Former White House Official Who Revealed Nixon’s Secret Tapes Dies at 99

Alexander Butterfield, the former White House aide whose testimony about Nixon's secret recording system helped bring down a presidency, has passed away at age 99. His revelation about the taping devices sparked the legal battle that ultimately led to Nixon's resignation during the Watergate scandal.

Alexander Butterfield, the former White House official whose testimony about President Richard Nixon’s secret recording devices became pivotal evidence in the Watergate scandal, has passed away at 99 years old.

Butterfield’s wife Kim confirmed his death to major news outlets. He died at his La Jolla, California residence, just one month before reaching his 100th birthday. No specific cause of death was provided.

The former aide’s disclosure about Nixon’s covert audio recording system triggered a fierce legal fight over presidential executive privilege and ultimately provided crucial evidence that led to Nixon’s downfall.

Butterfield previously expressed frustration about his historical legacy, telling journalist Alicia Shepard that he disliked being remembered solely as the person who revealed the tapes’ existence, as it suggested he had “eagerly and breathlessly” shared the information with congressional investigators.

Born in Pensacola, Florida, and raised in California, Butterfield studied at UCLA before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in 1948. He served as a combat pilot in Vietnam, leading a tactical reconnaissance squadron, and later worked as a military assistant to senior Pentagon officials, which gave him initial White House experience.

After leaving military service, Butterfield joined Nixon’s White House team as deputy to Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, his former UCLA classmate. His responsibilities included maintaining presidential historical records, which involved supervising the installation of the voice-activated recording equipment.

By the time the investigation into the June 17, 1972, Democratic headquarters break-in at the Watergate complex intensified, Butterfield had already moved on to lead the Federal Aviation Administration.

As one of the few White House insiders aware of the recording system, Butterfield decided when facing Senate questioning that he would avoid lying while also not volunteering unnecessary information.

During a private preliminary interview, a Republican committee attorney directly asked whether the White House maintained a recording system. Butterfield reluctantly confirmed its existence.

PIVOTAL MOMENT

Three days following his initial private testimony, on July 16, 1973, Butterfield testified publicly before the televised Senate Watergate Committee hearing. Fred Thompson, then serving as Republican counsel and later an actor and senator, posed the same crucial question.

After a lengthy pause, Butterfield responded, “I was aware of listening devices, yes, sir.”

This revelation shocked the nation because it meant concrete evidence existed of Nixon’s conversations, including exactly what he said, when he said it, and to whom.

Butterfield explained that the recording equipment had been secretly capturing conversations and meetings in the Oval Office, Nixon’s Executive Office Building office, and the Cabinet room, plus four White House phone lines. He stated the recordings were intended for historical purposes.

In a 1975 People magazine interview, Butterfield revealed that Nixon frequently forgot about the recording devices and ignored recommendations to destroy the tapes, never anticipating the Watergate investigation would escalate to the point of requiring their surrender.

“I’m sure that he hates me as much as anyone can,” Butterfield said regarding his former boss, who died in 1994.

He believed Nixon should have stepped down sooner, stating, “I don’t feel awful about the president’s resignation. Not at all.”

THE SMOKING GUN

A recording from six days after the Watergate break-in became Nixon’s ultimate downfall – the “smoking gun” that demonstrated his knowledge of the cover-up. The tape captured him approving a plan to halt the break-in investigation citing national security concerns.

The Supreme Court eventually rejected the White House’s executive privilege claims and mandated Nixon surrender the subpoenaed recordings as his public and political support crumbled. Facing impeachment and Senate trial, he resigned on August 9, 1974.

Since Butterfield had no involvement in the break-in or subsequent cover-up, he faced no criminal charges, though his friend Haldeman joined several other Nixon associates in prison.

Butterfield became the subject of Bob Woodward’s 2015 book “The Last of the President’s Men.” The Washington Post reporter, who helped expose the Watergate story, received thousands of documents that Butterfield had secretly taken from Nixon administration offices.

These materials and Butterfield’s interviews revealed what the former aide called a “cesspool” within the administration and depicted Nixon as peculiar, isolated, and bitter.

Butterfield said he regularly faced hostility from Nixon supporters and told Time magazine that longtime Nixon secretary Rose Mary Woods, who claimed to have accidentally erased 18½ minutes of White House tapes, had called him a “son of a bitch” who had “destroyed the greatest leader this country ever had.”

Butterfield served as an advisor for Oliver Stone’s 1995 movie “Nixon” and appeared in a small role as a White House staff member.

His first marriage to Charlotte Maguire ended in divorce in 1985. He previously dated Audrey Geisel, widow of children’s author-illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss.