Nixon Taped Talks ‘for History,’ Ex-Aide Says

President Nixon had no sinister purpose when he had six microphones installed in his Oval Office desk, the former aide who revealed the existence of the recordings said at a Boston conference on presidential tapes.

“It was simply for history,” Alexander Butterfield said.

The taping of presidential conversations began with Franklin D. Roosevelt, but became public knowledge only when Butterfield, testifying during the Watergate scandal, revealed that Nixon had taped talks in the Oval Office and in his Cabinet Room. It eventually helped bring down Nixon’s presidency.