Final batch of secret Nixon recordings made available to public

The US National Archives has released its last instalment of White House conversations that were secretly recorded by president Richard Nixon in the 1970s, a batch of tapes mainly highlighting domestic and foreign policy issues.

The 340 hours of conversations cover a three-month period from Apr 9 to Jul 12, 1973, the day before the existence of Nixon’s taping system was revealed by presidential aide Alexander Butterfield in testimony before a US senate select committee investigating the Watergate scandal.

Nixon resigned from office about a year later, in Aug 1974, facing almost certain impeachment over the involvement of his staff and campaign team in an attempt to bug his Democratic opponents’ offices at the Watergate complex and their efforts to cover it up.