nixontapes.org - Nixon Tapes and Transcripts

Audio & Transcripts

nixontapes.org has the most complete, digital collection of the Nixon tapes in existence, which includes approximately 2,950 hours of the nearly 3,000 hours of tapes currently declassified and released by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). In addition, we have transcribed approximately 7,000 pages of conversations on many topics, from conversations dealing with the installation of the taping system in February 1971 to Cabinet Room conversations recorded in July 1973.

Due to pending publication plans, we have posted only a fraction of the transcriptions that we have created, although additions continue to be made regularly. The end goal will be to make all of the tapes and transcripts available in a variety of formats: by subject, date, topic, participants, and taping location. For all files on this site, the approximate file sizes are indicated in order for you to make an informed judgment as to your expected download time. We encourage visitors to this site to listen to the audio while reviewing any transcripts.

The following are the audio files and transcripts currently available:

Conversations based on primary participant (other than President Nixon):: Joe Biden; Warren Burger; George H.W. Bush; Charles W. Colson; Anatoly Dobrynin; John W. Dean III; Gerald R. Ford; Alexander M. Haig, Jr.; Richard M. Helms; J. Edgar Hoover; Lyndon B. Johnson; Edward M. Kennedy; Fritz G.A. Kraemer; Henry A. Kissinger; John D. Lavelle; Robert S. McNamara; Leon Panetta; Ray Price; Ronald W. Reagan; Donald H. Rumsfeld; George P. Shultz

Thematic Material:: -February 16, 1971 - February 23, 1971: The origin of the Nixon tapes: First recorded conversations from the Nixon tapes which discuss the installation and maintenance of the Nixon taping system; -February 26, 1971 - July 24, 1972: “[W]e’re going to give Allende the hook”; The Nixon Administration’s Response to Salvador Allende and Chilean Expropriation; -February 27, 1971 - January 25, 1973: DCI Richard M. Helms and President Nixon; -March 2, 1971 - May 22, 1973: The President and the Chief Justice; Friendship with Warren Burger Established Well Before Nixon Reached the White House in 1969; -April 6, 1971 - February 23, 1973: President Nixon and the Presidents: former President Johnson, House Minority Leader Ford, Governor Reagan, and Ambassador Bush; -April 6, 1971 - February 27, 1973: Complete audio file collection of Henry Kissinger's phone conversations assembled for the first time; -April 9, 1971 - September 7, 1972: nixontapes.org contributes to "Teddy: In His Own Words", a new HBO film that honors the life of former Sen. Ted Kennedy; -April 17, 1971 - April 11, 1972: Nixon and Hoover: Partners in Power; Nixon Tapes Demonstrate Similar Thinking on Issues of the Day; -May 27, 1971 - June 14, 1971: Nixon Had His Eye on Leon Panetta; Young Republican HEW Aide Critical of Nixon's Civil Rights Program; -August 9, 1971 - March 31, 1972: Superpower Relations, Backchannels, and the Subcontinent: Using the Nixon Tapes to Examine the 1971 India-Pakistan War; -February 1, 1972 - December 5, 1972: Nixon Recognized Importance of Space Program; Space Policy had Broader Role in Nixon's Foreign Policy; Nixon Tapes Capture Apollo XV, XVI, and XVII Crews; -May 15, 1972: The White House reaction to the shooting of Alabama Governor and Democratic Presidential Candidate George Wallace; -November 3, 1972 - November 19, 1972: Chuck Colson and the 1972 presidential election; -March 13, 1973 - March 21, 1973: "John W. Dean III and the Watergate Cover-up, Revisited"; -March 13, 1973 - April 16, 1973: Selected Watergate material, as featured in The New York Times

Chronological Tape Releases:: -Cabinet Room Tapes: 223 hours of tapes released by the National Archives between 1997 and 2002; recordings were made during February 1971 and July 1973
: -Chronological Release 1: 443 hours of tapes released by the National Archives during 1999; recordings were made between February 1971 and July 1971
: -Chronological Release 2: 420 hours of tapes released by the National Archives during 2000; recordings were made between August 1971 and December 1971
: -Chronological Release 3: 425 hours of tapes released by the National Archives during 2002; recordings were made between January 1972 and June 1972
: -Chronological Release 4: 240 hours of tapes released by the National Archives during 2003; recordings were made between July 1972 and November 1972; White House Telephone Conversations (WHT): July 18, 1972 - November 3, 1972; Camp David Study Table (CDST): August 11, 1972 - October 30, 1972; Camp David Study Desk (CDSD): August 15, 1972 - October 30, 1972; Camp David Hard Wire (CDHW): July 21, 1972 - October 30, 1972; Executive Office Building (EOB): July 19, 1972 - November 2, 1972; Oval Office (OVAL): July 1, 1972 - November 1, 1972
: -Chronological Release 5: 967.5 hours of tapes released by the National Archives in sub-releases that occurred on July 7, 2007 (11.5 hours), December 2, 2008 (198 hours), June 23, 2009 (154 hours), December 9, 2010 (265 hours), and August 21, 2013 (339 hours); recordings were made between November 1972 and July 1973; White House Telephone Conversations (WHT): November 3, 1972 - July 12, 1973 (link TBD); Camp David Study Table (CDST): November 19, 1972 - June 21, 1973 (link TBD); Camp David Study Desk (CDSD): November 14, 1972 - February 2, 1973 (link TBD); Camp David Hard Wire (CDHW): November 13, 1972 - March 4, 1973 (link TBD); Executive Office Building (EOB): November 8, 1972 - July 11, 1973 (link TBD); Oval Office (OVAL): November 8, 1972 - July 12, 1973 (link TBD)

Other Tapes Related Content:: -Great Mystery of the 1970s: Nixon, Watergate and the Huston Plan; -First Book on U.S. - European Relations during the Nixon Era Published on May 19; Nixon Years Saw Turning Point in World's Closest Alliance; -“It’s a bad rap for him”; Protective-Reaction, John D. Lavelle and the Nixon Tapes; -Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and the Nixon Tapes; Former Secretary of State Urged Study of Nixon White House Recordings; -"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" Nominated for Oscar; nixontapes.org was Consultant for Nominee for Best Documentary Feature; -New Evidence Confirms Pentagon Stole and Leaked Top Secret Documents from Nixon White House; Consequence of Pentagon's Isolation from Decision-Making in Vietnam, China, Detente; -The Forty Years War Probes Obscure Pentagon Official; Ideology of Fritz Kraemer at the Heart of Wartime Policy from Vietnam to the Present; -New Theories Related to Watergate Continue to Capture Public Imagination; Latest National Archives Work Focuses on Elusive 18 ½ Minute Gap; -Flawed FRUS? Pitfalls with the Nixon Tapes and How to Avoid Them; -Former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara captured on tape in 1971-1972 meetings with President Nixon and Henry Kissinger; -John Dean Slams "Revisionists" and Nixon Foundation in Talk at Library: However, 1989 Interview Tape Provides New Details; -John Dean's Simon and Schuster editor calls Dean's claim that his editors inserted false information in Blind Ambition a "lie"; never before heard recording available here; -In New Finding, John Dean Argues that the Origin of Watergate was "a Tip" Received by President Nixon; However, Dean withheld that he appears to have been the one who received the "tip" first; -Thomas A. Schwartz's SHAFR Presidential Address: “‘Winning an election is terribly important, Henry’: Thinking about Domestic Politics and U.S. Foreign Relations”

-nixontapes.org's Richard Moss featured in May 2008 edition of State Magazine