18.5 Minutes: The Erasure of Watergate Tape 342
The summer 2022 exhibition at the Museum of Portable Sound, 18 1/2 Minutes: The Erasure of Watergate 342 is an online exhibition I curated to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the mysterious conversation that was erased from the tapes recorded in the Nixon White House from 1971-1973.
AP Wirephoto of members of the US House of Representatives reviewing White House tapes using Koss Pro/4AA headphones. Pictured; Edward Boland (Massachusetts), Jack Edwards (Alabama), William Steiger and David Obey (Wisconsin). (5 Aug 1974 – retouched by Susan Schuppli)
Online visitors to the exhibition scheduled an appointment with me to meet for a video call. At that time, I provided them with a password to unlock entry to the web page containing the exhibition content. The web page contains extensive research and links to hundreds of pages of documents surrounding the taping system used in the Nixon White House. I would then play the “erased” portion of White House Tape 342, the mysterious “eighteen and a half minute gap” which, when revealed to the US press, turned the tide against the president. The gap itself is not silent, and contains audible evidence of multiple attempts at erasure.
Diagram of chronological audio events in the erased portion of Tape 342, Technical Report (May 1974)
Visitors to the exhibition were allowed access to the online research and documents only for the duration of the gap recording. After each visit, the exhibition’s password was changed.
An original functional pair of Koss Pro/4AAs and an original copy of their User Manual were added to the Museum of Portable Sound’s Physical Objects Collection and Research Library in conjunction with this exhibition. They were displayed as the museum’s Object of the Week on 20 June 2022, the day the exhibition first opened to the public.
In-person visitors were offered the option of listening to the recording via a vintage pair of Koss Pro4AA headphones, the same headphones used by US Congresspeople who reviewed excerpts of the tapes in preparation for their investigative hearings.
Exhibition Contents
Why Did Richard Nixon Make Tapes in the Oval Office?
Who Installed the Taping System?
Where Were the Microphones Hidden?
Which Tape Recorders Did Nixon’s System Use?
How and Why Did the World Learn About the White House Tapes?
How Was the 18 and a Half Minute Gap on Tape 342 Discovered?
What Was ‘The Rose Mary Stretch’?
What Was Done at the Time to Try to Recover the Audio from Tape 342?
Was Nixon Ever Questioned About the 18 and a Half Minute Gap?
Which Headphones Became Synonymous With Watergate?
Will the 18 and a Half Minute Gap’s Original Audio Ever be Restored?
Selected Bibliography
