliticAverse]

1. Ultimately it was only Nixon's words on the tape directing the cover-up that did him in...

without that evidence he might have completed his 4 year term.