Today In History: Nixon Tapes

On July 16, 1973, during the Senate Watergate hearings, former White House aide Alexander Butterfield publicly revealed the existence of President Nixon's secret taping system.

Every word spoken when President Nixon was in the Oval Office, or the Cabinet Room, or his hideaway in the Old Executive Office Building, was recorded on giant reels in the basement. Microphones in the presidential retreat in Camp David also picked up everything said in Mr. Nixon's presence.

After that revelation, Watergate was no longer the word of one man, White House counsel John Dean, against another, Richard Nixon. Now there was evidence to be had.

After a handful of the Nixon tapes became public in 1974, the year after Butterfield's testimony, Mr. Nixon's presidency came to an end. He was shown to have been a party to the Watergate cover-up. On August 9, 1974, President Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment and removal from office.