Available Soon on Cassette: Darkest Days of Nixon Years

“We have a cancer within, close to the presidency, that’s growing. It’s growing daily. It’s compounding. . . .”

In a nervous, halting monotone, White House counsel John W. Dean III delivered that historic warning to Richard Nixon in March 1973, and his dire diagnosis was captured on the president’s secret Oval Office taping system.

Nearly three decades later, those words may soon reverberate in millions of living rooms as well, thanks to a marketing program begun by the National Archives.

In addition to history, the tapes include salty language by the chief executive; this time around, no expletives have been deleted.

Along with Dean’s famous “cancer on the presidency” monologue, which helped ensure the conspiracy conviction of Nixon’s top aides, the archives will be selling copies of other famous Watergate tapes first heard by federal court jurors during the 1974 cover-up trial.

In all, 12 1/2 hours of tapes will be put on the market starting Nov. 22, with deliveries to begin Jan. 21. Each 30-minute cassette will cost $18--or $702 for the entire set played at the trial.

Buyer beware, however: Background noises occasionally drown out portions of conversations, and Nixon’s habit of propping his feet up on his desk results in thunderous noises. A coffee cup causes unusually loud clatter.

Until now, private citizens have been able to hear these recordings only by visiting the archives facility in suburban College Park, Md., and donning a set of headphones.

Also included in the first batch of tapes will be the “smoking gun” recording of June 23, 1972--just six days after the Watergate break-in--in which Nixon approved a plan by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, to order the CIA to call off FBI agents from investigating how the burglary was financed.

Although the CIA refused to comply with Haldeman’s instructions, discovery of the contents of this tape by federal investigators in late July 1974 led to Nixon’s August resignation in the face of certain impeachment.

Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the archives, said the government will not profit from the tapes’ sale. Prices for the cassettes are set by an outside vendor, which the archives has used for duplicating other materials, she said.

“In the past there has been a lot of interest in using the tapes on the air,” Cooper said. “Researchers have been interested in having their own copies and professors have wanted them for their classes. We are just responding to a demand.”

Legal battles waged by Nixon to prevent dissemination of his tapes ended only with his death in 1994. His family has since negotiated with the archives to allow broader access.

Those interested in purchasing a bit of history may obtain an order form and more get details by accessing the archives’ Web site at https://www.nara.gov/nixon/tapes/ or by phoning (301) 713-6950, Cooper said.

Nixon ordered the secret taping system installed in February 1971, about two years after he took office. The Secret Service placed seven microphones in the Oval Office--five in the president’s desk and one on each side of the fireplace. Two others were placed in the Cabinet Room under the table near the president’s chair.

The president’s telephone was also wired. Other microphones were installed later, at Nixon’s direction, in his study in the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House and at his Camp David retreat in Maryland.

In late January, a second collection of “abuses of governmental power” tapes will be available for sale. Totaling an additional 251 hours, these will include two tapes from 1971 in which Nixon can be heard telling Haldeman and others to arrange a break-in at the liberal Brookings Institution think tank in Washington (an order never carried out). He also threatens to use federal income tax returns to punish his enemies and protect his friends (a plan largely blocked by IRS officials).

In the Brookings tape, Nixon can be heard telling Haldeman and others to burglarize files dealing with the Vietnam War. “I want them to break in and take it out, do you understand?” Nixon says. “You’re to break into the place, rifle the files and bring them in.”