Nixon tapes archivist reflects on Watergate anniversary

On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, Bates College historian Christopher M. Beam, a former National Archives staffer for the White House Tapes Section of the Nixon Presidential Materials Project and one of only a handful of archivists who has listened to the Nixon White House tapes, is available to comment on the significance of the greatest political scandal in American history.

Beam, director of the Edmund S. Muskie Archives at Bates, president of the New England Archivists and a Vietnam veteran, has taught a series of seminars on both the Nixon presidency and the Vietnam war. He recently received a grant to examine the operation of and maintenance on the operation of the Nixon White House taping system.