The 18 1/2 Minute Gap

It's ironic that a little bit of nothing turned out to be such a big something.

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon was a little worried about his chances for re-election. A fellow named Daniel Ellsberg had confiscated and copied a bunch of documents from the days when he worked at the Rand Corporation. Those documents made clear that our leaders in the US government and military branches viewed the Vietnam Conflict as a sham and a failure. Ellsberg gave these documents - called "The Pentagon Papers" - to the New York Times. This insider leak was the basis for why the Nixon Whitehouse began its campaign of dirty tricks against its "enemies".

1971 was also the year the White House installed a bugging system in the Oval Office.

From the Watergate break-in in 1972 and all the way through the indictments, trials and testimony of the players in this scandal, none could provide any hard proof that Nixon knew anything about the criminal activites of his trusted men. Everyone was questioned, that is, except for a guy named Alexander Butterfield. During his July 17, 1973 Senate testimony, Butterfield casually told the panel that Nixon had been secretly recording conversations for years. Almost no one knew about the taping system, not even John Dean.

Those wishing to give Nixon a chance to exonerate himself thought the audio would surely clear the President of any wrong doing. The tapes were subpoenaed and Nixon fought their release for a solid year under the aupices of "executive privilege". When the recordings were finally released one tape contained an 18 1/2 minute gap.

Naturally, the gap became a major issue. Ever-faithful Nixon secretary, Rosemary Woods took the blame for the gap and gave a demonstration on how she accidentally pushed the erase button during a telephone conversation. But it was too late. Nixon was screwed.

Present-day counterpart for the 18 1/2 Minute Gap?

Alberto Gonzales' 12 Hour Gap: