This is Why Richard Nixon Taped His White House Conversations

Authors

Richard A. Moss, U.S. Naval War College
Luke Nichter, Chapman UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-15-2017

Abstract

"President Trump’s Friday morning tweetstorm about former FBI director James B. Comey has led to speculation that the Trump administration has taken a page from Richard Nixon’s playbook by surreptitiously recording conversations inside the White House.

As it happens, Nixon wasn’t the only president to record his conversations. Six American presidents — from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Nixon — taped at least some of their conversations. President Ronald Reagan and his successors had several meetings videotaped.

There are a number of reasons presidents might want to have their conversations recorded.

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Comments

This article was originally published in the Washington Post.

Recommended Citation

Moss, Richard A., and Luke Nichter, “This is Why Richard Nixon Taped His White House Conversations,” Washington Post, May 15, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/05/15/this-is-why-richard-nixon-taped-his-white-house-conversations/

Copyright

Washington Post