What happened to the missing 18.5 minutes on the Watergate tapes?

[<<thumbs>>]

And what was on them?

[Dan]

President Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, said she may have erased several minutes of the tapes when she "accidentally" pressed record while answering the phone. There's a famous picture of her showing how this might have happened (included in link below), but the picture actually makes it look even more unlikely that it was an accident.

Most people believe that the tapes were erased intentionally, either by Woods or someone else. No one knows what's on them.

[Michael S]

Nobody knows (yet). In 2003 the National Archives decided that no technology exists to restore the missing minutes. The tapes are still being preserved and it is hoped that in the future the missing minutes will be restored.