18 1/2 minute gap

The 18½-minute gap is one of the recorded tapes of President Nixon, in connection with the Watergate scandal. During a key passage, the tape is interrupted by a buzzing sound that lasts for about 18½ minutes. The buzzing was widely believed to be the result of a deliberate erasing of whatever was on the tape.

The tape was recorded on a Sony model 800B, but was erased on a Uher 5000. Both of these models were owned by Nixon or his staff. The Uher 5000 was normally operated by Rose Mary Woods, Nixon's secretary. Woods later testified that she had made a 'terrible mistake', erasing the tape by accidentally pressing the record button instead of the stop button, whilst answering a phone call.

Arlo Guthrie has jokingly suggested that the gap had something to do with his protest song "Alice's Restaurant," which, coincidentally, was also roughly 18½-minutes long. It had come to his attention when, at the 1977 Presidential Inaugural, Chip Carter told Guthrie he had found a copy of Guthrie's record in Nixon's library.

The National Archives have tried to recover the missing minutes, but failed.

External links

• I made a terrible mistake
• Wired Magazine: Richard Nixon's Last Secret