June 20, 1972: Nixon and Haldeman assess the political fallout from the arrests at the Democratic National Committee headquarters — one of the earliest recorded Watergate discussions.
Nixon White House Tapes › Start here
Famous conversations from the Nixon tapes
The recordings people ask about most — the "smoking gun", "a cancer on the presidency", the 18½‑minute gap — each with audio, an AI transcript, the archivists' subject log, and a permanent link.
Context notes below were written for orientation and are kept deliberately brief; the finding aid on each conversation page is the authoritative description. Transcripts are machine-generated and unreviewed.
Watergate
From the first days after the June 17, 1972 break-in to the spring 1973 meetings that ended the cover-up. Codes are tape-conversation numbers; all are Oval Office or EOB recordings unless noted.
The 18½-minute gap59 min
June 20, 1972, EOB office: the Nixon–Haldeman meeting whose recording contains the famous erased stretch. The finding aid notes the discontinuities are in the original recording; the gap itself remains unrecovered.
June 23, 1972: Haldeman tells Nixon of the plan to have the CIA ask the FBI to limit its Watergate investigation, and Nixon agrees. Its release on August 5, 1974 ended remaining congressional support for the President, who resigned four days later.
The National Archives has not released audio for this conversation; the finding aid and metadata are available.
September 15, 1972, the day of the first Watergate indictments: John Dean joins Nixon and Haldeman; the President praises Dean’s handling of the matter and discusses using the government against political enemies.
March 13, 1973: Dean briefs Nixon1 hr 25 min
Nixon, Haldeman and Dean coordinate the response to the Senate Watergate Committee and the confirmation hearings for L. Patrick Gray as FBI director.
“A cancer on the presidency”1 hr 42 min
March 21, 1973: John Dean warns Nixon that the cover-up is “a cancer … growing” on the presidency and lays out the blackmail demands from the Watergate defendants. Haldeman joins for the second half. Roughly 100 minutes.
“Stonewall it”1 hr 32 min
March 22, 1973, EOB office: Nixon meets Mitchell, Dean, Ehrlichman and Haldeman about executive privilege and the Senate committee; this is the meeting in which Nixon says he wants them to “stonewall it… plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up.”
The Pentagon Papers and the war on leaks
The New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers on Sunday, June 13, 1971. The taping system captured the White House reaction hour by hour.
June 13, 1971, telephone: Alexander Haig tells Nixon about the Times story; the President’s initial reaction is relatively calm.
Kissinger on the leak13 min
June 13, 1971, telephone: Henry Kissinger frames the publication as a grave breach and begins to press for a hard response.
The morning after56 min
June 14, 1971: Nixon, Haldeman and staff on the political fallout from the Papers and how to respond publicly.
Strategy against the leakers1 hr 5 min
July 1, 1971: Nixon with Haldeman, Haig and Kissinger on going after those responsible for leaks — part of the sequence of meetings that led to the creation of the White House “Plumbers.”
Foreign policy
China, Vietnam, South Asia and the Soviet Union, in the President’s own words.
October 26, 1971, telephone: Governor Ronald Reagan telephones Nixon the day after the UN voted to expel Taiwan and seat the People’s Republic. A portion of this call withheld until 2019 drew wide attention for Reagan’s remarks about African delegates.
The India–Pakistan war1 hr 3 min
December 1971: Nixon and Kissinger on the war in South Asia, a cease-fire, and the administration’s “tilt” toward Pakistan.
Home from China8 min
February 28, 1972, telephone: Nixon and Kissinger debrief the reception of the President’s trip to the People’s Republic of China.
The Christmas bombing10 min
December 18, 1972, Camp David: Nixon and Kissinger on the renewed bombing and mining campaign against North Vietnam (Operation Linebacker II).
Announcing the Vietnam settlement1 hr 1 min
January 23, 1973: Nixon with Colson and Kissinger on how to present the Paris agreement ending American involvement in the war, announced on television that evening.
Politics, protest and the President’s circle
May 4, 1971: Nixon, Haldeman and Ziegler on the mass arrests of anti-war demonstrators in Washington and how to frame them — and on the return of sick and wounded prisoners of war.
August 16, 1971: the morning after Nixon’s televised address ending the dollar’s convertibility to gold and imposing wage and price controls, he and Haldeman gauge the reaction.
Billy Graham in the Oval Office1 hr 35 min
February 1, 1972: a long meeting with the evangelist and Haldeman, ranging over politics, the press and the election year; portions released in 2002 attracted attention for the remarks about Jews and the media.
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