Watergate: The 18 ½ Minute Gap and Haldeman’s Notes

Three days after the Watergate break-in on June 17, 1972, President Richard Nixon and his chief of staff H.R. “Bob“ Haldeman met in the Executive Office Building to discuss the incident. This Inside the Vaults video short examines the famous 18 ½ minute gap in the White House tapes, which occurred during this meeting. A multi-agency team under National Archives direction examined Haldeman’s two pages of notes, attempting to decipher what was said in the gap in the tape. Nixon Library director Timothy Naftali, David Paynter of the National Archives and independent researcher Phil Mellinger discuss the case and the results of the forensic analysis. Inside the Vaults includes highlights from the National Archives in the Washington, DC, area and from the Presidential libraries and regional archives nationwide. These shorts present behind-the-scenes exclusives and offer surprising stories about the National Archives treasures. See more from Inside the Vaults at