The Abuse of Governmental Power (AOGP) conversations tapes consist of excerpted portions of conversations that documented evidence of abuses of governmental power. These excerpted portions were recorded between February 1971 and July 1973.

These conversations, released in February 1999, comprise the third of three releases.

Participants

In addition to President Nixon, participants include:

• members of his White House staff
• other governmental officials
• Congressional leaders
• members of the press

Topics

The main topics include:

• the Pentagon Papers
• the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem
• wiretaps
• the Huston Plan
• the "Watergate" break-in and cover-up

Release History

This group of White House Tapes consists of previously withheld tape segments from the first two AOGP public releases. There were 182 segments reviewed in accordance with Executive Order 12958. These segments were previously withheld from public access for reasons of national security (restriction category "B").

There were 182 segments reviewed in accordance with Executive Order 12958. Of these, 119 segments were declassified, 5 were sanitized with portions declassified, and 53 segments were exempted from declassification.

About the Tapes  [See Also:  AOGP Conversations Subject Logs]

There are no transcripts for these conversations.

• spans May 1971 - July 1973
• totals 54 minutes
• consists of approximately 119 conversation segments
• conversations recorded in various locations
• released in February 1999
• available on 38 reference cassettes (E-462 - E-499)